Woodstock Branch Voted TD Bank’s Friendliest

Nick Altomare, Woodstock Manager

TD Bank/Woodstock is located in a converted house at 68 Mill Hill Road. The store manager is Nick Altomare, a friendly and outgoing native of nearby Kingston. A graduate of SUNY Albany, he has been in banking for over ten years. About three years ago a friend suggested that he join TD Bank. He did so, and within six months he arrived here to manage the Woodstock branch.

This bank is the tenth largest financial services company in the nation, and has a triple “A” credit rating from Moody's. The local branch strives to position itself as a community-based bank. Nick is the president of the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce and Arts, and the bank sponsors a slew of local initiatives including the Little League, the Woodstock Farm Festival, the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild’s Annual  5 x 7 show, the Woodstock Chamber’s Open House and the Experience Woodstock Card.

"Here Comes Summer," sculpture
by artist Ze'ev Willy Neumann

TD Bank styles itself as America’s Most Convenient Bank. It happens that the Woodstock branch is also one of the friendliest. In April their customers voted Woodstock the Number One branch in the company (of 1,250 stores from Maine to Florida), based on service provided by its employees.

One need not be a bank customer to obtain mortgages, home equity, car or personal loans.  TD Bank tries to be sensitive to their customers’ needs in the Hudson Valley, so many of the lending decisions are made locally.

A fun fact: Woodstock is the only TD Bank branch that has a sculpture on its front lawn.

~ Weston Blelock

Woodstock's Sidewalk Sale

Saturday and Sunday, May 14 and 15, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.: Woodstock's fabulous shops and boutiques are celebrating the arrival of spring with the twice-annual Sidewalk Sale. Select stores throughout the hamlet are placing racks of clothes on the street with markdowns of 30 to 75 percent. Don't miss out!

Norwegian Folk College Travels the Experience Woodstock Corridor

The Norwegian students in Woodstock

In January the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce & Arts inaugurated the Experience Woodstock Corridor between Woodstock and Bethel Woods Center for the Arts. The Woodstock Festival of 1969 was conceived and was supposed to take place in Woodstock, NY—but due to space constraints, among other factors, was eventually sited in Bethel. The corridor has been established to honor the connection between the roots of Woodstock and the event itself.

At CPW (formerly Café Espresso)

On Bethel’s seasonal opening day of April 2nd, a tour bus of 37 students and instructors from a Norwegian folk college (folkehØgskoler) began their day at The Museum, Bethel Woods Center for the Arts, and then travelled the Experience Woodstock Corridor to Woodstock. Here they were met and welcomed by Marcus Lindner of Journey Art, who is also a board member of the Woodstock Chamber of Commerce & Arts.

At WBG with photo of Dylan

Lindner first took the visitors to the Woodstock Byrdcliffe Guild (WBG) building at 34 Tinker Street. He explained how the organization is the steward for the Byrdcliffe Art Colony. The Byrdcliffe campus is about a mile from the town center and was founded in 1902. This organization jumpstarted the artistic and creative tradition that survives to the present day. Next he took them across the street to the Center for Photography (CPW) at 59 Tinker Street. It was here, he explained, that one of the key musical hotbeds of the 1960s was located. The Café Espresso, as it was known then, was run by Bernard and Mary Lou Paturel. On weekends, many of the leading folk acts of the day played. They included performers like Tom Paxton, Patrick Sky, Phil Ochs, Happy Traum, John Herald and Rev. Gary Davis. Upstairs in a studio Bob Dylan wrote Another Side of Bob Dylan and Bringing It All Back Home.

The Norwegian visitors stayed in Woodstock for several hours before heading back out on the road . . .

~Weston Blelock

With thanks to Marcus Lindner for the photos