Saratoga Living - Summer 2020 Issue

SIMPLE ELEGANCE IN THE HEART OF DOWNTOWN SARATOGA.

30 Lake Avenue, Saratoga Springs | 518-583-2727 | email: guestservices@paviliongrandhotel.com | paviliongrandhotel.com

we’re waiting for you.

inside SUMMER 2020

28

The Church Of Dave Matthews by

WI LL LE VI TH

saratoga living

Baseball Special 36 UPSTATE BALLERS by

WI LL LE VI TH

39 ON THE FAST TRACK

by

B RI E N B OUY E A

40 ACE OF DIAMONDS by

B RI E N B OUY E A

41 TROY’S (FAILED) SHOT

AT THE MAJORS by

WI LL LE VI TH

42 GLOVERSVILLE’S OWN

‘FIELD OF DREAMS’ by

NATA LI E MOORE

44 Calligrapher To The Stars by

WI LL LE VI TH

46 Reshaping Summer:

Track, Spac, Downtown Saratoga STA FF RE P ORT photography by

52

Caffè Lena At 60:

Still ‘Essential’ After All These Years by

WI LL LE VI TH

60 The Oboy: Deconstructed by

NATA LI E MOORE FR A NCE SCO D’AMICO

photography by

62 The New Normal by

NATA LI E MOORE FR A NCE SCO D’AMICO

photography by

FRANCESCO D’AMICO

sidewalk talk saratoga living is all smiles with Saratoga musician Garland Nelson and his daughter, Imani, on page 62.

K Y LE ADAMS

inside

268 Broadway, Unit 406, Saratoga Springs $1,675,000

55 State Street, Saratoga Springs $1,025,000

34 Hearthstone Drive, Gansevoort $619,900

142 County Route 30, Salem $399,900

Julie A. Bonacio Broker/Owner c: 518.701.5080

Julie A. Bonacio Broker/Owner c: 518.701.5080

Jennifer Johnson Assoc. Real Estate Broker c: 518.588.1392

Lisa A. McTygue, ABR Lic. Real Estate Salesperson c: 518.598.4098

83 Ordelia Lane, 83Round OrdeliaLake Lane, $323,000 Round Lake

2 Lower Meadow Lane, Greenfield Center $749,900

3 Hampstead Place, St. 105, Saratoga Springs $21/SF + NNN

25 Kendrick Hill Road, Saratoga Springs $1,390,000

Katherine Cristo Assoc. Real Estate Broker c: 518.441.2237

Monika Patrycja Cronin Lic. Real Estate Salesperson The Monika Cronin Team c: 518.577.1712

Lars Huus-Skladzinski Lic. Real Estate Salesperson c: 518.321.1282

Jane R. Sanzen Assoc. Real Estate Broker c: 518.526.6056

SUMMER 2020

8 From The Editor 10 Letter From The CEO

the front 13 13 14 16 17

It’s True “We Think”: Chips, Ahoy!

The Numbers: The Canfield Casino Power Player: Todd Shimkus Buy This!: #SupportLocal Jockey Club: Ricardo Santana, Jr.

19 20 21 22 23 24 26

Panel: Business Unusual Made In Saratoga: Roll Call Insta Replay: ‘Social’ Distancing Celeb Alert: James McCaffrey Hot Date: Suburban Outfitters Ride-Along: High Demand at Purdy’s Remote Access: Home Sweet...Office?

22

We Can Virtually Sell Your Home Too! Call Us Today!

the Back 70 72 74 76 79 79

Saratoga After Dark Hot Chef: Farmers Hardware Thirst: Brewnited We Stand Décor: Paint and Flip Play: Crossword Overheard in Quarantine

268504 Broadway, Grand Avenue, Unit 406, Saratoga Springs $429,000 $1,675,000

Macory Way & Garnet Mine Ct, Gansevoort

22 Sydney Hill Road, Saratoga Springs

57 Phila Street, Saratoga Springs

Jennifer Johnson Assoc. Real Estate Broker c: 518.588.1392

Katherine E. King, GRI, CBR Assoc. Real Estate Broker c: 518.524.9550

Tina Nigro Lic. Real Estate Salesperson c: 518.495.7164

JoAnn Potrzuski Cassidy Assoc. Real Estate Broker c: 518.470.3281

97 East Avenue, Unit 205, Saratoga Springs

87 Railroad Pl, Unit 203, Saratoga Springs

132 Cedar Lane, Indian Lake

16 Kaleen Drive, Ballston Spa

Harold W. Reiser, III Assoc. Real Estate Broker c: 518.588.5224

Debora Zecchini Lic. Real Estate Salesperson c: 518.366.0326

Christopher Marney Lic. Real Estate Salesperson c: 518.348.9358

Ashley Aquilo Lic. Real Estate Salesperson c: 518.528.8957

$75,000/each

$1,299,000

$2,290,000

17

68

Curing The Other Pandemic by

KEN ROTO N DO

the END

80 Saratogian Of The Month: Catherine Hover 80

NOTE ON THE MAG A ZINE FLIP



If you are reading this note upside down, first: congratulations! You just read an entire English paragraph upside down and backwards. But we’d kindly ask that you flip your magazine right side up and continue reading. As you may have noticed, with this June 2020 issue, saratoga living and CAPITAL REGION LIVING magazine have been combined into one. Why? The short answer: the COVID-19 crisis. The longer, more complex one: Like every small business in the Capital Region, we’re hurting, and we believe that the most effective way forward, at least temporarily, is to put the very best of saratoga living on one side of the magazine and the best of CAPITAL REGION LIVING on the other. In many ways, what you’re holding in your freshly sanitized hands is an even stronger, tighter version of the two magazines you’ve enjoyed reading for decades. We couldn’t fit all of the great content into this combo platter, so we distilled each magazine down to its purest form. In other words, we’re stronger together.

(McCaffrey) ARTHUR GERUNDA; (Santana) BRIEN BOUYEA; (Hover) KATIE DOBIES

68

$348,000

$475,000

www.JulieCoRealty.com | o: 518.350.7653 |

$275,000

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Abby Tegnelia CEO

Will Levith EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

CREATIVE DIRECTOR

SENIOR WRITER

SENIOR DESIGNER

SPORTS EDITOR

DESIGN EDITOR

SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

ON THE COVER Dave Matthews photographed by René Huemer. Shot on location at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY.

MANAGING EDITOR

EDITOR AT LARGE

EDITORIAL INTERNS

Retirement planning

Kathleen Gates Natalie Moore Jeff Dingler Linda Gates Brien Bouyea Susan Waldron Francesco D’Amico Dori Fitzpatrick Susan Gates Morgan Fechter, Matthew Harding Victoria Mangelli, Simone Teague Gabrielle Vuillaume

WRITERS

Karen Bjornland, Brian K. Lind, Lisa Mitzen Katie Navarra, Daniel Nester, Tom Pedulla PHOTOGRAPHERS

Kyle Adams, Katie Dobies René Huemer, Billy Francis LeRoux Terri-Lynn Pellegri, Susie Raisher

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For your family, your business… or your family business, we’re your retirement resource. From IRA rollovers to small business retirement plans, we make planning for your future a smooth process.

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Teresa Frazer ADVERTISING DIRECTOR

saratoga living is published six times a year by Empire Media Network, Inc. subscriptions: Domestic, $24.95 per year; Canadian, $44.95 per year (non-refundable). saratoga living 422 Broadway, Suite 203 Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 Volume 22, No.3 Summer 2020 Copyright © 2020 Empire Media Network, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission from Empire Media Network, Inc. All editorial queries should be directed to editorial@saratogaliving.com; or sent to 422 Broadway, Suite 203, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. saratoga living assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

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⁄ SUMMER 2020

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PUBLIC RELATIONS

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from the editor

EMBRACE YOUR FUTURE

Endless Summer

without financial doubt.

When you look ahead, what adventures do you hope to experience? Maybe it’s a career that gives

hen I think about the perfect June day in Saratoga Springs—and again, I’m biased, because I grew up here—what immediately comes to mind is this: It’s about 8:50am, and I’ve just taken Exit 14 off the Northway and am consciously easing my foot off the gas pedal, getting it down from, say, 75 (sorry, officers) to around 30-40 mph, as I make my way up Union Avenue.

Passing by Yaddo, I roll down my driver’s side window, letting the lukewarm spring air in, and then the most incredible sight passes before my eyes. The majestic Saratoga Race Course Grandstand seemingly erupts into view on one side of the road, the Oklahoma Training Track’s bustling barns and facilities on the other. Both rush by in mere seconds—and soon I find myself at my desk, scrolling through all the emails I missed the previous night.

What’s so “perfect” about such a mundane picture? That is—or was—my morning commute, my routine, every day for the past two years, until March 19, when everything changed. Ever since then, I’ve been trapped in my home office here in Troy, daydreaming about what it used to be like when everybody was “essential” and the racetrack was just “attractive,” not an “attractive nuisance.” Perfection to me is normalcy. Right now, a perfect June day would mean that the Oklahoma Track would already be open, with horsemen getting their prized rides ready for the big show across the street; the city would be teeming with out-of-town music fans, here to catch The Lumineers at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) this weekend; and Broadway would be all but jammed with people, its stores and restaurants alive with activity.

