Heard Up North

(05/23/12) The Canton Farmer's Market opened last week. While most of the vendors rely on their table display to catch the customer's eye, one tent calls on the customer's olfactory system.

(05/21/12) Potsdam considers the future of village its police department. New Yorkers and Vermonters celebrate the opening of the new Lake Champlain Bridge. And, Heard Up North, singing American Woodcocks announce spring--and look for mates.

(05/21/12) Every spring, a Department of Environmental Conservation biologist drives along north country highways at dawn or dusk, stopping every so often to pull over and listen. They're listening for the distinctive "peent" of the singing American woodcock, a brown speckled bird a little larger than a songbird with a long, narrow beak for pulling earthworms out of the ground.

The little game bird is under threat New York state, and the survey each year is meant to get a handle on what population trends are in this region. DEC regional spokesman Stephen Litwhiler is the happy host to several of the birds in his backyard in southern Jefferson County. He says the birds' appearance each year is his personal "harbinger of spring."

For this Heard Up North, reporter Joanna Richards donned camouflage and hid behind the birds' favorite tree in Litwhiler's backyard to get a close-up look - and listen. more

(05/03/12) Canton Central School is evacuated after a bomb scare. Our series on traditional work continues, with a taxidermist who lets us in on some of how he does, what he does. And, Heard Up North, a general store in Huevelton opens its doors to local artists and craftspeople.

(05/03/12) This past Monday the Pickens General Store hosted its first local Artisan Showcase. Pickens General Store in Heuvelton features handmade goods and crafts by the Amish the rest of the year. But this past Monday, the store opened its doors to all local artists and crafts people, with the hopes of fostering new partnerships.

Pickens Hall is a three story stone building, 65 feet wide and 74 feet deep. In the mid eighteen hundreds John Pickens built it so that his daughters, the world-traveling performance duo The Abbot Sisters, could have a place to perform at home. The great hall is on the third floor and is currently being restored. Pickens Store is on the first and second floors.

Kyle and Sally Hartman were lead organizers for Monday's showcase.

(04/19/12) They say fashion is cyclical. On today's Heard Up North, Tasha Haverty takes us to one of the North Country's most glamorous evenings of the year: the semi-annual Women's Clothing Swap at the Canton Free Library.

(04/16/12) 15 years ago Ben and Jerry's teamed up with Vermont band Phish to create their now-famous ice cream flavor, Phish Food. On Saturday they aimed for another accomplishment, setting a record for the world's largest cowbell ensemble while raising money for flood relief in Vermont.

1600 people wearing spotted T-shirts, eating free ice cream, and waving cowbells packed onto Church Street. Phish drummer John Fishman led them in classic rock covers. The first song: 1968 hit "Time Has Come Today," by the Chambers Brothers.

Sarah Harris brings us the sound of a 1600 cowbell interpretation for today's Heard Up North.

(04/13/12) Governor Cuomo issued an executive order yesterday establishing a healthcare exchange in New York--we'll get the details on that. Brian Mann talks with Queensbury state assembly candidate Dan Stec, about his positions and his campaign strategy. And, Heard Up North, what's changed, trash-wise, over the last few decades.

(04/13/12) The last landfill in St. Lawrence County closed in 1992, right around the time that New York State mandated recycling. Joe Levine has worked for the county's Solid Waste Department for a quarter of a century. Tasha Haverty paid Joe a visit at his job.

(04/11/12) Big news for towns affected by Irene--the state's going to pick up a LOT more of the costs associated with the disaster. A Boonville springwater company is set to add 60 full-time jobs. Plattsburgh's only Tibetan family owns the city's only Tibetan restaurant. And Heard Up North: planting according to the phase of the moon.