Joan Richards, 74, homemaker, gardener

COPAKE—The corridors of Copake Town Hall are lined with town history.

A ceremony to cut the ribbon on the long-awaited Copake Town Hall History Exhibit took place the morning of August 13.

The exhibit consists of 24 18- by 24-inch panels, with more to come, each depicting some significant facet of Copake history. Framed in wood and hung on newly-painted walls, the panels invite Town Hall visitors to stroll down the hallways and take a nearly 200-year visual journey into Copake’s past through photographs and text.

The exhibit has been more than two years in the making and is the product of an ad hoc committee: Copake Historian Howard Blue; graphic designer and artist Peter “Nick” Fritsch, and longtime former Town Clerk Vana Hotaling, who grew up in Copake and “contributed her deep knowledge of this little Town and its people,” Supervisor Jeanne Mettler said in her remarks at the ribbon cutting.

“For some of you this will all be brand new, you will be seeing things you did not know about Copake. For some of you, this will be a walk down memory lane,” the supervisor noted. (more…)