At press time, Governor Cuomo had just green-lit the Capital Region to reopen on May 20 — but the elephant in the room, at least in Saratoga, open sesame was that, if the track wasn’t going to allow fans and SPAC was to remain Editorial Director Will closed as as well (the classical season and some top-flight Live Nation Levith was photographed concerts had already been canceled), the city would experience an in Congress Park the economic meltdown unlike it had ever seen in modern history. day the Capital Region While that might still be the case, we have a lot of summery things to officially reopened. be thankful for in Saratoga, beyond our continued health and safety.

We can still worship at the feet of Dave Matthews, who graces our cover this month—and has already rescheduled his band’s two July performances for 2021 (i.e. save your tickets!); help Caffè Lena blow out the candles on its 60th birthday cake; marvel at the Capital Region’s connections to the American pastime; see how Saratogians have been coping with quarantine, in their homes and private spaces, courtesy of Senior Photographer Francesco D’Amico; and salivate at the sight of one of our favorite Saratoga snacks, the Oboy.

In short, we can still celebrate the Saratoga summer, because we have wonderful foresight and even better memories. It can’t be completely canceled if it’s right here between these covers and behind our eyelids.

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DORI FITZPATRICK

Will Levith EDITORIAL DIRECTOR

31 Church St., Saratoga Springs, NY 12866 518-584-5844 AdirondackTrust.com Investment Products are: NOT A DEPOSIT

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⁄ SUMMER 2020

NOT FDIC INSURED

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letter from the ceo WELCOME BACK

Alone Together

I

ALBANY

221 WOLF RD 518-489-5231

t’s crazy how much can happen, even when you’re quarantined at home alone. It seems like a lifetime ago that we were moving our offices home and completely reimagining how we do business.

Maybe it’s that my Downtown Saratoga neighbors have gone out of their way to check in on me—and meet outside for cocktails when the weather has allowed. What a special place to live during this pandemic! saratoga living’s twice-weekly online events have helped, too, those Facebook Lives with our fellow small businesses; the amazing virtual concert, which we cosponsored with WEXT at Caffè Lena (major props to Bailey’s for the cocktail and dinner); plus, the nerdy, competitive Saratoga-themed trivia night after which no one wanted to sign off Zoom. Seeing all of your faces, the laughter, the camaraderie—that’s what’s helped the time go by.

But it was interviewing Palette Cafe owner Catherine Hover for this issue’s Saratogian of the Month that helped put everything into perspective for me: how it feels like so much has happened, even though we rarely ever leave our homes (I, for one, get out only when I thrice-daily walk my aging pup). I had asked her if there was an aha moment when she knew she was making an impact during the crisis. She told me that she had been second-guessing herself until she received a letter from a woman named Faye, who was quarantined home alone and scared, thanking her for her positivity and getting much-needed information out to the community on Facebook. “I do this for Faye,” Catherine told me. “I six feet understanding have to keep showing up.” Catherine reminded me that those of us who CEO Abby Tegnelia; grew up in hurricane country (her in New Orleans, me in Florida) learned (left) Tegnelia and early on that you have to just keep Editorial Director Will Levith moving forward in times of need. having an impromptu, At saratoga living, we’ve been socially distanced meeting working 12-hour days, sometimes more, to in Congress Park. keep reporting all of the news to you as soon as we can on our website, and getting the magazines out, all while coming up with new ideas for virtual events to keep our community together. I’m enormously grateful for this opportunity to serve you, and I humbly promise, just like Catherine, that I will keep showing up for each one of you.

When this is over, we’ll remember all of the Catherines and the Fayes—all of the bright lights that got us through this temporary darkness. They’re a special reminder that we are all in this together, Saratoga.

To our readers, advertisers and neighbors, thank you so much for your support during these troubling times. We really do do this for you.

CEO @abbytegnelia

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⁄ SUMMER 2020

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it’s true (we think)

Chips, Ahoy!

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hile most Saratogians Clubhouse before they turned up SARATO GA B EL IEVES IT INV E N T E D have been told the in Sin City—Canfield purchased T H E CAS INO C H IP. W E D O U B LE story that Saratoga the casino in 1894 and Vegas D OW N O N FAC T- C H EC K IN G was the birthplace of wasn’t even officially founded until T H AT C L AIM. the potato chip—it’s 1905—casino chips had been around

BY NATAL IE MO O RE true, we think—fewer have heard our decades earlier, according to John other chip-related claim: that the casino Fignar, a local expert on 19th-century chip hails from the Spa City. As the legend gambling who used to own Saratoga goes, Richard Canfield, the one-time owner of Gaming on Broadway. “The chips [Canfield] the Saratoga Clubhouse (later known as the Canfield used were made of ivory, but in fact, ivory chips went Casino) and “once the best known gambling resort proprietor back to the early 1840s, and before that, mother-of-pearl in [the] country,” per the New York Times, was the first to use counters were used,” Fignar says. “I wish it were true that casino chips, long before anyone ever did in Las Vegas. A Richard Canfield invented the poker chip, but unfortunately 2018 WAMC article even corroborated the claim, stating that that’s not the case.”

“During the casino’s 37-year run, it revolutionized gambling by What can we say? Saratoga Springs can’t lay claim to all being the first institution to use chips to represent money.” the types of chips. But we'll always have those crunchy, While Canfield certainly used chips in the Saratoga salty potato chips...we think.

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dollar general Canfield Casino chips worth $1, $5 and $25 from 19th-century gambling expert John Fignar's collection; (top) mother-of-pearl chips predated ivory ones.

Amount, in dollars, John Morrissey invested to have the Saratoga Clubhouse (now known as the Canfield Casino) built

3

Number of rules at the Saratoga Clubhouse (no ladies, no locals, cash only)

200

Cost, in dollars, of a seasonal membership to the Saratoga Clubhouse

250,000

Amount, in dollars, Richard Canfield bought the Saratoga Clubhouse for in 1894

150

Anniversary the Canfield Casino is celebrating this summer

2,800

Cost, in dollars, for a Saratoga resident to rent the Canfield Casino for a five-hour event

⁄

saratogaliving.com 13

the front the summer place to be “Our coalition is talking with hotels, restaurants, attractions, artists, entertainers, stores and shops about a very different summer offering,” says Todd Shimkus, “and how we might still attract people to our communities.”

power player

In Todd We Trust

CHA M B ER OF COMMERCE PRESIDE N T TO DD SH I M KU S TOO K E A RLY ACTION DURI NG TH E C OV I D-19 C R I SI S—A N D I T ’S PA ID DIV IDENDS FOR SARATOGA’ S B U SI N E SS C O M M U N I T Y.

BY JE FF DI NGL ER n p h otograph y by KAT I E DO B I E S

T

he reality of the COVID-19 crisis first hit home for Saratoga’s business community on the most ominous of days this past March. “It was actually on a Friday the 13th when we recognized that the economy was starting to be shut down, the world was changing and people were really dying,” says Todd Shimkus,

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⁄ SUMMER 2020

who’s been president of the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce for the past decade. That afternoon, Shimkus, a Saratoga transplant, who racked up years of experience in public policy in places such as Holden, MA (his hometown) and nearby Glens Falls, met with met with the leadership from five other influential business groups and entities in the area—Discover Saratoga,

Saratoga Springs Downtown Business Association (DBA), the Saratoga Springs City Center, the Saratoga County Prosperity Partnership and the Saratoga Economic Development Corporation—to discuss what they were going to do, collectively, to assist the region’s business community during the lockdown. “We decided,” he says, “that from that day forward we were going to collaborate to get our county’s economy, businesses and nonprofits that we all serve through this difficult period.”

That decisive, early action and collaborative spirit have helped Saratoga’s businesses and nonprofits weather the storm, though many still remain temporarily closed, even as the Capital Region has begun its phased reopening. (At press time, not a single Spa City business has closed permanently since the crisis began, per Shimkus.) A lot of that has had to do with communication: Shimkus and the Chamber have been a veritable breaking news outlet, keeping the community updated regularly on saratoga.org and sending out daily e-newsletters. The Chamber also had some early wins, transforming Saratoga Restaurant Week into one of the most effective business-savers to date, Take Out Week, which eventually morphed into Take Out Month. It has generated income that could’ve easily been lost for more than 100 participating restaurants and bars.

The Chamber and its business allies have kept the positive momentum going. Together, the group of six local organizations has partnered with the Front Line Appreciation Group (FLAG) to raise money to buy meals from local restaurants that are then delivered to

frontline healthcare workers; and helped set up online donation portals for food pantries in the towns of Schuylerville and Malta (which have since raised more than $8,000). They’re even working to create a local supply chain of personal protective equipment. According to Shimkus, this network is going to be key in moving forward with the gradual process of reopening Saratoga’s businesses. “The six of us have finally been able to transition away from responding to the crisis—and all the trauma created by it—and move on to talking about restarting the local economy,” says Shimkus. The group met with 40 local leaders from the private sector and drafted an economic recovery plan, which was circulated toward the end of April. That business plan includes actual, physical small business recovery kits, which include a package of face masks, cleaning products, hand sanitizer and signage explaining new hygiene and safety rules for companies that had to close during the shutdown; as well as the rollout of a comprehensive survey on Saratoga County and its attractions, which Shimkus is particularly excited about. “This survey is going to [help] us target specific audiences,” he says, “who are more likely to be interested in coming to Saratoga for the things that are still happening here.”

