Spring may have arrived this year via a colorful shooting star streaking across the Hudson Valley sky — or so say the many people who witnessed the event Friday evening at dusk.

In any case, the annual welcome of the spring season will be celebrated this afternoon at Sloatsburg’s very own Harmony Hall, beginning at  2 p.m. through 5 p.m., and will feature live music, spring slide shows, a nature walk and a bit of replenishing refreshments.

Harmony Hall Curator Geoff Welch has orchestrated an inviting day of activities to help welcome in warmer weather.

“Spring is my favorite season to play music,” Welch said. “I look forward to this afternoon as friends and some that are new to our seasonal gatherings enjoy the historic setting of the 1848 Harmony Hall Parlor and celebrate the depth and beauty of nature.”

The afternoon’s guests include Friends of Sterling Forest Educator Doc Bayne, who will show a 1950’s short film of the environmentally questionable draining of wetlands for the building of the Sterling Forest Gardens, which were a tourist sensation during the mid 20th century. Ray Clyne will share a presentation on amazing fungi, set to some funky music, and Welch himself will provide a spring slide show displaying a colorful diorama-like highlands landscape set to original music blended with haunting Celtic folk song melodies and atmospheric keyboard music.

Timber Rattlesnake expert extraordinaire Randy Stechert is also scheduled to make an appearance.

The event is presented by the Town of Ramapo and Friends of Harmony Hall and will be the last official event at the historical Jacob Sloat House before the long-scheduled restoration activities start later this spring that will include a new roof and cupola and restoration of the mansion’s front verandah, entry doors and transom.

Harmony Hall is the original name for the Jacob Sloat House, designed and built by the man himself back in 1848. The mansion is listed on the National Registry of Historic Places and is a wealth of cultural and community activity. The Friends of Harmony Hall is the member organization that works behind the scenes to promote Harmony Hall, the history of Sloatsburg, and its place as part of New York’s Ramapo River Pass and Highlands environments.

Photos courtesy of Geoff Welch.