HOBART ALLIANCE CHANGES FOCUS FROM BUSINESS TO COMMUNITY

HOBART — For the last five years, a group of Hobart business members have worked hard to support each other, and to encourage businesses to work together for the improvement of the village and surrounding area. Now they would like to widen their mission to include interested village residents who, although they do not have a business in town, want to help the community to shine.

In 2005, Don Dales of Hobart invited his friends and neighbors to join him in a new and imaginative endeavor, one he called “The Book Village of the Catskills.” Based on Hay-on-Wye’s “town of books” in Wales, with a sly nod towards novelist Larry McMurtry’s legendary bibliophile’s retreat in Archer, Texas, Dales hoped that creating a “book village” would help restart this small, rural community’s, population 388, economic and cultural heart. Bill and Diana Adams had already opened their bookstore in 2003, so Dales opened two bookstores in his vacant store fronts. He passed those on to other people and proceeded to open more, and, over the years, the village became seven bookstores.

Dales, a key figure in transforming Hobart, New York, into the Hobart Book Village started with an idea:  Hobart was a “ghost town” when Dales, a retired piano teacher and furniture restorer, moved to the village in 1999. In a quixotic effort to revitalize the village, he bought several empty storefronts and offered businesses a year’s free rent.

Dales invited others to join him in this new endeavor, The Hobart Business Alliance. As the founder & leader, he set aside one evening a month, at his home, so there would be a forum for discussions. Barbara Balliet (Blenheim Hill Books, Kathy Duyer (Creative Corner Books) , Andrew Flach (Hatherleigh Press) & Kim Whritner (The Sheep's Nest) were early leaders of the effort.

Dales invited others to join him in this new endeavor. As the founder & leader, he set aside one evening a month, at his home, so there would be a forum for discussions. Barbara Balliet (Blenheim Hill Books, Andrew Flach (Hatherleigh Press) & Kim Whritner (The Sheep's Nest) were early leaders of the effort. Eventually, he opened his own bookstore, Mysteries and More, specializing in mysteries and science fiction.

“The Book Village was a loosely formed organization whose mission was to collectively support the 8 bookstores in Hobart,” says Don Thomases, President of the Hobart Business Alliance. “Don Dales felt that the village needed to expand the scope of that group to include other local businesses. The Sheep's Nest, Second Wind Antiques, Cellar Door Wines, and Hatherleigh Press would join the existing bookstores to explore ways to improve the business climate.

According to Kathy Duyer, owner of Creative Corner Books and New York Books & Ephemera, and a Hobart Business Alliance principal, the purpose of the Business Alliance was to support businesses in the village, and to get the businesses to work together for the improvement of the village and surrounding area. 

 “My husband and I moved to Hobart in October 2014,” says Kathy, a retired attorney from Maryland. “For a couple of years, we had been looking for an area in which to retire. We were living in the suburbs of Washington DC, and we did not want to stay any more. Too crowded, too busy, too expensive, too much traffic, too hot and humid in the summer. We had visited the Catskills a couple of times in the past, always in the spring or summer, and we liked it.”

The Duyers visited Hobart again in February when heavy snow blanketed the ground to look at houses they had seen listed online. “On a Sunday morning, we drove into Hobart on Route 10 and saw the sign for the Book Village of the Catskills. My husband and I were intrigued – we both love to read and to roam through bookstores. We kept our appointment to see a house and fell in love with the old Victorian. After our appointment, we walked down Main Street. We met Bill and Diana Adams at Adams’ Antiquarian Bookstore and told them we were considering buying a house in the village. They told us about their journey from Manhattan to Hobart and opening a bookstore in the village. On the way home that day, we decided to quit our jobs and move to Upstate New York! Two months later we bought that quirky Victorian house and a few months later we were moving to Hobart.

The bookstores are my vocation and my avocation – a labor of love but at one point, we realized we needed to support other village businesses,” Kathy explains.

“To support the businesses, the Hobart Business Alliance created information kiosks along the rail trail, both in Hobart and Stamford, with a map showing where local businesses were located. Businesses could pay for a sign to be added to the kiosks. 

“We also attended the monthly meetings of the Village of Hobart Board, to report to the Board on the activities of local businesses to establish a good relationship between the business community and the local government,” says Don Thomases.

Thomases, another founding member of the Hobart Business Alliance and its coordinator until December 2024, says that the Hobart Business Alliance's greatest strength was its clear focus on the needs of the community. 

“Projects which provided a clear focus and could be completed were a priority;” he says. “In the past four years, we built information kiosks along the Catskill Scenic Trail, raised money to refurbish the Little League Field, installed new holiday lights, created new history signs and ran a Hobart History Day.”

It was also, says Thomases, a “recognition that Hobart is more than bookstores.” It was around this time that Thomases became Coordinator of the Business Alliance and began attending Village meetings.

Don Thomases remained coordinator of the Hobart Business Alliance for about 5 years,” bookstore owner Kathy Duyer explains. “Last Fall he announced that he was stepping down as coordinator. It was suggested that it would be difficult for anyone running a small business to take over the position alone. Don suggested that a 3-person steering committee lead the group, and a committee was formed, meeting last Fall to decide how to divide the work of running the organization. During this transition period, “We also realized that there are many folks who care about Hobart who do not own their own stores, and we wanted to include them,” Thomases adds.

And so, the Hobart Community Alliance was born “to be more inclusive and responsive to the many voices of Hobart.”

Once again, Don Dales, Kathy Duyer, and Don Thomases are all contributing to a new structure, together with new members and innovative ideas.

The next Hobart Community Alliance meeting will be held on Thursday, October 30, 7 pm at the Hobart Community Center. Bring a friend.