When I was growing up my father taught me to never get into a pissing contest with a skunk. So I have been careful to avoid situations that could evolve into personal contests between individuals which is not the point of my observations. Rather I want to focus on how and why Sondra and I first got involved with The Black Dirt Feasts and why it became a desirable event for guests to attend and why, originally, it sold out quickly. But first some background about my interest in the Pine Island community and how I got involved in the Pine Island Chamber and why it matters…

 

Beginning in 2004, we enrolled our children in The Pine Island School, and I volunteered to help with the production of several school plays and events. I produced several annual program guides for the Pine Island School drama productions, and a special audio/visual presentation performed at the WV High School for Pine Island School parents to accompany a unique fund-raising program with fellow parent, Terry Odell, to help a public school devastated by a hurricane Katrina in Louisiana that our school had adopted.

 

Later that year, I volunteered as member of AppleFest Committee, and redesigned the program guide, elevating the presence of apples in the event, and later received a commendation from the FFA organization for “putting apples back into AppleFest.” These initial activities led me to get more involved in the community and so I joined the Pine Island Chamber.

 

That same year I launched Warwickinfo.net, community Internet directory which became the on-line voice for several not-for-profit organizations in Pine Island and other Warwick communities and enabled them to increase awareness throughout the region. These groups included the Pine Island Chamber, Warwick Valley Farmers Market, Florida Farmers Market, Greenwood Lake Farmers Market, Warwick in Bloom, and other groups. The site enjoys between 20-30,000 visitors per month and 2.5 million page views annually, with high rankings on Google and other search engines, a strong domain authority, and thousands of backlinks.

 

In 2005 I launched the website and social media for Florida NY Farmers Market which continues through to this day.

 

While serving as vice president of Pine Island Chamber in 2007 I designed and produced Pine Island Onion newspaper, with Cheetah da Parma, which was distributed in print and digital versions throughout the community on a quarterly basis, until 2011 when Chamber officials discontinued interest in publication.

 

In 2008, while serving as vice president of Pine Island Chamber, I initiated the Black Dirt Feast community event (with Sondra Hall) in Pine Island, which had become largest fund-raising event for the Pine Island Chamber of Commerce. I had created a program guide, website, and acquired consistent sponsorships to offset costs of producing the event. We had obtained sustained media coverage for the event from TV News 12, Orange magazine, Times Herald-Record, Straus News, WV Dispatch, Luminary Media, and other news outlets.

 

Later in 2008 I volunteered for the Save the Farm program, after Hurricane Irene and Tropical storm Lee devastated local farms; I designed the event website, incorporating art from art and design teacher, Rocco Manno, to help coordinate program events with WV School District and other organizations. And I designed and produced four-fold tourism brochure for Pine Island Chamber with illustrated map of all the business members of the organization, until 2011, when Chamber officials discontinued interest in the program.

 

Between 2008-2010 I contributed to several episodes of Cablevision’s Neighborhood Journal program, gaining publicity for several of Pine Island farms and businesses, as well as businesses and events throughout the Town of Warwick, like the Summer Arts Festival’s famous Mannequin Program, the Pine Island Elementary School, Jean-Claude’s Bakery, The Black Dirt Feast, Scheuermann Farms and Greenhouses, and others.

 

In 2009 I was a founding board member of the Drowned Lands Society with John Ruszkiewicz and created a Facebook Page for the organization while continuing to include the organization’s events on the Warwickinfo.net events calendar.

 

In 2016 I produced a shared TEDx presentation and viewing party (on How We Eat) for Albert Wisner Library in its new community center room that included some of the same farmers and chefs who had been involved in the Black Dirt Feast. The event was later cited by the Library Journal as one of the reasons that the Albert Wisner Library was recognized as the recipient of the “Best Small Library in America” award achievement.

 

Between 2018-2019 I designed and edited Pride and Produce, by author and former Pine Island Chamber President, Cheetah Haysom, which described the Origin, Evolution and Survival of the Drowned Lands, the Hudson Valley’s Legendary Black Dirt Farming district. The book is current being sold by many Pine Island businesses.

 

What all of these efforts have in common is the building and strengthening of community involvement. In a recent 2023 article Forbes magazine reported that “As the number of Americans working remotely continues to rise, people are searching for ways to connect. Coming together to support a cause provides a source of engagement, and volunteering has been shown to improve the mental and physical health of your employees and possibly even increase life spans.”

 

When Sondra and I first began the Black Dirt Feast it began as a way to strengthen community ties and to position the Chamber as a critical component or catalyst in the process.

 

After generating a net profit during each of the first four years, and culminating in raising over $9,000 for the Chamber during the fourth (and final) year of our producing the event, the Chamber decided that our request for a stipend of $2,500 to offset some of our personal costs, together with our guarantee of generating at least $8,000 per event, was not something it would consider. The Chamber decide that it would like John Redman, then president of Union Square Group, which had been involved in helping to decorate the Black Dirt Fest event tent, to take over the management of the event.

 

We met with John and gave him a detailed set of requirements that had been guiding us during the first four years:

  1. The food must come from local farms, within a 30 mile radius of Pine Island;
  2. Local restaurants and chefs must be involved;
  3. Community schools and groups would be involved to help set up and disassembly;
  4. We would respect the limits of the venue for the event, leaving it in better condition than when we began the event;
  5. We would not place the owners of the event at risk and would respect their wishes;
  6. We would showcase the beauty and bounty of the Black Dirt Region farms with the collaborative talents of the local chefs who purchase produce from them;
  7. We would feature local musicians to provide entertainment during the event;
  8. We would invite a local priest, rabbi, or minister to bless the meal at the start of the event;
  9. We would select a food bank or other local charitable organization in which to contribute a portion of any proceeds that we would generate.

