NEW YORK—The clouds parted this weekend in Ulster County, N.Y., and rays of sun dispelled the gloom that has lingered in the wake of Tropical Storm Irene.
After weeks of assessing damages, trying to keep business afloat without power or phone service, and avoiding flooded roads, residents were ready to get out of the house and celebrate the first bit of nice weather that's come their way since Irene.
“It was nice to see smiling faces after Irene,” said Janet Nurre of the New Paltz Chamber of Commerce. She reports that 7,000 people came together on Sunday for this year's Taste of New Paltz festival in Ulster County, which features local wine and food tasting; that's 2,000 more attendees than last year.
The region certainly lost out during part of its prime tourism season, says Nurre, but the sun is soaking up the water and people are returning to their upstate reprieve with renewed enthusiasm.
Some of the local businesses featured at this weekend's foodie festival took a hard hit from Irene, but they are on the mend. The problems ranged from inoperative phone lines—an inconvenience to restaurants—to floods in low-lying areas, which wiped out farmers' crops.
Wallkill View Farm was devastated. The Ferrante family owns the farm; they lost a large portion of their crops, especially pumpkins and corn. Six feet of water ran through their farm stand.
The community came together to raise funds for the farm's recovery and the Ferrante's salvaged what crops they could. They are now open for business again.
“It was devastating for the area, but everyone jumped back and business is pretty much as usual,” says Gunter Spilhaus of the Minnewaska Lodge in New Paltz.
Pumpkins might be hard to come by this jack-o-lantern season, according to The Associated Press, as flooding upstate has drowned many pumpkins and left others moldy. Farmers that managed to save some of theirs could get as much as double the price for them.
Wright Farm in Ulster County has lots of pumpkins harvested and ready for carving.
“We're on high ground,” explained Tammy Boylan of Wright’s Farm. The wet season had its advantages for Boylan.
“We didn't have to irrigate this year, an expense that Mother Nature saved us,” said Boylan. Her apples grew larger due to the heavy rain, and the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York also reports its farmers saw a better crop of apples than usual.
The New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets has a pot of $15 million to distribute to farmers in the form of grants and low-interest loans. Department spokesperson Michael Moran says it is too soon to tell how low the interest will be or what portion of the funds will be distributed as grants.
Diane Lawrence, whose hardware business in Greene County sustained damage from Irene, scoffed at the 6 percent interest loan offered to her by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA).
“According to them that's 'low-interest',” said Lawrence. “I don't think that's a big help for the government to take 6 percent from people who are devastated.”
Ulster and Greene counties are both calling on the state to provide more aid. Historically, FEMA provides about 75 percent of disaster relief funds, the state provides 12.5 percent, and local governments cover the remaining 12.5 percent.
“Ulster County has towns with damages well into the millions, and some with tax bases of less than 300 residents, the ability of a town to shoulder that cost is a financial impossibility,” said County Executive Mike Hein, according to a county press release.
