Hello Sourcers!

October continues to be chock-full of stuff to do, so we should get right into it! This issue we’ve got:

👨‍🌾 Scarecrows

🧶 Crafts & Curiosities

🪐 Space & Symphonies

🎭 Theater

👧 Kids stuff

Apologies for going a bit out of order, but this week we’re starting off in Cortland with the Cortland Curiosities Market, held on Friday October 17th from 11am-5pm at the Vault Grand Venue on Main.

It’s a spook-specific vendor market featuring antiques, crafts, cocktails, and baked goods. If you need a probably-haunted doll for the holiday (and let’s face it, you do), this is a solid bet.

Moving into the weekend, there’s a full day of spooky things to do in Corning. The Digital Dome Theater at Corning Community College is presenting multiple showings of Spooky Space. This is (thankfully) not a planetarium show highlighting Lovecraftian horrors, but an exploration of black holes, zombie stars, and spectacular ghostly nebulae. There are shows Friday evening and Saturday during the day, and the show continues to run Friday and Saturday through October.

While you’re out there, you might as well stick around for the Orchestra of the Southern Finger Lakes Phantoms & Fantasies show on Saturday night at 7pm at the Corning Museum of Glass. Danse Macabre, the Funeral March of a Marionette, Witches’ Sabbath, and Night on Bald Mountain are all on the bill, along with selections from film scores. I don’t personally find the theme from E.T. spooky, but to each their own.

Also on Saturday, the Ithaca Childrens Garden hosts their annual Scarecrow Jubilee from 1-4pm, with (obviously) scarecrow-making, along with pumpkin carving, and a puppet show. All scarecrow materials are provided (as are pumpkins) but pre-registration is preferred.

Looking into next week, Wednesday at the Cider Mill Stage, the Endicott Knitting Club is hosting Crafting at the Cinema, with a BYOCraft screening of Hocus Pocus. Plus you can bring your extraneous craft supplies to swap with other folks. This event specifies no glitter, which is a controversial policy unless you’re the one who has to vacuum up afterward.

And obviously, the clock is ticking to get your costume together if, like me, you’ve once again left that kind of thing till the last minute. 

What else is looming and lurking out there on the back end of October, Sourcers?

Yours,

Bob Proehl

Locally Sourced editor 

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Another month of a wide variety of engaging live theatre happening across the region in October! From Humans who are monsters to Monsters who are humans, there’s something for everyone’s taste and price this hoa hoa hoa season. Please support your local theatre companies! 

Ti-Ahwaga Community Players Community Players in Owego, New York is producing The Humans by Stephen Karam, directed by Kylee Thetga. This 95 minute play is a huge undertaking, having a two story set and a full Thanksgiving Dinner being eaten on stage. A huge shout out to Joe Brainard and the entire scenic team for their incredible work on this! I have had the pleasure of working with Kylee in several productions and couldn’t think of a better person to steer this ship! This dramatic thriller play, set in 2013, centers around a Thanksgiving dinner where a Pennsylvania family comes to visit their daughter, Brigid Blake (played by Ilana Rose), and new live-in beau, Richard (played by Eric Charles Lion Fernandez), in their 2 story flat in Chinatown. Other characters include Lisa Thompson Waldrop as Deirdre Blake and Joe Hoffmann as the family patriarch, Erik Blake, who hold a dark secret, not unlike other members of the Blake family. This piece centers around class, religion, and good old fashioned family dinners. There are horror elements to this piece that give it a thriller feel while reminding those with families that Thanksgiving is coming up…

The play runs 2 more weekends from October 10th-26th. Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30pm and Sundays at 2pm. Tickets range from $23-28. Ti-Ahwaga also has a great option where you can volunteer for a free ticket to the show!

The Chenango River Theatre nestled on Route 12 in Greene, New York concludes their 2025 season with Frankenstein by R. N. Sandberg, Directed by Andrew Kahl. I’m very excited to catch the play version for “Spooky Season”. I remember reading Mary Shelley’s source material in the 9th grade and absolutely loving this story. Fun Fact, Mary Shelley was only 20 years old when Frankenstein was published in 1818. Now, don’t let that persuade you away from achieving your dreams of writing a classic gothic novel that will be read by half-robot teens 200 years from now (if that is your dream). 

This version includes only 5 actors: Zach Curtis, Thomas Daniels, Daniel Hall Kuhn, Taran Coulter, and Nina Varano. These 5 actors will be playing all of the parts. I always love productions like this and think it takes immense talent to be able to do so. Chenango River Theatre generally employs a variety of Equity Actors and Local Actors! 

The play runs from October 10th to 26th. Thursdays-Saturdays at 7:30 PM and Sundays at 2:00 PM. CRT offers $6 tickets for teens, $12 for students, and $33 for adults.

As always, there are many opportunities to see great theatre in your community without breaking the bank. I firmly believe art should be for everyone and everyone should see art! Please let me know about shows you’re excited to see in October & November. I hope to see you there!

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I’m Andy Pioch, Multimedia Producer at WSKG and this is my daughter Josie! When she isn’t getting ready for Kindergarten or playing on her tablet we like to explore new and interesting places together. Luckily, this area is filled with many locations where kids and adults can both have fun together (and maybe even learn a thing or two).

We recently visited the Sciencenter in Ithaca and it was loaded with activities throughout their two floors! One of the first displays we discovered taught us how the ear and brain work together for people to understand sounds. We also discovered the scream machine (this would come in handy at WSKG considering the recent funding cut) and Josie nearly reached 100 decibels with her shriek!

After dancing on a music making carpet (think the scene in ‘Big’ with Tom Hanks jumping on the giant floor keyboard) we made our way to the second floor and immediately smelled something fishy! It turned out to be a garden being fertilized entirely with fish poop! Science really is amazing! We also saw some cool reptiles on display, including a python that was shedding its skin.

Josie also enjoyed the 2nd floor section on weather and saw a mini tornado form right in front of her! We saw detailed displays on the sun and even “made it rain” in a really cool sand diagram.

Back down on the first floor we were able to have some water fun with hands-on activities ranging from creating a dam to floating a signature Sciencenter duck down some rapids!

The trip wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to the outdoor playground area and I am proud to report that Josie made it past her first suspension bridge with minimal fear! We also had fun making bubbles and banging gongs!

We both learned so much and we’ll have to return since we didn’t come close to completing all of the 250 interactive exhibits! The Sciencenter is open daily from 10-5 and is located at 601 First Street in Ithaca.

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