Obviously, the elephant in the room is the fate of the Saratoga Race Course and Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) summer seasons. (At press time, SPAC had canceled its classical season; Live Nation, the majority of its big-ticket shows; and the track was still a go but without fans.)

“We’re taking a wait-and-see approach, being patient as we see what’s possible this summer,” Shimkus says. “We have to hold out some hope that maybe a limited number of fans could be at the track, and perhaps not all shows are canceled at SPAC. At the same time, our coalition is talking with hotels, restaurants, attractions, artists, entertainers, stores and shops about a very different summer offering and how we might still attract people to our communities. We’ve learned more than anything to adapt and to be patient during this crisis.”

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the front jockey club

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2 5 poster by artist Greg Montgomery from Crafters Gallery. Montgomery’s Travers series has been going strong since 1986, so who knows? Maybe your tribute to Saratoga’s most popular race will be a good omen for the 2020 Saratoga racing season.

1

buy this!

#SupportLocal Takes Over M OV E AS ID E , AMAZON: TH ESE SARATO GA R E TA ILE R S HAVE MOVED TH EIR BUSINESSE S O NLIN E . n BY NATAL I E MOORE

T

he COVID-19 pandemic has temporarily closed many small businesses in cities and towns around the world—some even permanently. You’ve been hearing it for months, but the one thing you can do to help them out is to #SupportLocal. So hop online to shop at these Saratoga stores that need your support—it may be just us locals that get them through this summer season.

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16 saratoga living

1 AFTER 5 SNACKS BASKET savorypantry.com $94 This gift basket, full of goodies that pair perfectly with a cold cocktail,would make a great present for the happy hour lover in your life, whether that person is a friend, family member or you-know-who. Nibble on the roasted pistachios and almonds, blue cheesestuffed Spanish olives and crostini topped with artichoke tomato bruschetta in this carefully curated basket from The Savory Pantry.

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3 2 POETRY IN BLOOM JOURNAL tushitaheaven.com $22.95 What better time to begin journaling, a self-reflective practice that has been shown to reduce stress and anxiety, than during lockdown?

Journal in style with this highquality, softcover journal from Tushita Heaven, its beautiful cover a reproduction of the binding of The Sensitive Plant and Early Poems.

3 GREG MONTGOMERY TRAVERS POSTER craftersgallery saratoga.com $105 and up Display a piece of Saratoga Race Course memorabilia in your home with a Travers

4 BOUTIQUE BOX encounterboutique.com Prices vary Wish you could get the Stitch Fix experience while still shopping local? Now you can, at Encounter Boutique. Fill out a quick online form with your sizes and preferred styles, and Encounter’s professional stylists will put together a Boutique Box of items they think you’ll like and send it right to your doorstop. Keep the items you like, and return the rest.

Get To Know Ricardo Santana, Jr.

BORN

November 19, 1992 BIRTHPLACE

Panama City, Panama HEIGHT

5' 4"

WEIGHT

113 pounds

T H IS 2 7 -Y EAR- O L D PANAMANIAN IS A RAC E-W INNING S ENSAT IO N. s tory a nd p h otog ra p h by B RIEN B O UY EA

A

t 27, Ricardo Santana, Jr. is still young for a jockey of his caliber, but he's used to the role, having begun his North American career at the tender age of 16 in 2009. He won his first graded stakes race in 2013 and his first Grade 1 with the 2016 Arkansas Derby. Santana has won riding titles at Delaware Park, Churchill Downs, Keeneland and Oaklawn.

He ranked eighth nationally in purse earnings in 2019 and tied for ninth with 17 wins at Saratoga Race Course.

Santana won the 2019 Breeders’ Cup Sprint aboard Mitole.

RICARDO SANTANA, JR.’S RECENT RIDING STATISTICS

FUN FACT: Santana graduated from the prestigious Laffit Pincay, Jr. Jockey School in December 2008.

2009-20* 8,258

YEAR

MOUNTS

WINS

WIN %

EARNINGS

2016 988 148 15% $8,165,321 2017 980 150 16% $8,924,291 2018 1,075 189 18% $14,036,627 2019 1,103 190 17% $16,713,988 2020* 368 71

19% $4,579,995

RICARDO SANTANA, JR.’S CAREER RIDING STATISTICS

MOUNTS

WINS

1,388

WIN %

16%

EARNINGS

$74,664,374

*CAREER AND 2020 STATS THROUGH MAY 12

5 CONGRESS PARK CAROUSEL MUG saratogaliving.com/shop $20 Drink your morning coffee in the presence of Saratoga Springs’ iconic Congress Park Carousel. Featuring a photo of the carousel by saratoga living Senior Photographer Francesco D’Amico, this mug is perfect for any true Saratogian.

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the front

Gateway Helping Hands Supports In-Home Caregivers During COVID-19 SPAC Cancels Saratoga Jazz Fest For The First Time In Its 42-Year History

panel

Business Unusual

NYRA: Saratoga Race Course’s Summer Season Will Likely Occur Without Fans

SARATOGA’S SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS WEIGH IN ON HOW THEY’RE GETTING THROUGH THE COVID-19 CRISIS.

What It’s Like When You Survive The Hell That Is COVID-19 And Live To Tell The Tale Fasig-Tipton Cancels ‘The Saratoga Sale’ This August Due To COVID-19 Skidmore’s Distinguished Artist-In-Residence Pens Plaintive Song About COVID-19 Crisis

Saratoga Tea & Honey Company

Governor Cuomo Signs Executive Order Authorizing Authorizing Independent Pharmacists To Conduct COVID-19 Tests

DESCRIBE OWNING YOUR OWN BUSINESS DURING COVID-19 IN THREE WORDS.

WHAT DO YOU MISS MOST ABOUT LIFE BEFORE THE PANDEMIC?

HOW ARE YOU KEEPING CLIENTS/ CUSTOMERS ENGAGED DURING COVID-19?

Communication, support, adaptability

Casual tea bar conversations and the smiling faces of our regulars

Social media and emails are such important tools

Our big plan is to make sure people feel safe, comfortable and happy

Stressful, anxious, reflective

Allowing people to walk into my home as strangers and leave as friends

Social media is a great way to show past and potential guests how we’re staying busy and that the show must go on

Other small Saratoga businesses and the Inn are planning a huge block party when this is all over

Challenge every day

Interaction with our guests

Using social media more

Not yet, as we are still uncertain of social distancing guidelines

Unimaginable, adaptability, resilience

The people

Social media, e-blasts and porch packages

We’re planning a big “welcome back” celebration but need to determine what we’ll be able to do

Second full-time job

My guests brightening up the dining room and my staff that haven’t returned yet

Social media, home kits and a positive message of safety and service

To build on the takeout and delivery piece and open the dining room to get life back in these four walls

Hayley Stevens

Governor Cuomo: In February, New York State Already Had 10,000 COVID-19 Cases The Inn at Five Points

Where To Get Your Bagel Fix In Saratoga Springs During COVID-19

Eilis Petrosino

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visit

saratogaliving.com What It’s Like When You’re Released From Saratoga Hospital Having Beaten COVID-19

Panza’s Restaurant

Tony Panza

Rite Aid To Open Free COVID-19 Drive-Through Testing Site In Colonie

throughout the day, every day, during covid-19

Governor Cuomo Proposes Hazard Pay For Frontline Workers In Fight Against COVID-19

What It’s Like Wearing A Face Mask In Public For The First Time During The COVID-19 Crisis (Opinion)

Saratoga Hospital Breaking New Ground With Its Telemedicine Capabilities During The COVID-19 Crisis

Impressions of Saratoga

Marianne Barker

ANY BIG PLANS FOR WHEN YOUR BUSINESS REOPENS?

What It’s Like Being A Domestic Violence Lawyer In The Capital Region During The COVID-19 Crisis 8 Women Musicians You Should Be Watching Live Online Right Now During The COVID-19 Crisis

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What It’s Like When Your Loved One Gets Taken Off Of A Ventilator, Leaves The ICU And Beats Back COVID-19

Ravenous Crêperie

David Zuka

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the front made in saratoga

insta replay

‘Social’ Distancing

Roll Call

HOW ONE ALBANY INVENTOR REVOLUTIONIZED THE ART OF TOILET PAPERMAKING.

BY NATALIE MOORE

SARATO G IANS H AVE T URNED TO INSTAG R AM TO SPR E AD T H E LOVE, C O LO RF UL LY AND CR E AT I VE LY.

#518RainbowHunt #SmallBusinessSaturday

CUSTOMER SERVICE IS OUR PRIORITY

paper money This 1891 patent illustrates two of Seth Wheeler’s most notable inventions: the toilet paper roll and the paper’s perforation.

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K, this may not technically be “Made in Saratoga,” but this Capital Region patent is just too good (and timely) not to bring up. While toilet paper— one of the COVID-19 pandemic’s hottest commodities—was officially invented in 14th-century China, an inventor in Albany named Seth Wheeler was the first person to think of putting it on a roll, an invention that he patented in 1871. That’s right: rolled toilet paper was invented in the Capital City. And that’s not all. Wheeler was also responsible for adding perforations to the paper, creating the toilet paper square, for which he nabbed a patent 20 years later. Over the course of his lifetime, Wheeler, a Chatham native, would go on to receive more than 100 patents.

