Hello Sourcers!

What’s on the docket this week?

🐦 Birds!

📚 Books!

🏹 Bows!

Let’s start off with a bunch of music in Binghamton. On Saturday on Washington Street, it’s free music from noon to night for the Binghamton Rising festival. Driftwood, the Cast-Iron Cowboys, and other acts will be on hand, along with food trucks and other vendors.

If you’re looking for something a little quieter, the Chemung Valley Audubon Society is holding a Migration Marathon starting Friday evening. See how many birds you can spot in a 24-hours period anywhere you’d like, then meet up at Curly’s Chicken House in Elmira at 6:30pm on Saturday to discuss your finds with your fellow birders.

Want something even quieter than that? How about a talk about silent film! On Thursday at 6pm, Diana Reisman, co-founder and executive director of the Wharton Studio Museum (and WSKG Board member) will be at Two Goats Brewing in Hector as part of their Talks on Tap series. She’ll discuss the history of silent film in our region.

The Hangar Theatre in Ithaca is transforming into Sherwood Forest on Sunday May 17th as part of their performance of “The Probably Improbable Adventures of Robin Hood.” The play starts at 11am, but before that, you can visit the Hangar to try out some archery, watch sword fights, or make a family crest. This is a kid-friendly event, and you don’t need to buy a ticket to the performance to enjoy the pre-show activities.

On Saturday, the Discovery Center in Binghamton is hosting BookFest, in partnership with Tri Cities Opera and a slew of local libraries. Crafts, activities, a book swap, and a TCO performance of The Three Bears, and all you need to get in is a library card. And if you don’t have one, a librarian will be happy to help get you signed up.

Helpful folks, librarians.

And don’t forget that tomorrow evening, WSKG is hosting a free screening of Life on Earth: David Attenborough’s Greatest Adventure. It’s a celebration of the legendary broadcaster’s 100th birthday. We’ll be joined by guests from the Ross Park Zoo, and everyone in attendance will receive two free tickets to the zoo! The screening is free, but pre-registration is strongly suggested. You can reserve your tickets here.

We have some book-related news coming for you real soon, but for now, I’m going to sign off. Have a great week, Sourcers!

Yours,

Bob Proehl

Locally Sourced editor

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Hello, travelers, and welcome back to the latest installment of Waypoint, chronicling the game stores I find across the listening area. It’s my quest to bring attention to the local businesses that deal in fun of the tabletop variety, which brought me to perhaps what could be considered my first-ever game store.

Located in WSKG’s hometown of Vestal is Sound Go Round, a shop that is arguably not a game store. I know, I know; I can hear the clamor of torches and pitchforks outside already. But bear with me: I mean that SGR is arguably not just a game store. It’s a store that offers something for everyone, whether you be a nerd, a collector, or just looking for a bit of nostalgia.

SGR stocks a wide variety of physical media, spanning video games, movies, TV shows, and music, with offerings both old and new. There’s old, collectable video games and consoles; vinyl, CDs, and cassette tapes; DVDs and VHSs; comic books and manga; figurines; and loads more.

But back to the topic of Waypoint: the games. Because it’s not a “game store” in the traditional sense, SGR doesn’t offer a website listing all of its Magic: The Gathering singles they have for purchase, nor do they sell Warhammer products like paints, at least not as part of their regular stock. But they do offer a decent selection of packs of TCGs and CCGs, and they have a few binders filled with valuable MtG cards to flip through. You can also find a collection of board games they’ve accumulated either from direct purchase or second-hand sales. And, of course, they have a stack of Dungeons & Dragons guidebooks for purchase.

But what SGR lacks in table-top-specific products, they make up for in the sheer breadth of their stock. I consider the store to be a local wonder, where anyone can go in and lose themselves should they allow themselves to browse.

I could spend all day writing about Sound Go Round (I’m not exaggerating), but a store like this is best experienced first hand. If you’re passing through Vestal or have a free spot on the weekend, definitely stop in, and you’ll see what I mean; there’s not another place like it (at least not around here!)

That’s it for this edition. I’m always eager to know more about the goings-on of table top gaming in our communities, but I can only keep my ear to the ground for so long before my back starts acting up, so if you have any information regarding any local game stores, local game creators, or special local events, let me know! Send any info to LocallySourced@wskg.org.

Take care, travelers, and I’ll see you at the next Waypoint!

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Hello and welcome to Put Down The Tablet! This is the column where my daughter Josie and I seek out fun activities across our coverage area while our devices are recharging. While we wait for the weather to warm up, we found a couple of indoor events to keep us busy.

One of Josie’s favorite summer activities is to help me in the garden, and we found some flora fun as we checked out the Southern Tier Orchid Society’s 40th Annual Show, held in Johnson City the first weekend of May. Josie and her cousin Isabelle were fascinated by these interesting plants and there was a scavenger hunt that helped us identify the unique characteristics of each orchid. There were prizes for best area orchids as well as demonstrations and talks throughout the two day event. 

It was the first flower show for all of us and we are planning on coming back next year when we might actually be brave enough to buy an orchid instead of just tote bags. For more information about local orchid activities and to receive news about next year’s annual show please visit Southern Tier Orchids.

This past weekend we went from orchids to opera as Josie experienced her first performance at Binghamton’s long running Tri-Cities Opera center! We dressed up and attended the Pocket Opera Project which does an amazing job making this challenging medium accessible to music fans of all ages. The mini (or “pocket”) operas are based on winning entries from WSKG’s Student Writing Challenge so the subject matter is certainly not the standard fare. This year’s performances featured opera about legos, bananas, cryptids, mermaids (Josie’s favorite) and even a world-wide ant invasion in the grand finale! 

While the subject matter might be off kilter, the performances from the amazing resident artists at TCO were all top notch. Jason Gonzalez, Michael Segura, Kate Johnson and Darya Narymanava all sang and acted magnificently while being accompanied by a small set of musicians near the stage. Not surprisingly, I ended up watching Josie’s reaction just as much as the performance itself and she was engaged and entertained throughout the 75 minute runtime. This is the 4th edition of the Pocket Opera Project, but the first with the addition of ‘super titles’ above the stage. Josie was happy to be able to read along to the action! She was so taken by the pageantry of the performance that she now wants to take acting lessons this summer. Who knows, maybe there will be a Pioch Performance at the Pocket Opera in ten years! For more information about the Pocket Opera Project or Tri-Cities Opera’s 2026-27 season please visit their website at Tri-Cities Opera.