Trail Sketches: Spring Has Sprung!

By Timothy Hull

Although pandemic concerns are still in the air, Warwick really has got a spring in its steps this season. We’ve been blessed by some good weather- sunshine and intermittent rain giving way to some really spectacular spring blooms. It’s just a raging panoply of pastel colors offset with lovely light greens. And the Red Buds – they’re everywhere!

As many have noted, we have been experiencing a troubling preponderance of windstorms, wreaking a bit of havoc with falling branches and intermittent power outages. Even the birds and bees are cranky about the disturbances! However, I’d like to think that the strong winds are the proverbial ‘winds of change’ that come to sweep away all the emotional sediment and dust of last year.

It’s been nice to see a bit of Warwick become active once again, and two weeks ago I really enjoyed a few handcrafted beers and some sunshine at the chic new Drowned Lands brewery. Man, that place was packed! It seems like the Wickham Woodlands is on a real upswing, and it’s only just getting started. I can’t wait to break out my kayak and enjoy a nice paddle on the lake, enjoying the wildlife but taking care to ‘duck’ when I see an incoming plane!

I feel like I saw just about everyone I’ve ever known at the Makers Market last weekend, which had more than doubled in size with a lot of great vendors selling their handmade wares. Rebecca Pry told me she was so glad that she splurged and bought a tent for her art booth because the wind and a little bit of spring rain was no match for her new shelter! Keeping dry, I enjoyed her colorful prints of the Warwick Valley.

Although I really enjoyed past iterations of the market in the indoors location at Wickham Woodlands, holding it in the downtown makes it really easy to have a nice day in the village – and very likely increases foot traffic. I did, however, lament for the poor grass in Lewis Park which by Sunday seemed to be overly trodden and might take some time to recover.

While I was downtown I decided to stop in the Candy Apple shop, which I’ve never really been in before, and was very pleased to buy some chocolate covered potato chips, which I consider myself a great connoisseur of! Having tried chocolate covered potato chips from a great many places across the country I must say I think they’ve really gotten the chocolate-to-chip ratio just perfect. That’s not an easy task- you really must try them!

At any rate, I look forward to a greater opening up of Warwick businesses and events because summertime in Warwick Valley is a lot of fun and I have a feeling this is going to be a special summer.