Celebrate your American heritage at fall fest

CORNWALL-Jazz singer and composer Judi Silvano and storyteller Jonathan Kruk will perform at the Museum of the Hudson Highlands during its third annual American Heritage Festival on Saturday, Oct. 2. Silvano will perform songs sung around the home fires 200 years ago. She was voted a "Top 10 Jazz Vocalist" three times in Down Beat magazine and has made five recordings. She is known for her collaborations with Grammy-winning tenor sax artist Joe Lovano. She is preparing for the fall release of her own Zoho Records CD, "Let Yourself Go!" A familiar face in the Hudson Valley and beyond, storyteller Kruk performs in period costume to spin tales of spies and patriots of the Highlands during the American Revolution, with help from children dressed in tricorn hats and bonnets. He will unfold a legend of the islands beneath Bannerman's Castle and a few other tales. His work has been seen on the History Channel and the Travel Channel, among others, and during the Halloween season he's the resident storyteller at Historic Hudson Valley's "Legend Weekend." Other events at the festival will include Colonial-era craftsmen, from weavers to beekeepers, demonstrating their skills; a 4-H group's petting zoo, and tractor-pulled hayrides through the fall fields. Children will practice dipping their own candles, making cornhusk dolls, or writing with quills. A regiment of Revolutionary War soldiers will engage in musket firing and drills, and make an encampment. There will also be a crafts fair, farmers' market, and a dogs' sheepherding demonstration. The cost is $5 per person, which includes parking. The museum is located on Rt. 9W in Cornwall. For more information, call 534-5506 or visit www.museumhudsonhighlands.org.