Some might say he was on a roll.

#EssentialWorkers

#QuarantineLife

#MaskMonday

#CuteDogs

#BrightenYourDay #BagelsOfInstagram

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the front 5 Questions for Actor James McCaffrey

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Y ES , ‘ NAT IO NAL O UT F IT O F T H E DAY ’ DAY IS A T H ING , AND IT ’ S H IT T ING INSTA’ S VIRT UAL RUNWAYS J UNE 3 0. TO C EL EB RAT E, LUC IA B O UT IQ UE’ S LUCY MO RAN S H ARES H ER S H O P’ S ULT IMAT E S PRING O OT D.

What was acting for a video game like?

I’m not a big fan of video games, and I never have been. The first time I did Max Payne, it was, like, six hours a day in a sound booth, and it was about 400 pages of script. But, I’ve never seen it, I’ve never played it, I have no desire to. I lack the proper appreciation for video games.

What’s your favorite role that you’ve played?

Probably Jimmy Keefe in the TV series Rescue Me for FX. Just because he was a ghost and he died in the World Trade Center on September 11.

Did you have any personal connections to 9/11 that you were able to draw from for the character?

A friend who grew up two houses away from us when we were in high school and his brother were in the towers, and one brother got out and the other did not. I had a couple good acquaintances who were in the fire department—a famous New York City firefighter named [Patrick]

Tell me a little bit about your family’s history in the Capital Region.

My grandfather owned the Albany Senators, which was a professional baseball team. I think he and my grandmother were in the Gary Cooper movie Saratoga Trunk. I’ve been going up to Saratoga since I was a kid. My dad used to have a group of buddies who hung out at the harness track, so when he was in charge of the kids and my mother was working, he would bring us up to the track. And that’s the start of my Saratoga addiction. Then I used to go to SPAC all the time—we used to sneak in.

I’ve seen everybody there— Clapton several times, the Allman Brothers, Carlos Santana. Every concert that was there, we were at.

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“Our ideal warm-weather outfit of the day is a cute and casual floral set, paired with a denim jacket, a straw bag and white booties. These pieces will go with almost every look for summer.”

–LUCY MORAN, Owner, Lucia Boutique ALEX IS WEARING: THE CONTENT SARATOGA

J

I’ve heard you’re from Albany, but everything I’ve seen online says that you’re from Northern Ireland. What’s the deal?

I was doing a play at The Actors Studio in the late ’80s, playing an Irish housepainter from Belfast, and my manager did my bio. At the time, there was a funny story that Marlon Brando, in his bio, said that he was raised by Tibetan wolves. So she thought, “Oh, well, let’s just throw this in there.” I thought, “OK, great, fine,” and forgot about it.

But that was for a play—a single play—and back then, obviously, there were no computers, so I don’t know how IMDB or Google got that. And I can’t get rid of it.

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“Paddy” Brown. I had known him for a few years, and he died. I go down there every September 11th with another buddy of mine, an actor who lost his best friend in the south tower.

THE ALBANY NATIVE ON VOICE ACTING IN THE MAX PAYNE VIDEO GAME SERIES, AND BREATHING LIFE INTO HIS GHOST OF A ROLE IN RESCUE ME.

BY NATALIE MOORE photograph by ARTHUR GERUNDA

ames McCaffrey will tell you firsthand: Don’t believe everything you read on the Internet. According to the actor’s IMDB page, “James McCaffrey was born in 1959 in Belfast, Northern Ireland.” The actor, however, is a native of Albany. You’ve probably come across McCaffrey through his recurring role on Emmy-winning FX series Rescue Me, cable dramedy Suits or as the voice of Max Payne in the über-popular same-named video game franchise. saratoga living recently caught up with the actor, who’s nowadays based in Westchester County.

hot date

james fond Actor James McCaffrey has a self-proclaimed Saratoga addiction.

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the front says that deliveries (all within 20 minutes of Saratoga) have been up as well, between 75-100 every week.

Opening Up • 8:45am The day starts fairly early for Greczkowski, opening the business, setting up registers and walking through the building to check that everything’s in order. “I have 1,000 cases of product coming in today,” he says. “All those cases will have to be received and put away in a timely manner.”

3:35pm

Keeping Spirits High

HOW SA RATO GA’ S OG LIQUOR STORE, P UR DY’S D IS COUNT WINE & LIQUOR, IS M E E TIN G THE DEMANDS OF TH IRSTY, ST U CK-AT- HOME LOCALS. n BY J EFF DI N GLE R

W

hile isolated at home during the COVID-19 crisis, many of us have been drinking a lot more than usual. If in denial, the numbers might sober you up: For the week of April 25, weekly in-store alcohol sales across the country were up 26 percent, while online ones were up a staggering 477 percent, per Nielsen. That all works out to big business for Saratoga Springs’ wine, liquor and convenience stores during a time that’s been particularly difficult for pretty much every other type of small business. saratoga living reached out to Brandan Greczkowski, co-owner of Purdy’s Discount Wine & Liquor in the Congress Street Plaza—a.k.a. Saratoga’s oldest wine/liquor store—to find out exactly how well the libations have been flowing during quarantine.

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Receiving • 9am The first delivery truck of the day is already outside before the store’s even open. From 9am to about 3pm, Purdy’s receives deliveries of wine, spirits and other beverage products. “Business has been absolutely crazy since the shutdown,” says Greczkowski, who installed sneeze/cough guards for all of the cashiers plus antibacterial dispensers throughout the store.

Taking Care of Business • 9:15am Greczkowski is rarely not on his feet, pitching in on a multitude of jobs throughout the morning, from offloading incoming shipments and checking out customers on the front end to assisting those with carry-out orders.

“Curbside is where we do most of our business: between 250 and 300 curbside sales weekly,” he says. The Greenfield native

Sales • 2:22pm All the product deliveries for the day have been received, and Greczkowski begins updating inventory and putting the invoices into the store’s computer system.

After this, he will start buying more orders of spirits and wines from salesmen for the store’s next delivery, which starts at 9am the next morning. Greczkowski jokes, “It never stops.”

Prepping To-Go Orders • 3:35pm After lunch, Greczkowski and the shop’s wine specialist, John Ryan, prepare the local deliveries.

There are nine in all today, loaded into the back of Greczkowski’s vehicle.

Delivering the Goods • 4:20pm Greczkowski is so busy making signs for the new products that came in today—and, yes, still placing more orders from salesmen—that he hands over the delivery responsibilities to Ryan.

Heading to the Bank • 5:27pm By now, Greczkowski has finished most of his

Lunchtime • 3:07pm Greczkowski orders lunch— steak and shrimp from Kinjo Japanese—and works on adding more of tomorrow's shipping orders while he eats.

Bookkeeping • 3:18pm Greczkowski’s wife, Kristen, stops by the store. Kristen is the other co-owner of Purdy’s—her grandfather, George Purdy, founded the Saratoga-based business in 1960—and she does all of the store’s bookkeeping.

Her mother, Gail Purdy Brophy, left college in the fall of 1963 to take over Purdy’s after George fell ill.

She ended up running the store for 57 years before passing away in February.

responsibilities for the day.

Kristen checks on how much change the cash registers will need for the next day, and then Greczkowski zips over to the bank to make change and hand over deposits. “We are a team,” Greczkowski says about his partnership with Kristen.

“We run the store together, and we’ve been married for 16 years.”

Quitting Time • 6:10pm Though Purdy’s will stay open until 9pm tonight,

Greczkowski is calling it quits for the day. He’s already put in nine-anda-half hours. Also, it’s Kristen’s birthday. “I’ve got to get home kind of early,” Greczkowski says with a smile. Indeed, it’s never a good idea to upset your business partner and wife, especially when they’re the same person.

BEST THING WE SAW: It was refreshing to see a small business in Saratoga doing so well, even if the bandanas and masks on its employees’ faces reminded us of the new, not-soincredible normal.

WORST THING WE SAW: A man not having time to each lunch until 3:07pm!

THE BOTTOM LINE: Purdy’s might be enjoying a booming business, but its staff is working hard for it. You could feel a real sense of duty and wanting to do right by the public that suddenly has this need.

For Brandan and Kristen Greczkowski to keep a sixdecade-old, family-owned store afloat through good times and bad—and now during a global pandemic— well, that speaks for itself.

the front Jeremy Krupa PROJECT MANAGER, STS STEEL, INC.

“Working from home has allowed my company to utilize resources that have been available but had not previously been taken advantage of, the biggest being electronic signatures. This has reduced the need for printing and scanning a lot of documents.”

remote access

Home Sweet...

Office?

Billy Chapman DISTRICT SALES MANAGER, MISSION FOODS

“I work from home a lot normally, so this hasn't made much of a difference to my job. My company was deemed essential, since we're a food delivery service. But I do wish I had an extra room to set up in, because I just use my kitchen table.”

FRO M CLINGI NG TODDLERS TO ME SSY K ITCHE N TABLES H OW WE ARE ALL RE A LLY WORKING FROM H OME. (like this submission from sl’s Jeff Dingler)

Tawn Malison ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR, SARATOGA SENIOR CENTER

“During every single Zoom call, our toddler finds me, no matter where I hide.”

