Hello and Happy Memorial Day. Let it be a warm and sunny weekend, this one, please! But who knows. I tend to think of the month of May as the first month of true summer up here in Sullivan. Truth to tell, most often the fifth month of the year up here in the Catskills is the last rainy and cold month of spring. Behold, then, Reader, another day of cold rain sluicing in from the unbellied skies!!! Behold dinginess!

Let’s turn to something sunnier in this column for Smallwood-Mongaup Valley. Dear Reader, a question, then: when the topic is ‘Industry’ here in Bethel: what springs to mind? In a county once known a century ago for ice production and forestry and animal husbandry, is there any ‘industry’ left, people constructing and making things, thinking up great ideas to enrich the future?

Let us not be shy. Let us shine and unpack what stands so patently in front of us but may be sometimes hard to see. Let us first consider our local eponymous business, “INDUSTRY,” over on Horseshoe Lake Road in Kauneonga Lake, where Daryl Kroken and Alex Johnson sell to the rafters a wondrous and affordable variety of women and men’s clothing, artwork, bric-a-brac, delightful home goods, and curated memorabilia. They also always have an endless collection of curious coffee mugs that I love to savor every morning as my fragrant black brew steams inside some whimsical INDUSTRY mug. Alex likes to say that “INDUSTRY” provides ‘best quality for the best price,’ so that any resident – really anyone from anywhere, whether from Sullivan or Suffolk – can come in, browse, find something delightful for themselves or a ‘one-day-I’ll-give-this-spangle-away’ gift. Haven’t visited “INDUSTRY” yet? Hurry on over, the shop is located right on Restaurant Row next to Table and Tap and Benji’s in Kauneonga Lake. Alex and Daryl will warmly receive you and make every moment you spend there a simple delight!

Exemplative of homespun industry hereabouts is Kev’s BBQ, which (as most people know by now) is back up and bustling on 17B and Royce Road, across from Dollar General. I went over two weeks ago the day Kev’s first opened and spoke to Donovan (owner). The new Kev’s BBQ is larger than any previous version, having a larger parking lot and several new buildings whose completion is imminent. The BBQ, as most everyone knows, is simply fabulous. Lines are non-existent at Kev’s, even on a Saturday the crowd quickly shuffles forward to get their victuals and leaves within minutes smiling like the sun. The succulent, most tender strips of beef, the pulled pork, the half or whole chickens, the coleslaw and cornbread must be some of the best in these 50 states of America. On weekends there is also a Thai food stand on the premises which serves scrumptious Thai food. Donovan and staff fire up his two huge puffing smokers at 4:00am Wednesday through Sunday when most of us namby-pambies are fast asleep and sinking abed into our second or third REM cycles. This storied business, Kev’s BBQ, only twelve years old, gives so much to our county and so much to its visitors. It is truly first-among-equals here in Bethel. Go over soon and enjoy the vibes, the music, the hickory smoke, the friendly staff, the other hungry and talkative beef-eaters in line. I will write some more about this astounding business in the weeks to come as further wonders unfold. Meantime, even if it is raining cats and dogs from the dingy heavens: run, don’t walk, over to Kev’s BBQ today and have yourselves a very merry good time!

‘Industry,’ right? There’s yet more ‘industry’ afoot hereabouts than mayhap meets the eye, and some of it is more in the aether than under foot. Several days ago two beaming teenagers showed up in my shop, Sticky Fingers Delectables, asking to have some ice cream. “How’s your day going?” I inquired. Both boys shot back nova-bright smiles that would illuminate a darkening universe. “Fantastic!” they said. Sam Lieberman and Ethan Clark, both locals, proceeded to tell me about their ONE GREAT PROJECT, helping other teenagers learn how to manage money. Called “FinLit4Teens,” the Sullivan West student’s project aims to bring financial competency to teens who (until now) have little or no conception how to manage summer wage income, manage debt, build wealth, or secure a stable and happy future unencumbered by debt or financial woe. The Ethelbert B. Crawford Library in Monticello so loved the two young gentlemens’ idea of making these concerns into a course that the Library promptly adopted the gentlemens’ program. So here’s the vital statistics: anyone 13 – 17 years old can enroll in this six-part financial literacy course to learn more about budgeting, saving, banking, investing, and using credit. Interested teens can enter the program at any point. The interactive course is free of charge and takes place two Saturdays every month at 2:00 pm at the Monticello Library. If interested, you can register for FinLit4Teens at www.ebcpl.org. I must say that I meet many thousands of teens every year at Sticky Fingers but Sam and Ethan stand out as inspiring men who have set out to make financial wellbeing for those around them one of the goals of their lives. Ethan and Sam intend to spread their knowledge, teen-to-teen as eager learners themselves, throughout NYS. They are already planning to expand FinLit4Teens beyond Sullivan County, way beyond NYS, into the vastness that is America. Now THAT, dear Reader, is inspiring.

In our self-deprecating way, we, the residents of beloved Sullivan and Bethel, think there is no industry about us. All seems forest and fallow, but let this column be one man’s rebuttal. So much industry exists hereabouts that no matter how hard the cold rain may fall from the dingy lowering sky, we should all of us beam like the sun, like exploding novas really, and be proud of where we harken from and what is going on in our very midst. For it is no small thing, what is going on in our midst because good people bustle and great things follow. The last shall be first! – Dear Reader, be well and flourish! May the sacrifice of our forebearers be our pledge to this Republic. Amen!