Tag Archives: Manlius New York

Mia Galletta Home & Design

The Yard, at 604 E. Manlius Street, Manlius, New York 13104, is a conglomeration of shoppes, cafés and such built on the site of a 19th century lumber yard.  They have a brewery on-site as well, and often schedule festive musical events.

The newest resident of The Yard is Mia Galletta Home & Design.  This shoppe is located at the top of the compound, next to Café Jarosz and adjacent to the parking lot.  Open from noon-5:00 PM Wednesday – Sunday, Mia Galletta sells an eclectic mix of furniture, home furnishings and women’s accessories while also offering her services as a real estate agent for Howard Hanna.  This includes home buying and selling, and home staging with some custom design options.

It is a powerfully vibrant space – fuchsia and lime walls, tangerine chairs, floral motif pillows and colorful resin chunky jewelry abound.  If you are looking for bright options, this is your jam – but you will need to be quick because it is mostly bespoke and my thought is the store will look different each week due to sales.  She’s only been in business for two-weeks so far and has already had to redecorate due to sales.  The merchandise is very reasonably priced.  It’s a fun shopping experience!

I hadn’t seen Mia in over forty years – we graduated high school together.  Since then she has graduated from FIT and worked in the fashion industry, mainly in accessory design, in New York City (where she still keeps an apartment) and oversees, even working in China for a time!  She recently returned to this area to be closer to family and will remain here at least a year – the duration of her store lease.

Welcome back, Mia!

Suburban Sketching

I have been getting emails from the Urban Sketchers group.  I decided to visit them in action today.  They have monthly gatherings all over the Syracuse area.  Today they set up around the swan ponds in Manlius, New York (Route 92).  Some artists preferred sketching the buildings in the area.  They were only there from 1:30-3:30 PM.

Urban Sketchers is an international organization.  The Central New York branch artists are currently exhibiting  their work at the Baldwinsville Public Library. 33 East Genesee Street
Baldwinsville, NY 13027.  The show runs through October 2024.

If you are interested in joining this group, they have a group page on Facebook.  They’ve posted more pictures of the event there.  So fun!

Tashkovski Gallery @ AFL Studio

I opened a gallery pop-up shop at AFL Studio, 301 East Seneca Street, Manlius, New York 13104. Current shop hours are Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM. And possibly by appointment (TBA) – this is all very new. You can contact me via artist@karentash.com.

I am exhibiting four different series of paintings –

  • a dozen encaustic heart paintings with stands
  • eight paintings from my new Arcadia series (encaustic targets with stands)
  • thirteen 18″ x 24″ paintings from the Talisman series (oil & collage)
  • four 36″ x 36″ Target paintings (oil & collage)
  • twenty-seven bracelets mostly from the Rock & Roll series (with vintage pins)
  • one peacock feather choker (more to follow – I have several of them)

I will accept payment through PayPal (cash works too). I do not have a Venmo account yet.

It feels amazing to see this work grouped together. I already had one conversation with a patron that felt overwhelmingly positive. I’m so grateful.

Thank you, Amanda, for this wonderful opportunity!

The Shipping Container Side Hustle

Singer Ashley Cox of Professional Victims, Fondu and solo career fame has opened a shipping container boutique, called Black Whisker Vintage, at The Yard in Manlius, New York.

In it, along with a partner called Dave, they sell vintage items to include accessories, toys, trinkets and tchotchkes. It is curated with an upbeat and fun flair.

The store is only open on weekends, I believe, but Sunday may be the best time to go, because at 3:00 PM on Sundays, she hosts an open mike in the little stage area adjacent to the shipping container stores. So fun!

The Yard is located at 604 East Seneca Street, Manlius, New York 13104.

It is branded as an artisan collective nestled on the land once occupied by the Hale lumber yard (I wonder if they would let me metal detect it? OMG!)

Call (315) 604-8064 for more information including hours of operation.

ISO Fish Fry – Cafe Jarosz

I took a trip to The Yard in Manlius, New York and discovered Cafe Jarosz. Fried haddock was on the menu!

Presentation: I received my order from the food truck and it was presented as a tower of fish – I think there were three pieces in the bun propped on a bed of crinkle cut fries. Coleslaw had been placed in a small container. The meal came with tartar sauce and ketchup. It was $15.

Taste: The fish batter had a Kentucky Fried Chicken flavor. Crispy and tender and so fun to eat. The coleslaw tasted traditional and the fries too. Everything felt very much, like, familiar.

I’m not a huge fan of food trucks – that whole temporary thing weirds me out or maybe it is because it’s a road vehicle that combines moving around the region with cooking that doesn’t seem sanitary. But, with that said, this meal is probably up there in the Karen Tash local fish fry Hall of Fame, which has not yet been established but sounds like high praise so I will allow it and thank my past self when the time comes to reveal it. Yes, it was really that good!

Restaurant Experience: I guess The Yard had that fun “let’s explore this place” factor, which lead from the bar to the cafe to the food truck and the outdoor seating area, and that adventure was lovely. It was a beautiful day and I wondered how the businesses faired in poorer climate conditions.

I imagined becoming a vendor to sell my art and jewelry but in that daydream, it would always need to be a gorgeous seventy-eight degree weather day and I would need more variety in the menu choices of Cafe Jarosz, because haddock is a Friday only special (and very if-fy on Saturdays)

Location: The Yard is located at 604 E Seneca St, Manlius, NY 13104. Cafe Jarosz is a small eat-in restaurant with a food truck parked in the rear that exists within The Yard compound, which includes a mall style shopping experience paired with artisan shops housed in old shipping containers and an outdoor space with a fully stocked bar/brewery.

Parking: There is a long row of parking spaces to the left of the property with handicapped parking in the middle. It wasn’t that busy at 3;30 PM on Saturday because they didn’t have any live music scheduled at that time, but I believe it gets more traffic in the evenings.

The History of Suburbia

Back in the day, we all had a moment or two at Suburban Park. It was an amusement park located in Manlius, New York. The last time Kathy and I were there was the last time that she was taller than me.

The site is now an apartment complex called…wait for it…

Suburban Park.

There is a sweet exhibit of items from the defunct park on view at the Manlius Historical Society, 109 Pleasant Street, Manlius, New York 13104. The museum is only open on Saturdays from 11:00 to 3:00 pm.

Yesterday, I was greeted by Sue Collin, lifelong Manlius resident and volunteer at the museum. We talked about our concern that history may be lost on today’s youth and shared our mutual hope that schools will educate students on local history in addition to whatever social studies curriculum is mandated.

Much of Suburban Park has been lost to history. Rides were left to deteriorate and later demolished to make way for the apartment complex.

I belong to a Facebook group about Suburban Park where people reflect on their memories while sharing pictures and memorabilia. Truth be told, I don’t have memories of the place, just pictures that prove I’d been there. I was probably two years old, maybe two-and-a-half in these pictures.

The museum also has this bit of history on the development of Green Lakes State Park. Someone should write a book about this. I would love a coffee table book with all of these pictures. So amazing!

The Manlius Historical Society & Museum is small but it packs a punch. Thank you, Sue, for such a lovely experience. I enjoyed meeting you!

Call (315) 682-6660 for more information or email them at manliushistory@gmail.com. You can also visit the Cheney House Research Center located right next door. I believe they are open on Thursdays or you can schedule an appointment. <3