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Ginevra Fisk MARKETING COORDINATOR & DESIGN SPECIALIST, THE HYDE COLLECTION

Colleen H. Carlson DIRECTOR OF SALES, SARATOGA CASINO HOTEL

“The best part about working from home is that there are no interruptions, and I can throw in a couple of loads of laundry while writing contracts. The worst is that I miss my team who are currently furloughed. I also do not enjoy Zoom calls. I miss being with people instead of talking to them on a screen.”

⁄ SUMMER 2020

Paul Hennessey ASSISTANT VICE PRESIDENT, COOL INSURING AGENCY, INC.

“One nice afternoon, I sat outside for a conference call with my boss and some other associates. After the call, I needed to talk to my boss about another matter, and while talking to him he mentioned how distracted he was on the conference call by the sounds of birds chirping on someone’s line. Unless he reads this article, he’ll never know it was me!”

“The trickiest part of working from home is probably my crazy desk setup. I was about to get rid of the desk, and had already ditched the drawers, when lockdown started.

I usually use a standing desk at the office, and in order to make anything comparable, I mashed together an odd arrangement of items. It’s hilarious and less than ergonomic, but it gets the job done!”

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THE CHURCH of H O W S A R AT O G A C A M E T O W O R S H I P T H E D AV E M AT T H E W S B A N D .

By Will Levith

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(opposite) ELARIO PHOTOGRAPHY; FRANCESCO D’AMICO

DAVE

two step The Dave Matthews Band, shown here performing last summer at SPAC, have been playing two-night mini-residencies there since the early aughts; (opposite) Dave Matthews Band has had a rotating lineup since the early ’90s; this current one features newer members such as keyboardist Buddy Strong (far left), lead guitarist Tim Reynolds (second from left) and trumpeter Rashawn Ross (far right).

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drawn-out musical improvisation and extended solos.)

Two months before DMB arrived for that gig in ’96, the band had released its second studio album, Crash, which went on to become their best-selling of all time, eventually cresting at No.2 on the Billboard charts; spawning a string of hits, including “So Much to Say” and “Crash Into Me,” to name a few; and going seven times multiplatinum. Most of what happened that night was a blur—the single-song encore was a fiery cover of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” maybe an unknowing tip of the cap to the famed troubadour who’d famously played a pair of shows across town at Caffè Lena in the early ’60s—but above all, I remember feeling a great weight lifted off of my shoulders. I may have read from the holy scriptures at age 13—and that, indeed, was a special occasion—but this…this was a religious experience.

S

urprisingly, DMB had been a band for only a handful of years before that first SPAC appearance in ’94. They formed just three years earlier in Charlottesville, VA, as a quasivehicle for local bartender/actor Dave Matthews’ budding side-hustle as a songwriter. Matthews, who was born in South Africa and ping-ponged between there, England and the States, before landing permanently in Virginia in 1989, had decided it was time to put some of his songs to cassette tape, so he enlisted a rag-tag group of local talent to build out his sound, some of whom played regularly at Miller’s, the spot where he tended bar: drummer Carter Beauford, saxophonist LeRoi Moore, bassist Stefan Lessard (who joined the band at 16), keyboardist Peter Griesar and violinist Boyd Tinsley. Something gelled, because soon thereafter, the band established themselves as a local favorite, playing gigs at Charlottesville nightclub Trax, as well as a number def jam DMB has played SPAC 37 times, and Dave Matthews and Tim Reynolds have played the venue an additional three times as a duo.

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of other venues and festivals in North Carolina and Virginia.

It was around this time that Matthews got to know fellow guitarist and songwriter Tim Reynolds, a non-singing, fast-fingered, mad scientist on the six-string, who at the time, had been playing solo gigs every Monday night at Miller’s. “I got to know him right away,” says Reynolds of his longtime friend, songwriting partner and later, bandmate.

“It was immediately high-school-buddy mode. He was 10 years younger than me, but he was also relating to all the classic rock that I grew up with and he knew about younger bands.” Reynolds remembers one of the first times they sat down to play music together: “Dave sang, and I played a bunch of music, and before the end of the night, he sat down at the piano and played something, and I was like, ‘He’s like Paul McCartney.’ I could tell he was extremely musical. At the time he was an actor, doing full-time acting and being a bartender, and he was very famous in the local scene. So when he shifted to a band, he already had a crowd waiting to see him do that.”

Like Billy Preston was to The Beatles, Reynolds would eventually become the phantom extra member of DMB, playing on all of the band’s ’90s records and later joining up as a full, touring member in the aughts. (He’s also performed,

toured and recorded extensively with Matthews as a duo as well.) “Dave’s songwriting is unique,” says Reynolds.

“The rhythm and even the way he fingers [the guitar] is unique. He uses his pinkie as the main thing, and it’s different from when you use your pinkie and play solo lines like classical or jazz. He uses it like a giant muscle to clamp down chord bases.” He knew Matthews was onto something when he first heard “Satellite”—an eventual hit song and crowd favorite: “I was like, that’s some unique shit right there.”

By 1992, the band had gained a

Tim Reynolds knew Matthews was onto something when he first heard “Satellite”—an eventual hit song and crowd favorite: “I was like, that’s some unique shit right there.”

loyal following, as part of the local bar and fraternity house scene, and began booking shows outside of their comfort zone, first playing a gig at 23 East Cabaret in Ardmore, PA, then at two venerable New York City nightclubs, the Wetlands Preserve and CBGB. “One of the reasons I didn’t tour with them when they were coming up,” says Reynolds, “is that once they started being established, they toured all year long and really dogged the road.” The band played hundreds of shows per year—in 1992, some 166 alone—and it was difficult for Reynolds to perform his own music (with his trio TR3) outside of an arrangement like that. (Plus, he had toured in the late ’70s in cover bands, too, and felt like he’d already experience the road.) DMB would end up making their way up and down the Eastern seaboard, having been welcomed with open arms into the budding jam band scene, which at that time, included bands such as Blues Traveler, the Spin Doctors, The band of brothers The latest lineup of the Dave Matthews Band features (from left): Tim Reynolds (lead guitar), Stefan Lessard (bass), Buddy Strong (keyboards/backing vocals); Dave Matthews (lead vocals/rhythm guitar); Jeff Coffin (saxophone); Rashawn Ross (trumpet/backing vocals); and Carter Beauford (drums/backing vocals).

ELARIO PHOTOGRAPHY

echnically, you could say that I .became a man over Memorial Day weekend in 1993, when I was bar mitzvahed. All of my friends and extended family gathered at Temple Sinai in Downtown Saratoga Springs, where I recited ancient Hebrew text from the Torah, wrapped in a prayer shawl, wearing a yarmulke, as serious as I’ve ever been. But there is definitely a more common “coming of age” ceremony for

teenagers in Saratoga: going to see the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) perform live at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) for the first time.

My own first show was on Saturday, June 8, 1996, and I was accompanied by my older brother and one of his friends; we sat in the amphitheater, and my exact seat was No.23 in Section 11, Row LL (I still have the ticket stub). It was only the band’s second performance at SPAC, the first of which had taken place in September 1994, when DMB was one of the headliners at the fledgling Horizons of Rock Developing Everywhere (H.O.R.D.E.) festival, which had quickly become the prime showcase for young artists of all shapes and sizes in the “jam band” scene. (That descriptor is a convenient, if not somewhat pejorative, way to pigeonhole bands that, in the vein of lysergic West Coast antiheroes The Grateful Dead, tend towards long,

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Dave’s Band’s Superfans

can’t quite place the exact year, but he thinks it might’ve been ’98.) “I was sick of answering the same question over and over, so I made a big, ugly, markerdrawn sign that said ‘Dave is really sold out. Yes, that means lawn, too!’ A picture made it into The Saratogian.” Misha Duvernoy, a teacher and horse breeder based in Hebron, NY, who grew up in Wilton, remembers “camping” outside of SPAC’s box office and the long-shuttered Broadway record store, Strawberries, to nab DMB tickets. “I think I enjoyed hanging out with friends and waiting to buy tickets just as much as actually going to the shows,” she says. In other words, the DMB experience started long before the crowds ever streamed into SPAC; it was as much about being part of a community as it was being at the actual show itself—something that is amplified when you grow up in a small town like Saratoga. Native Saratogian Liz Marcell Williams, who nowadays is the CEO of the Center for Resilience in New Orleans, remembers her first DMB show like it was yesterday: “Front row, orchestra

C HE CKIN G IN WI TH DMB’ S B IG GE ST ( LOCAL) FANS A BOU T THE IR TOP S PAC E XPE R IENCES. In early May, the Dave Matthews Band (DMB) postponed their annual, two-day affair at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC)—though they did immediately reschedule the dates to 2021 and will honor all tickets purchased. To some, DMB’s SPAC shows are nothing short of a national holiday, and saratoga living wanted to identify those mega-fans and honor their loyalty.

“My first DMB at SPAC concert experience was 20 years ago on August 29, 2000. I know what my very first setlist was—and looking back at it now, it was a pretty good show. So good, actually, that DMB released the recording as part of their ongoing Live Trax series. Not many people have their first show as a live release.

