Finding something to do across the Catskills and Northeast Pennsylvania just got easier.

Radio Catskill has launched an updated Community Calendar designed to make it simpler for listeners to discover concerts, festivals, community meetings, workshops, family activities and other events happening throughout the region.

The new calendar is powered by The Social Outpost, a privacy-focused community calendar platform founded by Kristen Scharold. The platform brings events from organizations across the region into one place while allowing users to filter events and follow the organizations and venues they care about.

“The real magic feature of it is because there is so much going on, when you actually can see them all in one place,” Scharold told Radio Catskill.

Users can browse events by categories including kids and family, arts and culture and free events. They can also switch between calendar and list views, save individual events or subscribe to organizations they want to follow. Events can even be connected to a personal Google or Apple calendar.

The partnership between Radio Catskill and The Social Outpost began when Scharold reached out to the station during the platform’s beta launch. Scharold said Radio Catskill’s Mimi Bradley saw the potential for something larger: a customized version of the platform that could power the station’s Community Calendar.

Scharold then developed a customized system for Radio Catskill that allows station volunteers to review events submitted from throughout the station’s coverage area and add qualifying events directly to the calendar.

Organizations can submit events through The Social Outpost using a simple online form. Events from within Radio Catskill’s service area then enter a queue where station volunteers review them under Radio Catskill’s existing Community Calendar policy. Approved events are added to the calendar.

The calendar includes events from nonprofits, libraries, arts and cultural organizations and other community groups, along with virtual events, family activities and more. Users can also subscribe to individual organizations or save a single event they want to remember.

For Scharold, the idea grew out of her own frustration with trying to find local events, particularly after stepping away from social media.

“I went a whole season not really knowing what was going on,” she said.

She wanted to create a system that reduced the gap between seeing an event somewhere online and actually remembering to attend it.

The platform also gives smaller nonprofits, musicians and community organizations another way to reach people without needing to build their own sophisticated event system. Hosts can create shareable event pages, build subscribers and use custom QR codes that direct people to their events.

The Social Outpost is free to use and does not include advertising or trackers, according to Scharold. She described the project as a public service aimed at connecting communities with the organizations and people creating local events.

And the Community Calendar is already an important part of Radio Catskill’s website. During the interview, Radio Catskill News Director Patricio Robayo said the calendar consistently ranks among the most-visited sections of the station’s website. Radio Catskill hosts also use calendar listings to highlight upcoming community events on the air.

Looking ahead, Scharold said her immediate focus is growing the platform’s user base and encouraging more organizations to submit events, while continuing to add and refine features based on feedback from users and event hosts.

Listeners can explore the Community Calendar and submit events through the Radio Catskill website.