Cranberry Coffeehouse History

The Cranberry Coffeehouse was founded in Binghamton, NY in 1970 by John Kleske and Louise Ulrich, and was named after Cranberry Lake where the Kleskes had a cottage. Louise and Iris Thor (wife of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation's pastor at the time) were in charge of refreshments, and John Thomson designed the graphics (including the original logo). Early oncerts were held in the entryway ("Fireside Room") of the Unitarian Universalist church, and later moved to the church's social hall. (Later, when the church building was remodeled, concerts were moved to the sanctuary). Concerts originally were purely acoustic (no sound system).

Charlene Thomson took over the reigns in 1983, at which time Ed Ware took over the kitchen (serving up his home-made cookies). Paper flyers were distributed (originally hand-drawn by Charlene) during this time (link below to samples), and Nancy Lee hand-drew a number of sketches (also linked below). Rob Siegers assisted in managing the coffeehouse in the late 1990's. The Cranberry Coffeehouse organized the annual Cranberry Dulcimer Gathering held each summer at the Unitarian church (featuring lap and hammered dulcimers, and later autoharps), which drew large crowds (including people who camped in the adjacent parking lot).

Chris Koldeway (with assistance from his wife Joy Bennett) took over management of the coffeehouse in 2002, and Andru Bemis took over management around 2018. Marie and allen lutins took over management in August of 2023 (they had coordinated the final local Cranberry Dulcimer Gathering in July 2008, which continued another year or two in the Albany area before its demise). The coffeehouse was incorporated as a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization in July 2026.

Thanks to Charlene Thomson for her contributions to this page!