So, while I don’t remember the concert, I can actually listen to it whenever I want to. For me DMB at SPAC is like Christmas. There is something special about attending a DMB show there. Of the 39 DMB concerts I have attended in the past 20 years, 18 of them have been at SPAC. This is not counting

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sign of the times Dave Matthews autographing a guitar that would later be auctioned off by the Saratoga-based charity Ballsfest.

on every track, doubling Matthews’ guitar parts. The resultant album is nothing short of a glorious wall of sound.

With just a few minor exceptions— 1995, 1999, 2011 and this July’s twonight SPAC mini-residence, which was canceled due to the COVID-19 crisis— DMB has been playing almost entirely uninterrupted in Saratoga for more than two decades. With maybe the exception of fellow jammers Phish, DMB has had the longest-standing relationship of any band with the people of Saratoga, and like the ants that we are, we march back, year after year, for more. In those twenty-some-odd years, the band has played SPAC a staggering 37 times, beginning their annual twonight stands in 2001. (Matthews and Reynolds have also appeared at SPAC as a duo three times.)

“I was working in the [SPAC] box office the first year that the lawn sold out,” says Saratoga native Tim Harris, now a carpenter in Greenfield. (He

best of what’s around DMB’s lead guitarist, Tim Reynolds, has known Dave Matthews since the frontman’s early days as a bartender/ actor in Charlottesville, VA.

(Tim Reynolds) RENÉ HEUMER; (Dave Matthews with fans, tattoo) LISA DIANTONIO

JP Elario, Photographer, Troy

Samples, Phish, Big Head Todd & The Monsters and Widespread Panic. That same year, Blues Traveler concocted a traveling carnival of a rock festival to showcase their and their friends’ music, the aforementioned H.O.R.D.E. festival. In ’93, DMB jumped on the lineup for a pair of home-state dates, rising to the level of headliner the following year, when the band arrived at SPAC for the first time.

Later that year, they self-released their independent debut, Remember Two Things, which consisted mostly of live cuts and one-off studio session pieces, featuring Reynolds on four out of the 10 tracks (it’s since gone platinum). Unlike their 25-plus song sets that they played at SPAC in 2019, DMB was allotted time for just nine songs at their SPAC debut, ending their set with “Typical Situation,” which would later appear on their major label debut, Under the Table and Dreaming, recorded just south of Saratoga at Bearsville Studios near Woodstock. Released on September 27, 1994, it was almost an immediate commercial hit, peaking at No.11 on the Billboard 200 and vaulting the band into superstardom (it would eventually go six times multiplatinum). Reynolds appeared

(guitar) BALLSFEST; (Dave and JP Elario) ELARIO PHOTOGRAPHY

q

pit, elbows on the stage, summer 1996,” she says. “Ben Harper opened, and Dave sat in the wings and air drummed during his set.” When DMB came back the following summer, Marcell Williams met Matthews backstage. She even reveals that it was my older brother that turned her onto the band in 1994 in the first place. (I can attest; he was an early adopter of many bands that became my favorites, too.) “I fell madly in love with Dave at that first SPAC show and have now seen him about 30 times,” she says. “It never gets old.”

Even the band itself has a mutual admiration for the city. “They’re always great,” says Reynolds of DMB’s Saratoga fans. “For awhile, it was a challenge to find a hotel where we could have privacy—a couple times we stayed in some other town.” (Reynolds played his first pair of SPAC shows in 2008.) “It’s a really charming little town,” says Reynolds of Saratoga. “I al ways like going there.” In a 2018 interview in New York magazine, Matthews even gave SPAC a shout-out: “When Tim and I played for 20-somethingthousand people in Saratoga Springs last summer, the crowd was jumping around and having a great time—and we were having a great time—but it was like ‘Holy shit!’ You’re just trying to ride

the three I watched, partially, from the Hall of Springs in between first dances, toasts and cake cuttings while shooting weddings. Talk about torture for a superfan.”

q

Lisa DiAntonio (right) with Dave and her friend Nicole Nawrot

Lisa DiAntonio, Research Scientist, Rexford “I met Dave at the Olde Bryan Inn where my husband is the general manager.

I waited at the bar until Dave was done eating and followed him out the back of the restaurant with my friend Nicole. He was so nice and warm despite the fact that I lost my ability to speak because he is my favorite. He drew a rhino on a receipt, which I later tattooed on my back.”

q Meghan Raymond, Lawyer, Gansevoort “I saw Dave when he played H.O.R.D.E. in 1994. My most memorable experience was when I was able to meet [the band’s] LeRoi [Moore], Carter [Beauford], Stefan [Lessard] and Butch [Taylor] in Downtown Saratoga with my friend Erica back in 2002. Back in high school, I used to listen to cassette tapes of Dave’s gigs that he played back in North Carolina at the bar he worked at. Seeing Tim Reynolds play solo at Putnam Den in 2017 was pretty epic, too. Going to see DMB is what every summer revolves around for me.”

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saratogaliving.com 33

“My first SPAC show was in 2006.

We needed a change of scenery from Boston area DMB shows, so my friend and I drove out. What stands out to me—besides the nervousness of going through security with my shoes and belt stuffed with Grey Goose nips—is driving down Broadway and saying, ‘This looks like a nice place,’ and not giving it much more thought.

A few years later, I went out during racing season, was instantly hooked and have been back every August since.”

q Todd Martin, Educator, Saugerties “My greatest Dave Matthews Band show experience was at SPAC—I believe it was the summer of ’97. Living in town and being a rambunctious teenager, my first choice to get into any show was always to jump the fence. I went to the show with my girlfriend at the time and another couple. Our intentions were to sit on the lawn near the Hall of Springs, because not everyone in the group wanted to hop the fence. When we got to the lawn spot, there was a stepladder propped up against the fence. I convinced my group that if we were to ever hop the fence, this was the time. So we did, and without chase. While walking through the big field on our way to the lawn section, four people walking the opposite way asked if we wanted their tickets. Having just gotten in for free, we said ‘No, thanks. We just hopped the fence!’

To which they replied ‘Are you sure? They are inside seats.’ Our jaws dropped. They said they’d come for the opening band and didn’t want to stick around for Dave. We gladly took the tickets and enjoyed a free show at SPAC in the amphitheater.”

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the energy as best you can.” (For those keeping track, capacity at SPAC is a little over 25,000.) For any Saratogian who’s ever been to SPAC to see DMB, it’s unlike any other show that Live Nation puts on there; it’s simply an electrifying experience, one that’s hard to put into words. It’s as though the whole city is there, listening, hanging on Matthews’ every word.

DMB even shares Saratoga’s penchant for generosity; they’re basically the Marylou Whitney of the music world. In its nearly three decades in existence, the band has raised tens of millions of dollars for organizations such as the Bridge School, a Californiabased school for children with severe speech and physical impairments; Farm Aid, a concert series founded by fellow musicians Willie Nelson and John Mellencamp (Matthews has been on its board since 2001), which raises awareness and dollars for family farmers across the country; The Nature Conservancy’s Plant a Billion Trees campaign, a forest restoration effort with the goal of planting a billion trees around the world by 2025; as well as Amnesty International, Habitat for Humanity, Every Mother Counts and the Special Olympics (there are countless others). In 1999, the band formed their own Bama Works Fund, which has raised $52 million for initiatives in their hometown of Charlottesville and beyond. And they’ve even (literally) leant a hand to one of our local nonprofits—Ballsfest, a cancer awareness organization that was founded in 2008 outside of a DMB show at SPAC. Matthews signed a guitar that the nonprofit later auctioned off for more than $5,000. (Ballsfest Founder Frank DeBlasi is a DMB superfan, having seen the band perform more than 275 times at more than 40 different venues, with SPAC being his favorite.)

Although the DMB lineup of the early ’90s is no longer—Griesar left the band in ’93, Moore passed away in ’08 and Tinsley was fired in ’18—the band has, in many ways, become an even tighter, stronger unit than ever

dave the date Even though DMB’s two nights at SPAC were canceled this year, they’ve been rescheduled for the same dates in 2021.

before. Surrounding the original core of Matthews, Beauford and Lessard are now lead guitarist Reynolds; saxophonist Jeff Coffin, who filled in after Moore’s death and became a full-time member soon thereafter; trumpeter Rashawn Ross, who’s been touring with the band since 2005 and has been a full-time member since 2006; and keyboardist/vocalist Buddy Strong, the band’s rookie, who joined in 2018, following Tinsley’s departure.

Regardless of who’s in the band or how many shows they play per summer, DMB’s annual pilgrimage to Saratoga,

(DMB) FRANCESCO D'AMICO; (ticket stub) AL PAPPO

Al Pappo, Pharma Operations Manager, Redding, MA

which has sometimes coincided with the Saratoga Race Course summer meet, has been a reason for the city to rejoice. Sure, you’ll hear the usual moans and groans from grumpy locals about the traffic snarls along Route 9 North or Route 50 when the band is in town, but that’s normal small-town jive. DMB’s mere presence in the Spa City has meant a revenue jolt to Downtown Saratoga’s restaurants, shops and hotels—and the secondary market for tickets to sold-out DMB shows has become a prospector’s paradise. In 2017 and 2018, Broadway restaurant Boca Bistro even tried to lure

Matthews there the weekend of his SPAC performances via slickly produced music videos, promoting a prix fixe menu paired with Matthews’ own Dreaming Tree brand wines—yes, Matthews diversified his portfolio to include winemaking, too, when he cofounded the brand in 2011 (it’s named after a song from the band’s No.1 record, Before These Crowded Streets). He didn’t show up either time, but the videos went “local viral”—and the dinners have become a permanent fixture.

