Glass Barge, docked near the Walkway
POUGHKEEPSIE – The Corning Museum of Glass “Glass Barge” docked at the Poughkeepsie waterfront at Waryas Park this week and will be there until Sunday afternoon with live glassblowing demonstrations free to the public. The free 30 minute shows seat up to 150 people and run every 45 minutes between 11 a.m. and 5 p.m. Pre-registration is required and can be done at www.cmog.org/glassmaking/demos/hot-glass-demos/GlassBarge.
The museum is celebrating the 150th anniversary of glassmaking, which began as the Brooklyn Flint Glass Company. Now known as New Corning Incorporated, they relocated via the New York Waterways by canal barge to Corning, now a center for important artistic and technological innovations in glass. Dutchess Tourism Inc is sponsoring the barge’s visit to the county. The 30-foot by 80-foot canal barge is outfitted with the museum’s patented all-electric glassmaking equipment.
In a welcoming ceremony Friday afternoon, Dutchess Tourism President Mary Kay Vrba said the visit is “a great event to draw visitors to our waterfront.”
Poughkeepsie Mayor Rob Rolison said “we’re incredibly excited to welcome the Corning Museum of Glass to our city, and are appreciative that our community gets to play a part in its150th anniversary celebration.”
“Our team of gaffers (glassmakers) welcomes the opportunity to share the art of glass with new audiences,” said Steve Gibbs, senior manager of Hot Glass Business and Technology Department. “We’re eager to fire up the furnaces to 2100 degrees for a summer of glassblowing on the waterways of New York,”
