Mount Ida Preservation Association

Happy #MountIdaMonday everyone! While not a great ending with the rain and chilly weather yesterday, we hope everyone had a great Mothers Day! This week we are happy to announce that two of our Neighborhood Improvement Grant projects got approved this following Thursday! Our main project is the replacement of a decrepit section of our main sidewalk going from the sidewalk along Congress Street into our main activity room entrance on the West side of our building. The $921.8...3 grant will allow us to provide a safer way to enter our building for events held in the Mount Ida Preservation Hall and for our most crucial asset, the Mount Ida Food Pantry. Currently the food pantry is open to those in need in our neighborhood every Saturday from 10am to 11:45am. Aside from this time, deliveries and preparation occur weekly and a new sidewalk will allow for a easier, safer way to perform these activities. We are eager to get this project underway! Our second project is to beautify our neighborhood including the grounds of the Mount Ida Preservation Association, the Pawling Park and the Old Mount Ida Cemetery. The $537.00 will be used towards mulch, flowers, wreaths and paint for these areas! Before and after photos will be coming with these as well!

A rainy #MountIdaMonday today for everyone, but this past weekend was nothing but cool, sunny weather! With the gorgeous weather we were able to have both of our scheduled events! Saturday we co-hosted the Narrows Trail Workday at the Burden Pond Preserve with Dig The Falls and Rennselaer Land Trust and what a productive day it was! Finalized the Phase 1 section of the trail and the first kiosk went up! See pictures below! On Sunday, the Mount Ida Food Pantry hosted the Moun...t Ida Community Awarrness Day at the Preservation Hall. This event highlighted the entire food pantry operation, composting efforts in the neighborhood and even had Stewarts Shops ice cream! This coming Sunday, June 20th, is our first Volunteer Workday at the Preservation Hall from 11am to 2pm that coincides with our next Sunday Cookout! Come join us as we continue work on improving our Preservation Hall for all to enjoy or just grab a bite to eat! Hope to see you there!

Happy Mothers Day from all of us at the Mount Ida Preservation Association!Happy Mothers Day from all of us at the Mount Ida Preservation Association!

Happy #MountIdaMonday! Another gorgeous, but very hot, weekend in the neighborhood. We have two great events coming up this next weekend! 1). Did you know that the Mount Ida Food Pantry operates rain or shine, in extreme heat and extreme cold to serve our community? Well this amazing operations is run completely by volunteers every Saturday morning from 10am to 11:45am. This coming Sunday, June 13th from 12:00pm to 2:00pm, is the "Mount Ida Community Awareness Day". The Foo...d Pantry and the Preservation Association will be offering tours of their operations and the Preservation Hall itself. This unique opportunity will allow our community to see the work that the Food Pantry does, answer any questions you may have, and see how you can also help! 2). On June 12th, from 9am to 1pm is the next trail workday on the Narrows: Cascade and Heritage Trail with DigtTheFalls, Rensselaer Land Trust, and the Mount Ida Preservation Association! We will be meeting at the parking lot adjacent to the Burden Pond Dam and the former Barna's store on Campbell Avenue. We hope to see you at both events! We hope to see you there!

This coming saturday! Another amazing volunteer opportunity in our community! We hope to see you all there!

Mark your calendars neighbors! We’ve put together an ambitious schedule for the year with the goal of bringing our community back together. All proceeds from the events will support the restoration of Mount Ida Preservation Hall as a community, art, and history center. We look forward to celebrating summer with you! Happy #MountIdaMonday May 19th The Flight to Save History Did you know Mt Ida Preservation Hall was built in 1869 or the pine tree out front was donated by the ...Queen of England? Discuss this and other Troy historical facts over a beer at 518 Craft. Wednesday evening, proceeds from the sale of flights at 518 Craft will support the repair of Mount Ida Preservation Hall. If you needed an excuse to imbibe, here it is! May 23rd Honor Your Community BBQ It’s BBQ season! We will be honoring several members of our community with the planting of a Japanese Maple Tree donated for this purpose. Come see your neighbors, enjoy some BBQ, and celebrate your community on the lawn at Mount Ida Hall. June 20th Volunteer Event We have a couple big projects that just need a little community power to bring them to fruition. Put your volunteer hat on, and join us! July 18th MIPA Summer Series: Walk-in Movie Theater Come to the kick-off event of our Summer Series: a mini walk-in movie! Bring a blanket and snacks and enjoy an old fashioned movie-on-a-sheet on the lawn of Mount Ida Hall. August 21st MIPA Summer Series: Lawn Games Mini Tournament The heat is on! Enter your team to compete in the First Ever Mount Ida Games Tournament. September 19th MIPA Summer Series: Walk-in Movie Theater If you missed our first movie night event or are coming back for more, this is your chance! Bring a blanket and snacks and join us for our second movie-on-a-sheet on the lawn of Mount Ida Hall. October 24th Cemetery History Tours For many members of our community, the stories of those buried at Old Mount Ida Cemetery are untold. Enter the world of years past on a guided walk through the Old Mount Ida Cemetery for the history that spawned the spirits now resting in your neighborhood. December 5th Annual Holiday Dinner Spread holiday cheer with your friends next door at the third Annual Mount Ida Holiday Dinner! Keep an eye to our website (www.mountidatroy.org) & facebook for details and updates on events as these days come up! P.S. Don't miss the return of Mount Ida Brunch! Every 3rd Sunday at Mount Ida Preservation Hall starting up again in May!