On the same day that DMB canceled their entire 2020 summer tour, including

their July 10-11 run at SPAC, they also announced that they’d be honoring tickets bought for the shows on the same dates next year. So even if we can’t see or hear DMB in the flesh this year, let me suggest ordering a bottle or two—maybe a case!—of Dreaming Tree from one of the five wine stores in Saratoga that carries it, dusting off that DMB concert T-shirt, cranking up whatever you use to listen to DMB these days to 11 and closing your eyes.

You might just find yourself in Seat 23, Section 11, Row LL at SPAC. And it might just be the greatest night of your life.

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saratoga living

Baseball Special

Upstate Ballers

F I V E C A P I TA L R E G I O N N AT I V E S W H O W E N T O N T O S TA R I N T H E B I G S .

By Will Levith

D

on’t let anyone ever tell you that it’s easy punching a ticket to the majors. According to Baseball America magazine, over the past nearly 40 years, less than one in five players drafted in the Major League Baseball (MLB) draft makes it to the big show. Those are pretty steep odds. Simply put, you need to be an indispensable superstar, with some je ne sais quoi that gets you the eventual callup—not to mention a body that’ll survive the beating of a 162-game season (and possible postseason, if you’re lucky enough). Here are five baseballers from the Capital Region that ended up having respectable, if not stellar careers in the big leagues.

mover and shaker Relief Pitcher Tommy Kahnle, who starred for Shaker High, is on the current New York Yankees roster; (right) Troy’s Johnny Evers, who was a superstar infielder and hitter for the Chicago Cubs during the 1900s, was later inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame.

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NEW YORK YANKEES

Johnny Evers

Second Base (1902-29) Born in Troy in 1881, Johnny “The Trojan” Evers starred primarily for the Chicago Cubs and Boston Braves, racking up five National League pennants and three World Series championships in his illustrious career that ultimately led him to a bronze plaque at the

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Baseball Special baseball Hall of Fame in 1946. Evers was such a titan that he was even immortalized in the refrain of the famed Franklin Pierce Adams’ poem, “Baseball’s Sad Lexicon,” with the line, “Tinker to Evers to Chance.”

George Davis Shortstop (1890-1909) Primarily starring for the New York Giants— the baseball team, which eventually moved to San Francisco in 1958—Cohoes native George Davis is among the greatest shortstops to ever play the game. He was also a force at the plate, slugging a career .295 batting average, with 2,665 hits, 1,545 runs and 1,440 RBIs. He was a late bloomer, though, at least for Hall voters: He wasn’t elected until 1998.

On the Fast Track

Tim Stauffer Pitcher (2005-15) Stauffer was actually born in Portland, ME, but played his high school ball at Saratoga Central Catholic in Saratoga. Back in those days, he put up Babe Ruthian numbers as a hitting pitcher for the Saints, finishing the ’00 season with a .455 batting average, 130 runs, 137 RBIs and 155 hits; and from the mound, 30 wins and 366 strikeouts. He was chosen No.4 overall in the 2003 MLB draft by the San Diego Padres, where he spent the majority of an injury-plagued career, before short stints with the Minnesota Twins and New York Mets.

S H E N E N D E H O WA G R A D U AT E IAN ANDERSON I S N O W O N E O F B A S E B A L L’ S TOP PROSPECTS.

Brendan Harris Infielder (2004-13)

Born in Albany and starring for Queensbury High School, utility infielder Brendan Harris was drafted in the 5th round (138th overall) of the 2001 MLB draft by the Chicago Cubs. He’d end up a journeyman, seeing action not only with Chicago, but also the Montréal Expos, Washington Nationals, Cincinnati Reds, Tampa Bay Rays, Minnesota Twins and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

By Brien Bouyea

big league crew (clockwise from top left) Cohoes’ George Davis was enshrined in the Hall of Fame 89 years after he retired from the big leagues; Brendan Harris, who played for Queensbury High, was a journeyman, making cameos on seven MLB clubs; Tim Stauffer, a dominant pitcher for Saratoga Central Catholic, was drafted No.4 overall in the 2003 MLB draft.

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Tommy Kahnle was a standout catcher and pitcher for Shaker High School in Latham, where he was born and raised. He would eventually be drafted in the fifth round in 2010 by hometown heroes the New York Yankees, but was later taken away in the Rule 5 draft by the Colorado Rockies. He was then traded to the Chicago White Sox, where he put up great numbers, which eventually put him back in the good graces of the Yanks, who picked him in 2017. There, he’s ping-ponged between the majors and the minors. Will he make the Opening Day roster, if there is one? We shall see.

BRYAN GREEN

Tommy Kahnle Pitcher (2010-present)

hen the Atlanta Braves selected Shenendehowa High School graduate Ian Anderson third overall in the 2016 MLB draft, it marked the highest position any player from the Capital Region has ever been drafted in a sport (remember: Tim Stauffer was born in Maine). Talk about expectations. So far, the 22-year-old has lived up to his draft status and is on the doorstep of what could potentially be a successful career in the majors.

The 6-foot-3, 170-pound right-handed pitcher has quickly climbed through the Atlanta Braves organization and could potentially make his debut in 2020, assuming there is some semblance of a season in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Widely considered the No.1 pitching prospect in the Atlanta system, Anderson has risen from rookie ball in the Gulf Coast League to its AAA club in Gwinnett, GA in his four professional seasons since signing for a $4 million bonus following his career at Shen.

In 80 professional outings (all starts), Anderson has posted an excellent 2.91 ERA and struck out 451 batters in 377.2 innings. He was selected to the All-Star Futures Game in 2019. If Anderson advances to the majors, he will join boyhood friend, 21-year-old Kevin Huerter—a breakout star for the National Basketball Association’s Atlanta Hawks—at the top of the professional sports ranks in The ATL. (Anderson and Huerter grew up playing Little League together and were teammates on Shen’s 2016 state championship baseball squad.) What a reunion that would be.

pitcher perfect Shen grad Ian Anderson is widely considered the No.1 pitching prospect in the Atlanta Braves system.

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saratoga living

Baseball Special

The Collar Sh*tty All-Stars

Ace of Diamonds

coach class ue up the Bryan Adams Siena’s Tony Rossi has and journey back to been with the college ball the summer of club since 1969.

1969. That was the year of men something that you landing on the SIENA COLLEGE’S TONY ROSSI IS THE really like, and you moon, Woodstock LONGEST TENURED HEAD BASEBALL spend your life—every and the Miracle Mets.

C OAC H I N N C A A D I V I S I O N I year since I was seven— It was also when Siena doing it 24/7/365, you are College hired Tony Rossi, its B AS E B A LL H I STO RY — A N D H E ’S always thinking about what you longtime head baseball coach, STILL GOING STRONG. do and what the next challenge will for the steal-of-a-deal sum of $200 be. There is never enough time, in my a year. “The program was Division II, case, to do all of what I need to do. As I nonscholarship and was run by the head tell my assistants, there is always something basketball coach, who was the athletic to do, never any downtime.” director as well,” remembers Rossi. “He told Unfortunately, Siena’s 2020 season was cut me the salary, but that was never and still is never why I coach. I accepted and have obviously been short by the COVID-19 crisis, and while it was a a very happy person.” disappointment to Rossi, he is enthusiastic about his Still going strong after 51 years, the 76-year-old Rossi is the team’s future and looking forward to the 2021 campaign. longest tenured head coach in NCAA Division I baseball history.

“Every program is in the same boat,” Rossi says. “So the main A six-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Coach thing that concerns all of us is that our kids did not have this of the Year, Rossi has 908 career wins, more than any MAAC year to continue to grow as baseball players and men.” coach in any sport. Fifty-six of his former players have signed But he’s not using the time off to think about a curtain call: Rossi, whose teams have a record of 380-296 (.562) in MAAC professional contracts, including three who have advanced to play since the Saints joined the conference in 1990, is still full the majors—Gary Holle, Tim Christman and John Lannan. speed ahead. “I know there is an end, but really don’t think “You know, I never really think of it,” Rossi says of his longevity. “It has gone real fast for me. When you have about it,” says Rossi. “There’s too much work to do.”

I N T H E 1 8 0 0 S , T R O Y H A D A G H A S T LY M L B T E A M — PA C K E D T O T H E H I LT W I T H F U T U R E S U P E R S TA R S .

By Will Levith

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HERITAGE AUCTIONS, HA.COM

SIENA COLLEGE

By Brien Bouyea

ere in the Capital Region, we’ve had our fair share of baseball teams throughout the years—mostly minor league ball clubs and some better than others. The Albany-Colonie Yankees, for instance, had some kid named Derek Jeter on its roster for a hot minute in the early ’90s.

But back in the late 1800s, when baseball was still a fledgling sport (and business) in America, we had an actual major league team: the Troy Trojans of the National League (NL), who played—abominably, we might add—from 1879-1882 at a ballpark that is now Riverfront Park. “The Troy club never won as many games as they lost in any season yet developed

young players who would star for other clubs for years to come,” says John Thorn, the official baseball historian for Major League Baseball. Those future superstars included Buck Ewing, Dan Brouthers, Tim Keefe, Mickey Welch and Roger Connor, all of whom were eventually enshrined at the Hall of Fame in Cooperstown.

