A Little Beacon Blog provides free listings of Things To Do to the community, but there are ways to elevate your business and personalize how ALBB’s audience is seeing and experiencing what your business offers. We do this in a unique way. Different than any magazine. More time consuming to produce than any magazine or newspaper does, but we do it because it works with our readers. Our job is to tell stories and build relationships. Here is how we do it, and how your business can partner up: Shopping Guide A Little Beacon Blog's Shopping Guide is one of the biggest draws to this publication ..read more

With Blend recently gone from Beacon, some teenagers have wailed: “Where will I get an Açaí bowl?” Some adults have mourned: “Where will I get my morning smoothie for my commute? And if only a smoothie place was open earlier than 8am because I’m already to work by then!” Well, dear readers, the answer has been with you on Main Street this whole time: Healthy In Color, at 259 Main Street, in the former Matcha Thomas space (who since moved several blocks down) and in what was Homespun’s former catering prep location. Healthy in Color is currently between Hudson Valley Vinyl and the DMV. The bar ..read more

Vegan options are very popular in Beacon. Most eateries from pizza to burgers to tacos are incorporating both gluten-free and vegan options into their menus. Nevertheless, running a restaurant is hard. Végétalien, the plant-based eatery on the east end of town near the mountain, announced two weeks ago that they are closing. As explained in their Instagram post: “It is with mixed emotions that we write to post to notify you that Végétalien will be closing its doors permanently. Our last day of business was January 29th, 2023. We have various store equipment, shelving and fixtures that will be ..read more

During the height of the pandemic, the federal government allocated funding to feed all students in public schools, regardless of income status, for two years. One need not apply. Caregivers who were on auto-billing for their child’s meals no longer had to worry about if their account had enough money in it to process the re-fill level. Their child just got access to school breakfast and lunch. After the federal funding for the free meals expired in June 2022, a push began to get the funding back, led in part by Hunger Solutions New York and Community Food Advocates. Lawmakers proposed the “H ..read more

One of the most positive people in all of Beacon is Trina. “I loved the people around me and loved the guest compliments and reviews about the food which I was preparing. It boosted up my confidence again that I can do it!!!”” — Trina Mazumder If you don’t know Trina Mazumder yet, she was an employee of Hudson Valley Shawarma, a food stall located at the front of Hudson Valley Food Hall, which is next door to Subway. Trina is also a henna artist. She also burns intricate designs into wood. Some of you were lucky enough to have her paint onto your hands at A Little Beacon Blog’s table at Spiri ..read more

On a quiet Tuesday or Wednesday evening at 10:30pm in Beacon (10/25/2022 or 10/26/2022), just before Halloween night, a driver stopped their car after they said they saw a bear crossing Main Street from Binnacle Books to the Flowers ‘N Gifts near Happy Valley Arcade. Apparently a second driver also stopped as the bear crossed. This hour is generally considered late late night in Beacon. The driver called the Beacon Police, who the driver felt may not have believed them. Then the driver called their friend, who often walks at all hours of the day and night,. The driver was concerned for their ..read more

ALBB took a Lunch Date over in the garden at Homespun Foods! Teslie (Program Manager) got the citrus salad and added salmon (good choice)… “refreshing and so delicious”, and Katie (Owner of ALBB) got the burger because “those crispy fried onions are too hard to resist!” We got to flip through the wine list that the writer, sommelier and owner Joe hand-stitched together. Love this about business owners who let their passions overlap into each other. Teslie and Katie don’t make many appearances here on the blog, but we wanted to show you the tulips. The backyard garden is gorgeous and so relaxi ..read more

The tip came in on the Beacon Moms Facebook Group - Ron’s Ice Cream on Fishkill Avenue announced their opening day - March 25, 2022 - and are open! Readers and little kids alike have been asking: “When’s Ron’s opening!?!” as Beacon’s most visible ice cream hut, painted yellow and located across from a kid-busy Memorial Park, is the mile-marker to the official arrival of Spring. Despite it being in the 50s today. Totally normal, by the way. Beaonites know that at least one more snow dump on pink and white magnolia blossoms is possible. For the sake of time, we re-published 2021’s Ice Cream Rou ..read more

Pictured here are diners outside of Homespun, which has sidewalk seating in front, and a patio in the back. For two springs and summers, it also had a parklet in front. Photo Credit: Heather Barr Last year at this time, the Delta variant of COVID-19 was brewing, and in May 2021, it became official. People were used to eating outside in parking spots called “parklets,” which were created by using orange water-filled “jersey barriers” to surround tables and chairs for diners to eat outside of a restaurant. The water made the barriers heavy, so they were not moved by casual pushing. Most of Beac ..read more

Pick a day, any day, and Beacon local Kamel Jamal, owner of more than one restaurant in town (Ziatun, Beacon Bread, WTF, creator of Tito Santana Taqueria, and Végétalien, both he since sold), wears his heart on his sleeve for his home country of Palestine. Every day for him is a day of love he shows for a free Palestine. From the food he plates, the restaurants he decorates, the merch he makes, most centering back to somehow to empower those still living in Palestine. In this podcast, Kamel discusses how his parents left Palestine when he was a toddler with some of his family thanks to a fam ..read more