 

As we would later learn, Redman ignored most of those instructions and was one of the reasons that resulted in the Scheuermanns asking the Chamber to not use its farm in the future.

 

Over the course of the next few years, Redman retired from his Union Square Group and entered the CLP/CRE program of Hudson River Presbytery in 2017, enrolling at the Dubuque Theological Seminary in eight online courses over the next three years, plus quarterly seminars from the Presbytery. He was certified by the Presbytery Committee on Preparation for Ministry and served a six-month internship at the Central Presbyterian Church in Middletown, and now serves as the pastor of the Union Presbyterian Church in Newburgh, NY. Despite his ministry devotion, however, many members agree that Rev. Redman has not been a team player among his Pine Island Chamber activities, leading to a gradual degradation in the quality of the Black Dirt Feast outcomes.

 

In 2022 the event reappeared at Leonard DeBuck’s property on Glenwood Road, with an expanded seating to now accommodate 225 people. In 2023 the venue selected in Goshen offered a challenging, long walk to and from the parking area and a dangerous exit from the event. These events were especially notable for its conspicuous lack of detail and its inappropriate treatment of guests:

 

  • Seafood had been introduced, which is not native to the Hudson Valley.
  • Distilled spirits were added to the beverage menu, without regard for the insurance liability it raised for the host venue.
  • Benediction Omitted. The decision to invite a different minister each year to offer benediction before the meal was dropped.
  • Inconsistent Pottery. Selection of specially created pottery for fresh-cut flowers was omitted.
  • Lack of welcoming table. Traditionally there had always been a welcoming table at the Scheuermann property that would allow guests to check in. There was no welcoming station; instead, guests were met with upright palettes with hand-made sign indicating where to park and what areas to avoid.
  • Long line for beverage. In 2022 guests had to endure a 100-yard long line waiting to get a beverage during a 90-degree temperature. This was a poor design for the beverage tent.
  • Lack of publicity for musicians. Although the event program guide mentioned the musicians who would be performing, there was no mention of their names in any media release. The e-mail sent out in advance only described the music during the dinner hour would be performed by a “jazz trio.” Actually the trio was comprised by Steve Rubin, the founder of the Hudson Valley Jazz Festival which is now in its 14th season, together with two other top musicians, keyboard artist Rave Tesar, and bassist, Robert Kopec.
  • Lack of publicity for participating chefs. There had been little or no publicity about the participating chefs.
  • Menu discrepancies There were discrepancies in the menu listed in the Program Guide and what was actually served.
  • Inconsistent choice of flower vases. In 2022 the table settings contained empty wine bottles, instead of hand-made pottery, with cut flowers.
  • Use of plastic. The plastic glassware, utensils, and plating served was comprised of inconsistent shapes, sizes, and was totally inappropriate for the event. There has been a growing trend against the use of plastic because of its detrimental impact upon the environment. Instead, extensive use of plastic utensils, and plastic plates (which didn’t match) was an insult to the character of the community and the event. This also resulted in most of the dishes being served cold or at room temperature since the chefs could not place plastic dishes in a food warmer. During the original years, only glass stemware, silver utensils and China plating were ever used.
  • Staff training. The dress code of the volunteer staff lacked professionalism and was inconsistent. Many wore shorts and inappropriate tops that revealed bellies. Servers were not able to accommodate guests who had dietary restrictions, forcing some to go into the kitchen and request the dishes they had previously ordered.
  • Beverage service. The temperature of the wines served to guests was ignored. The staff knew nothing about the wines and most could not pronounce the names of the red wines. The reds served were much too warm; the whites, not cold enough. The inconsistent plastic containers detracted from the overall enjoyment of the wines.
  • Menu. The event menu courses were not coordinated in a way that complemented either the previous or subsequent selection. The amounts served were too small, (similar to a tasting plate), and some guests received twice as much as others. Many guests were still hungry after all the courses were presented. There has been a growing amount of food waste, indicating poor menu planning and coordination among the chefs.
  • Plating. The plating was so inconsistent that there were different dishes used for the same course at the same table. This, too, detracted from the overall enjoyment of each course.
  • Dessert course. The two bite-sized items were inconsistent in quality; one was dry, the other was OK. The dessert bag given to guests was perplexing. The cupcake was packaged in more plastic and the bag was too large.
  • Program Guide. The program guide could have included more information about the farms that were the source of the food, about the Black Dirt region, and other information about the upcoming events that the Pine Island Chamber will be involved in. Sadly, there was no relevant content and underscored another missed opportunity.
  • Food source. Historically we required that each course must feature locally-obtained foods from within a 50-mile radius of Pine Island, but, according to interviews with the chefs, this was not the case. Instead, the event has become a showcase for food imported from areas outside the Black Dirt region. Obviously no one is paying attention to the original purpose of this event.
  • The dance music. The DJ created a very different mood while the jazz orchestra was on its break and drastically changed the mood and environment.
  • There was very little promotion about the event in local media, which may have been a factor in the sluggish ticket sales.
  • Vegetarian Food Disparity. Those guests who had ordered vegetarian dishes were given a lot less food that those who did not order vegetarian items. Why?

 

 

The cumulative effect of these mistakes in the planning and executive of the Black Dirt Feast event has made the Pine Island Community look foolish. We invited guests from all over the Hudson Valley to an event that made them stand in long lines and pay high prices for small amounts of food served in plastic containers with plastic utensils. The conclusion: The Black Dirt Feast is not worth the $150 ticket price the Chamber is charging and should be immediately interrupted until someone else can take over the event and get it back on track. Our members deserve better.