SARATOGA BUSINESS JOURNAL
Saratoga Chamber Launches Love Our Locals Campaign To Support County Businesses
The Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce kicked off its Love Our Locals $20.25 campaign, an initiative that emphasizes the importance of supporting local businesses and nonprofit organizations.
The campaign began Oct. 30 and continues throughout the remainder of the year. During this time, residents and tourists who support any business or nonprofit in Saratoga County by spending or donating $20.25 or more are eligible to enter a gift card giveaway.
Individuals are encouraged to submit their receipts of $20.25 or more online at www.saratoga.org/love-our-locals to enter. Each week, the Chamber will randomly select winners for $100 in gift cards to businesses across the county.
While the campaign takes place during the holiday shopping season, it is designed to support a wide variety of businesses and organizations from the retail, dining, service, entertainment and nonprofit sectors. Eligible purchases can include a chiropractor adjustment, teeth cleaning, eye exam, hair care appointment, car repairs, home improvement projects, dry cleaning, hotel stays, dining at restaurants, concert tickets, landscaping, snow removal, fitness club memberships, floral deliveries, toys and holiday decorations. Donations made to area charitable organizations are also eligible for entry. Spending $20.25 or more at any locally owned Saratoga County business or nonprofit gives folks a chance to win in this months-long giveaway campaign with unlimited entries, multiple weekly winners and a variety of gift card prizes!
Love Our Locals $20.25 is generously sponsored by many area businesses that donate gift cards as the prizes.
Now in its fifth year, this campaign started during the pandemic as Save Our Locals $20.21, which resulted in more than 2,000 entries from locals whose purchases directly aided in the county’s economic rebound from COVID-19 restrictions. In 2022, the Save Our Locals pro-
gram was recognized with a New York State Tourism Excellence Award from the New York State Tourism Industry Association.
Since then, the campaign was renamed Love Our Locals and remains a popular and purposeful annual effort.
“We are proud of how this initiative has grown over the past four years, and we’re thrilled to launch it once again,” said Todd Shimkus, president of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. “Love Our Locals was created to energize our local economy and encourage area residents to shop local and donate to local causes as 2025 comes to a close.”
More information on Love Our Locals $20.25 is available at www.saratoga.org/loveour-locals.
Businesses that would like to donate gift cards and be featured in this campaign are invited to email loveourlocals@saratoga.org for more information.
New Saratoga Escape Rooms Bring Mystery And Team Challenges To Downtown Fun
Saratoga Springs will soon welcome a new entertainment destination built around teamwork, storytelling, and immersive problemsolving. Saratoga Escape Rooms, founded by local entrepreneurs Tess and Brian Goodge, will officially open Nov. 14 on Gardner Lane in downtown Saratoga Springs.
The concept grew naturally from the couple’s complementary strengths. “We realized Brian had the engineering talent to bring these rooms to life, and I had the business acumen to make the venture possible, so we decided to take the leap,” said co-owner Tess Goodge. “Saratoga is home for us, and after visiting other cities with escape rooms, we were surprised no one had brought one to downtown yet.”
The Goodges have spent the past year designing themed adventures that blend atmospheric sets, engineered automation, and interactive puzzles. Each 60-minute experience is built for groups of two to eight players, who must work together to uncover clues, decipher riddles, and solve layered challenges before time runs out.
“We’re very proud of how automated and interactive the rooms are,” Goodge said. “Guests will be pleasantly surprised by the level of engagement our games require. Our third room will feature custom props we’re building ourselves, which is a whole new adventure.”
West Mountain, Gore And Whiteface Upgrade As North Country Ski Season Nears
BY LEE COLEMAN
West Mountain ski center in Queensbury is preparing to open early this season with a larger variety of trails to offer skiers.
“We are really going to try to open early, but it depends on the weather,” said Spencer Montgomery, co-owner and managing member.
He said 4,000 feet of new snowmaking pipeline has been added on the Frolic trail to replace older piping that was in disrepair. The goal is to open more terrain on the Northwest Base area along with the Main Base, which traditionally opens first. The mountain also offers a large snow-tubing park for young people.
Ski center workers have been running compressors on the snow guns, testing pipelines, checking power and lighting for the popular night skiing, and cutting back the trail edges. All is ready to make snow when the temperature allows.
In recent years, West Mountain has offered
year-round programming, with adventure courses, mountain-biking trails and scenic rides to promote use of the mountain in spring, summer and fall.
Sara and Spencer Montgomery have spent more than $20 million on improvements to the ski center since they took over operation of the mountain in 2013.
The couple is also hoping to gain final approval this year for a $190 million, 60-acre “ski-and-stay” resort at the northwest base of the property near the existing Northwest Base Lodge. Montgomery said planning for the Woods at West Mountain started four years ago. Plans include an 80-room hotel, 64 condominiums, 52 custom and duplex homes, along with a new high-speed lift, ski store, coffee shop and restaurant.
The project would be built in five stages over a 10-year period.
Montgomery said $350,000 has been spent on stormwater testing, traffic, soil and other
Saratoga County Capital Resource Board Recognizes Longtime Leadership Team
Ray O’Conor, Chief Executive Officer; Jeffrey Reale, Chief Financial Officer; and Lori Eddy, Administrative Secretary of the Saratoga County Capital Resource Corporation (SCCRC) were recognized recently by the SCCRC board of directors for their twelve years of service. All three members of the management team will retire from their respective roles at year end 2025.
During their years of service, the SCCRC has supported several Saratoga County not for profit organizations by issuing more than $400 million in tax exempt bonds for capital projects related to health care, education and affordable housing. The organization provides grants to local not for profit organizations as well.
Succeeding O’Conor as CEO will be Matthew Veitch, long time Saratoga County Supervisor from Saratoga Springs, who chose not to run for reelection this year. Michael Sharp will serve as the new CFO and Katherine Tiedemann has been appointed to the position of Administrative Secretary.
Founded in 2012, The Saratoga County Capital
