as the lead agency for the Hudson River. f. Community and Cultural Resources The Croton Council on the Arts, a non-profit group founded in 1976, promotes the arts in Croton-on-Hudson and sponsors events featuring local and visiting artists. The CCoA organizes several annual events, including Photographers of Northern Westchester, the “Local Color” Exhibition and “ArtsJam.” The photography exhibit, co-sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in Croton-on-Hudson, features works by professional and amateur photographers from Northern Westchester. The “Local Color” show, held each Spring in Ossining, exhibits art work by CCoA members and ArtsJam, also held in the Spring at Senasqua Lodge, is a festival featuring arts exhibitions, music and spoken work performances. PAGE 57 CROTON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN The Croton Chamber of Commerce organizes several community events each year in conjunction with the Village Recreation Department, including Summerfest in June, Winterfest in December, and several holiday programs over the course of the year. Summerfest is held each year on the first Sunday in June. The festival includes a firemen’s and community parade, followed by a street fair with food, children’s rides and local vendors along the streets of the Upper Village. In December, Winterfest is held in Vassallo Park in the Upper Village, consisting of a tree-lighting ceremony and caroling. Each December, Villagers are invited to participate in the holiday decorating program in December, in which Village residents and businesses “adopt” and decorate the holiday trees that line the Upper Village; in October, residents can decorate Upper Village windows in the Halloween spirit. Broadway on Hudson is held each year, where Broadway stars donate time to perform for the Village. The Hudson Stage Company, a Cortlandt-based group, gives staged readings at the Croton Free Library. The Croton Teen Theater offers a summer theater program for local teens. At the end of the summer, the group performs a musical at the high school. The Croton Children’s Theater also meets and performs plays each summer at the CrotonHarmon High School. Musical groups include the Croton Chorale, which performs seasonal religious music, and the Hudson Bells, affiliated with the Asbury Methodist Church. The Croton-Harmon School District runs an Adult Education Group, offering classes ranging from exercise to cooking to wine tasting. Recreation Programs. The Village’s Parks and Recreation Department offers a range of programs for adults, teens and children, operated on a seasonal basis (Fall, Winter/Spring and Summer) throughout the year. Adult programs include exercise classes, music and art studies. Some classes are reserved for senior citizens. Youth programs include sports and dance classes and music instruction. In the summer, the Department hosts the Croton Day Camp (for elementary school-aged children), Tiny Tots camp and a variety of activities for teens. The Department also sponsors special events each season such as a Goblin Walk and Spring window painting contests and a Summertime Concert Series each year in Senasqua Park. Village events and seasonal activities are held in schools and parks around the Village. However, in the resident survey and public workshops, an interest was expressed in seeing a Village community PAGE 58 CROTON COMPREHENSIVE PLAN center developed that would serve as a central location for events, and provide activities for teens and senior citizens. g. Croton Free Library The Croton Free Library, located at 171 Cleveland Drive, has a collection of 75,000 books, 5,000 audio-visual materials and 170 subscriptions to periodicals and newspapers. In addition to these holdings, the library has computer terminals to provide internet access and can be accessed on-line by Village residents. The library also participates in an inter-library loan program through the Westchester Library System. The library organizes and hosts a variety of programs for Village residents from story-telling and music programs for children to theater, staged readings, arts and cooking programs for adults. Croton Free Library, 171 Cleveland Drive Founded in 1938, the library began as a room in the Croton High School and then moved to the second floor of the Municipal Building before moving to its present location in 1965. The library has undergone two expansions since its construction; the first in 1988-89 and the second in 1997, which added a program room. h. Public Works and Utilities Water Resources. Although Croton-on-Hudson is situated close to the Croton Aqueduct System and borders the Croton River, it does not tap into the reservoir system for its water. Instead its water supply comes directly from sand and gravel aquifers pumped from three deep wells under the Croton River Basin. Well water provides a very pure source of water because it requires only a minimum amount of treatment and avoids the potential problems with pollution run-off that are associated with surface water from the reservoir system. The Village’s three active wells are located on Route 129 (a fourth well is inactive). The wells can produce up to 1.8 – 2