Hours: M-Thu 11-9, Fri-Sat 11-5, Sun 1-5
Closed Dates: May 10 Mother’s Day, May 25 Memorial Day
Director: Maria Gagliardi

Board of Trustees:
Mary Ellen Ledwith, President
Charles Shimel, Vice President
Dr. Carol Stewart, Secretary
Lisette George, Treasurer
Gerry Miras
Susan Nemesdy
William Saum
Sharon Schmetterer
Kathryn Shattuck
David Shire
Dr. Lynn Sykes

Sunday Symposium (palisades people):
Toni Morrison in Conversation with Adam Gopnik
Sunday, May 31, 3:30-5:00 at the IBM Palisades Executive Conference Center, Dolce Hotels & Resorts, 334 Route 9W Palisades.

Our neighborhood Nobel Laureate novelist (Jazz, Song of Solomon, Beloved, A Mercy) and Pulitzer Prize winner Toni Morrison in conversation with The New Yorker’s brilliant essayist and critic Adam Gopnik (Paris to the Moon, Through the Children’s Gate, Angels and Ages). Suggested donation $10.

EVENTS CALENDAR

Space is limited, so please call or stop by to register. All programs are free and held at the Library, unless otherwise noted.

Adults
MONDAY MAY 4, 7:00
Database Series: Yesterday’s News. Learn how to find that article you know you read.

MONDAY MAY 18, 7:30
Book Discussion. A Mercy by Toni Morrison.

MONDAY JUNE 15, 7:30
Your Digital Footprint. What you can do to protect your privacy online. All ages.

Children
EVERY WEDNESDAY
At 1:30 Story Time for ages 3-K with Nancy Russell

WEDNESDAY MAY 6, 4:30 - 6:00
Make it for Mom. Make some goodies and a card for Mom or Grandma. Ages 5+

THURSDAY MAY 21, 4:30 – 6:00
Play Ball! Learn about the history of baseball cards, how to read stats, and play baseball card games. Ages 8+

WEDNESDAY JUNE 10, 4:30 - 6:00
Decorate it for Dad. Make some goodies and a card for Dad or Grandpa. Ages 5+

TUESDAY JUNE 16, 4:30 - 5:30
Barnyard Hoe-Down. Stories and crafts about the farm. Play Old MacDonald Bingo. Ages 2 1/2 - 4.

Teens
EVERY MONDAY
7:00 Monday Night Knitting

TUESDAY MAY 5, 7:00 - 8:00
Celebrate Cinco de Mayo by decorating a piñata and sampling popular Mexican snacks.

THURSDAY MAY 14, 7:00 – 8:30
Movie Night - Ferris Bueller’s Day Off. Got Spring Fever? Take the day off with this teen classic.

THURSDAY JUNE 4, 7:30 – 8:30
What do YOU want to read this summer? Meet us at Barnes & Noble at the Palisades Mall and choose books you would like the Library to add to the collection.

TUESDAY JUNE 16, 7:00 – 8:30
Movie Night - Goonies!

TUESDAY JUNE 30, 7:00 - 8:00
Cover Up. Decorate a cover for a book of cross words, word finds, and other games.

Charley Garrison’s Busy Season

by Alice Gerard, Chairman of the Palisades Free Library Historical Committee

Shad barge on shore in 1980
(Click to enlarge)

Every spring during the 1940s, just before the forsythia bloomed, Charley Garrison would get ready for the first shad run. Charley, then in his 60s, lived in a driftwood and tar-paper shack down by the river, next to the marsh, with his dog Rags. New York’s American shad are highly prized by fisherman — their Latin name is Sapidissima, which means “most delicious” — but shad fishing is hard work. First Charley had to cut and sharpen long, thin oak poles. Then he used his two shad barges, hitched together with a platform between them, to carry the poles out and set them deep into the mud not far from the shore and at right angles to the current. Sometimes Charley had to harness a heavy cross-piece to the pole, put a man on each side of the cross piece, and have them jump up and down in unison. Once the poles were set and the net attached, the net had to be checked twice a day, at high tide, for about six weeks. The shad taken from the net were sorted into roes and bucks — roes were worth about four times what bucks were worth — put on ice and sent to the market.

A series of flowering plants traced the progress of the fishing season. When forsythia bloomed, shad were in the river and it was time to fish. The shadbush marked the high point of the season, the peak of the catch. Then came the dogwood run, and finally, the biggest and best shad of the year were caught at the end of the season when the lilacs bloomed. One of Charley's shad barges in 1980