With the not so good looking weather over the past and through the next few days, we know that the Mt.Ida Falls will be flowing! You can safely view the falls from the Poestenkill Gorge Viewing Area between the Cookie Factory and the Mount Ida Preservation Association along Congress Street or from the gorge trail behind the railings at the Poesten Kill Gorge Park! Dig The Falls #enjoytroy #poestenkillgorge Enjoy Troy Co. Troy, NY - City Hall

One week until this great event!

Happy Memorial Day to all who gave their yesterday for our tomorrow. We remember the many residents of our neighborhood who gave it all for our country. Our flag is waving high today in honor of their sacrifice.

Happy #MountIdaMonday to our great community! We had our first event of the year yesterday with our first cookout on our lawn! It was great to see everyone and have some great conversations and food to eat! We unveiled our memorial garden which will be dedicated at a later date (future post for a formal event). Just as a reminder our next board meeting is on June 9th at the Preservation Hall and our next event is on June 12th at the Burden Pond Preserve for the Narrows trail ...workday. We have an open house for the Mount Ida Food Pantry on June 13th and lastly our next volunteer day and cookout on June 20th at 11am! We hope to see you there!

Happy #MountIdaMonday to our over 1,000 Social Media (Facebook and Instagram) Followers and Likes! We hit the milestone last week and are humbled by how large our community has become! While our social media following has expanded, did you know that the Mount Ida Preservation Association has a website? We have been revamping the website over the past few months with more work to go! Go and check it out yourself at mountidatroy.org Be sure to keep an eye out for our next #MountIdaMonday in one week!

Happy #MountIdaMonday everyone! Another cold weekend in the books and we hope everyone has a great week ahead! We recently has a post looking for everyone interested in participating in a neighborhood group to help restore the Poesten Kill Gorge Park on Linden Avenue! We received many messages and emails from our community and they will be contacted soon about setting up the first virtual planning meeting in the near future. With this, we also wanted to highlight other proj...ects volunteers from our organization have been a part of. Starting in 2019, work began on the The Narrows: Cascades & Heritage Trail, that when completed will connect the Mohawk-Hudson Bikeway via the Troy-Menands Bridge with the Burden Pond Preserve, John B. Staalesen Vanderheyden Preserve, Poesten Kill Gorge Park and Prospect Park. This trail will eventually be expanded to include access to the Poesten Kill Bends Preserve and the future trails at Ida Lake. Our volunteers, along with Dig The Falls - Waterfalls of New York have been there since the first work day helping clean up and build new sections of trail. When this trail is completed it will be an asset for all of Troy and surrounding communities to enjoy. With the formation of the many neighborhood groups to look after these parks, a bright future is ahead!

Happy #MountIdaMonday everyone! While we postponed our usual monday post to tuesday, we still wanted to share some exciting news! Thanks to the donation of time and materials from a few of our board members we have begun the processes of replacing our failing 60 year old fluorescent light fixtures with brand new LED flush mount dome lights! With these upgraded lights we are able to cut down from 24 to 21 light fixtures and save over 60% in our electrical costs! We cannot wai...t to finish the installation over the coming weeks! Lastly, a long waited project has finally begun. Around the same time as the flourescent fixutres were installed, the original downstairs doors were covered over with wood paneling that has begun to peel and discolor over time. On Monday we removed the first of these doors, peeled the paneling off and begun to strip the construction adhesive and its original paint and varnish. The goal of this project is to repair, repaint and rehang these doors to all their glory! We will keep everyone updated on these projects over the coming months! Stay tuned from next week's #MountIdaMonday! Have a great week!

Happy Martin Luther King Day to our amazing community. We are postponing our #MountIdaMonday to tomorrow in observance of this holiday.

No #MountIdaMonday this week as we are taking a break after a busy few weeks from the holidays. We would like to share that our beautiful hall is now lit up every night thanks to some generous equipment donations!

