Dutchess County Passport program

Top Photo: Irvin Miller and Cathy Whalen stamping the passport in Amenia

passport

On Cinqo de Mayo, the Dutchess County Tourism had an exchange of brochures from organizations all over Dutchess County at the Dutchess County Stadium in the Town of Fishkill. Mary Kay Vrba, the Executive Director of Tourism, kicked off the Passport Program in which an individual could have a “passport” stamped by each of the thirty cities, towns, and villages of Dutchess County.

Dr. Irvin Miller, director of the Math & Physics Exploration, decided to yield to his obsessive nature and see if he could accomplish this task. Starting with his home Town of LaGrange, he became the first person to have the town stamp his passport. Thirty towns, cities, and villages later at the Town of Amenia on May 11 at 12:30 P.M. he got his book stamped by deputy town clerk Cathy Whalen. He was the first one to have his passport stamped in 28 of the municipalities—missing out being first in the Town of Dover and the Village of Wappingers.

He had to deliver the stamp to the Village of Tivoli from the Towm of Red Hook because many of the villages got their stamps from the Town Clerks who had attended a meeting chaired by the Town Clerk of Pawling. In the Town of Fishkill he had to go back twice because the secretary to the Town Supervisor had the stamp.

To add some practicality to his venture, he gave brochures from the Math & Physics Exploration to every municipality though he missed the opportunity to give them the brochures to his math summer camp in August.

It was an opportunity to see the beauty of Dutchess County as he road past dozen of horse farms. His favorite village was that of Millerton where he had visited a number of times from the rail trail. Having lived in Dutchess County for over fifty years, he had already seen a lot of the county and most of the town halls. As an active runner during that time, he had run road races and long runs in the villages and towns giving him an opportunity to immerse himself in the rural beauty of the entire county.

The website of the Math & Physics Exploration is: www.mathphysicsexplore.org
The website for Dutchy County Tourism is: www.dutchesstourism.com/passport

Author: Harlem Valley News