Happy #mountidamonday everyone! We are moving through 2021 with some new projects! This coming Wednesday is our first Board Meeting of the year. We are going to discuss and outline our goals for the year. We do hope to eventually see the return of our monthly brunches later this year once we are able too. One question we have for our great community is what do you want to see from the Mount Ida Preservation Association? Our community comes first and we want to make sure you ...are involved in all that we do! Comment below or send us a message/email with anything you would like us to address or do! Have a great week! Best Regards, MIPA

Happy #MountIdaMonday! and Happy New Year! In our first week we wanted to highlight one of our members and his incredible art: Doug Lolik is a 20 year resident of the Mount Ida neighborhood of Troy. He is a retired interior designer who has made art of all sorts ever since he was a kid. The work that he has made since living here, he attributes to a strong emotional bond he has developed with Mount Ida, Troy, and the 1882 house where he and his partner live. The man who bu...ilt their house was the carpenter contractor who built the Mount Ida Preservation Hall and the Farnum Hall across the street. Doug tells a story that a psychic, when hearing he was considering a move to the Mount Ida neighborhood of Troy, told him "That house was made for art, did you know that?" and "There is a spirit in that house named Sarah who wants you there!" Doug later discovered in his Mount Ida home that Sarah was the wife of Thomas Cordwell who built the house! Doug has found The Poestenkill has kept his inspiration flowing ever since. It’s a little known fact there is just a touch of magic in the Mount Ida Neighborhood. If you like Doug’s art, you may make a donation to Mount Ida Preservation Association and receive one of the featured pieces through a generous art gift program of Doug’s own design as his way of giving back to the community! Simply message us and we’ll put you in contact with Doug even if you just have questions! If you want to see images in person The Placid Baker, 250 Broadway, Troy, NY has donated their wall space for the display of these pieces in support of the fundraising effort. Doug plans to continue this program for various non-profits in Troy.

While we know it is not a Monday, it is a #MtIdaMonday to us! We delayed our usual Monday post to today as it is #GivingTuesday. This is an important day for not-for-profits across America, especially during these uncertain times. While we usually highlight something about the building or project with today being Giving Tuesday we are going to highlight the people who make it all happen: Our Volunteers! Volunteers from Mount Ida Preservation Association have helped or are h...Continue reading

Happy Thanksgiving everyone! We are so thankful for all of our members and our surrounding community. While this has been a trying year, we hope everyone has a healthy and joyous holiday. We would like to like to send many thanks to our great volunteers that worked our brunches, programs cookouts and especially our great team of volunteers at the Mount Ida Food Pantry who give so much to your local neighborhood every week! Have a great holiday everyone!

Most people do not get to see the bell ringing in action during todays Downtown Troy Business Improvement District's Ringing in the Holidays event! The bells are being rung by a pully and lever system that is 150 years old!

Stay tuned at 11:45am tomorrow, 11/25/2020, as we ring our grand Meneely Bell's as part of Downtown Troy Business Improvement District's Holiday Shopping Season Kickoff! We will be one of the many historic buildings/organizations joining in on this special event for our local buisnesses! #shoplocalsupportlocal #enjoytroy

Happy #MountIdaMonday everyone! Today we are celebrating the commencement of our first major exterior renovation in over ten years. This renovation is the first half of our Secure the Building & Save the Food Pantry fundraising campaign. $20,000 raised so far! WOW! Sincere, thank you to every one of our contributors! Thanks to your contributions work has begun on the replacement of the eaves with historically accurate pine wood, to be given a new coat of red paint. In additio...n, patches of the roof will be repaired with slate also in the fashion of the original design. Fundraising efforts continue to complete the second half of the campaign to repair the steeple masonry. Completion of these campaign goals will secure the building from the corrosive elements of nature, allowing for the food pantry to continue their operations serving hundreds of families in need and for Mount Ida Preservation Association to continue our work bringing life back to the Hall. Our Secure the Building & Save the Food Pantry campaign is the first of five phases in a long term plan to make Mount Ida Preservation Hall the cultural icon of the neighborhood as an arts and community center. We want you to imagine the red trim, restored gothic masonry, and scenic lights illuminating the steeple as a home to festive concerts, thought-provoking theater, and a community space for family and club gatherings. We want you to imagine an overlook deck extending from the back of the property over the Poestenkill Gorge Falls to create one of the most beautiful vistas in Troy. We want you to imagine a place in your neighborhood to appreciate your history and your future. We know times are hard right now and imagining community gatherings again can be tough, but that is also why now is more important than ever to be inspired and to give to the projects that will give you pride to see progress and a place to come together again. These renovations would not be possible without donations from our board of directors, members, and the community at large. We need you to commit with us to see this vision to its fruition, starting with the very first phase of stabilizing the exterior of the building, which we are already halfway through. We are a registered 501c3 non-profit organization; all donations are tax deductible. Use the Donate button on this post or use the links below to donate. For more options we are always here so feel free to contact us! 1). Through our website via PayPal: www.mountidatroy.org 2). Monthly with any amount you chose through our Patreon Account following the link below: https://www.patreon.com/mountIdatroy/membership