Connor even recorded baseball’s first grand slam!

Alas, the team was so putrid it was expelled from the NL following its 1882 campaign, during which it garnered the dubious historical note of having played one of the leastattended games in professional sports history (just six fans were in attendance). Hindsight, we guess, isn’t actually 20-20.

id cards Five, one-time Troy Trojans players, (from left) Tim Keefe, Buck Ewing, Dan Brouthers, Mickey Welch and Roger Connor, have been inducted into the baseball Hall of Fame.

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Baseball Special

Gloversville’s Own ‘Field of Dreams’ H OW A N O R D I N A RY L I T T L E L E AG U E F I E L D I N F U LT O N C O U N T Y M AY J U S T B E C O M E A HISTORIC BASEBALL D E S T I N AT I O N .

By Natalie Moore

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if you build it...

A colorized photo of A,J&G Park from 1906; (below, from left) the A,J&G Park opening ceremony day; a JAGs player; a game being played on the field in 1910; a rendering of what Parkhurst Field will look like after the “Field of Dreams” campaign is completed.

y Young. Honus Wagner. Archibald Wright “Moonlight” Graham. These are names that have been memorialized in baseball’s history books, whether for the players’ unparalleled ability (e.g., Young and Wagner) or the brevity of their Major League career (e.g., Graham). They’ve also all played at Parkhurst Field, an inconspicuous Little League diamond in Fulton County.

“My son was playing in the Gloversville Little League, and we were trying to apply for grants and opportunities to upgrade the facility,” says Dave Karpinski, now the executive director of the Parkhurst Field Foundation. “It was what we found during that research that led us to the realization of how special these grounds were and how unique it was in the entire United States.”

Opened on July 12, 1906, Gloversville’s A,J&G Baseball Park, which would become Parkhurst Field, was the home of the professional New York State League’s JAGs (JAG stands for Johnstown-AmsterdamGloversville). Back then, the park was owned by the FJ&G Railroad and was a popular stop on the railway that’s now the FJ&G Rail Trail. Teams such as the Boston Americans (now the Red Sox) and the Pittsburgh Nationals (now the Pirates) played games there, as well as many Negro League teams, which often weren’t allowed to play at other fields across the country. The field itself predates both Fenway Park and Wrigley Field; it’s one of the few remaining grounds on which Hall of Famer Honus Wagner played; and is the only field still in existence on which “Moonlight” Graham, the one-inning wonder immortalized in the 1982 W.P. Kinsella novel Shoeless Joe and Oscar-nominated 1989 film, Field of Dreams, played while stuck in the minors.

In 2014, the Parkhurst Field Foundation was formed and launched a $2.3 million, three-phase capital campaign to rebuild the park into a true “Field of Dreams”—a state-of-the-art baseball facility where young players could come learn the outsized role this region has played in America’s Pastime.

(Universal Studios has even licensed out the “Field of Dreams” trademark for use in the campaign.) As it stands, the campaign is currently on hold due to the COVID-19 crisis, but thanks to a $500,000 New York State Consolidated Funding grant and other commitments from donors, phase one is poised to begin in 2021.

“Everybody thinks ‘Cooperstown’ when they think Upstate New York baseball, but it was really an entire region,” Karpinski says.

“You know, Abner Doubleday, with a house in [Ballston Spa]; the glove industry; the baseball industry; the bat industry in Dolgeville. It really speaks to this regional, wonderful history, and it becomes just a little piece of economic development and an ability for Gloversville to raise their hand and say, ‘Look, this is pretty special and this is what we can call our own.’”

In Field of Dreams, “Moonlight” Graham, who got so close to his dream of playing in the big leagues, only to be brought back down to the minors without even a single at-bat, gets a chance to live out his dream on the baseball field. The Parkhurst Field Foundation is, in a way, like the fictional Graham: It’s making sure the small, upstate town of Gloversville gets to live out its well-deserved dream.

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Megan Fahy has lettered her way into the hearts of celeb party hosts Serena Williams, Carolina Herrera and Chrissy Teigen.

BY WILL LEVITH

o say that Megan Fahy is a badass would sort of be an understatement. Last Labor Day weekend, at the height of wedding season— when her calligraphy business usually reaches its apex—she was diagnosed with breast cancer. “The day I got my diagnosis, they told me I had cancer over the phone, and I was like, ‘OK, great, I have menu cards to do, so, thank you and goodbye,’” says Fahy, who lives in Menands and grew up in Albany. Soon after, she had surgery, and literally the day afterwards, still in an immense amount of pain, Fahy was doing her art on apples for an upcoming wedding. (Apples? We’ll get to that in a minute.) That was followed by five months of chemotherapy followed and a month of radiation, the last of her treatment coming in early May. The story of Megan Fahy Calligraphy started a decade ago. After college, while she was living in Boston, Fahy did an intensive run of workshops at the North Bennet Street School—a private school for all types of makers—working under a master calligrapher in the art of pointed-pen calligraphy. From there, she became so good at it that it turned into a business. “When I started, no one was doing this,” she says. “It took off very quickly.”

Upon moving back to the Capital Region, she connected with an old friend, who put her in touch with a celebrity event designer. And in the fall of 2017, things got interesting. “I was hired to do Serena Williams’ bachelorette and wedding,” says Fahy. “I went down to New York, did it all in secret out of somebody’s apartment.” Guests, whom she did personalized, hand-scripted calligraphy work for on gifts such as aprons and Beats By Dre headphones, included Beyoncé, Karlie Kloss, Ciara and La La Anthony, to name a few . A business that started as mostly save-the-dates and wedding invitations has expanded into “writing on very bizarre surfaces,” she says, like apples. She’s also done work for fashion designer Carolina Herrera; model Chrissy Teigen and her husband, John Legend; and even Saved

By The Bell’s Kelly Kapowski (i.e. actress Tiffani Amber Thiessen).

More recently, Fahy decided that the Capital Region community needed a little TLC, with the COVID-19 crisis being such a downer. After stumbling across the work of Bay Stater Antea Amoroso, whose #letteringforlove campaign involved the artist lettering happy messages on storefronts and other spaces, Fahy was inspired to do the same for local businesses forced to temporarily close during the statewide lockdown. She posted to her Facebook page: “If you are a small business or school in the Capital District area looking to brighten your windows, I am offering my lettering services. I am here to help!” Businesses that have already felt Fahy’s love include anatomie gym in Troy and Lollipops Children’s Shop in Latham. Thanks, Megan; the Capital Region has never looked (or felt) better.

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P

en pal Calligrapher Megan Fahy has courageously fought breast cancer while keeping her local business going; Fahy has been lettering happy messages on storefronts and other spaces in the Capital Region to spread love during the COVID-19 crisis; (opposite) some examples of Fahy’s stunning calligraphy.

(headshot & boxes) ELARIO PHOTOGRAPHY; (invitations) JENNA GREENAWALT PHOTOGRAPHY; (signature drinks, seating chart) OPTIMUM EXPOSURE PHOTOGRAPHY; (flowers) ZOFIA & CO PHOTOGRAPHY

CALLIGRAPHER TO THE STARS

When Life Gives You Lemons...

HOW SA R AT O G A CA N M A K E T HE M O ST OF A T R A CK- LESS, SPA C - LESS SUM M ER. S TA F F R E P O R T

I

photography by

KYLE ADAMS

t’s hard to believe that we’re nearing the oneyear anniversary of the last time Saratoga saw its streets packed with summer visitors on their way to Saratoga Race Course or the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). As we write this, the Capital Region is just a week into its first phase of reopening, and so much still remains unknown—especially for Saratoga, whose local economy depends on that annual rush of tourists. But Saratogians aren’t the type to sit around idle, licking their wounds. We’re resilient people; we don’t let tough times get us down—and we’re going to make a Saratoga summer of it, come what may. Here’s how we’ll do it.

Saratoga Race Course

W don’t fence me in While Saratoga Race Course’s summer meet will likely be run without fans in attendance, Saratogians are thinking up creative ways to still enjoy track season.

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hile Governor Andrew Cuomo gave the go-ahead to the state’s horse racing tracks to reopen, sans fans, as early as June 1—Belmont Park’s schedule will begin on the 3rd, with the Belmont Stakes running on the 20th— the New York Racing Association (NYRA), which also runs Saratoga Race Course, hasn’t (as of press time) provided Saratogians with much of a definitive answer on when our track will open, though we know it will likely be fan-less.

Whenever it does open, it’s not going to be total chaos: NYRA has put in place a number of safeguards to keep its employees, participating horsemen and backstretch workers safe. At Belmont, it has started offering voluntary COVID-19 antibody testing for all staffers and backstretch workers, and has put forth a number of health protocols such as mandatory health

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screenings and temperature checks; policy and workplace adjustments to support strict social distancing; mandatory personal protective measures, including all personnel being required to wear face masks; as well as additional testing and contact tracing. This will all be crucial if NYRA decides to ship its downstate equine party up to Saratoga, even without fans.

And come hell or high water, Saratogians will still be able to enjoy the races, one way or the other. The races will be broadcast on TV and online, and fans will still be able to place wagers, as there are a panoply of smartphone betting apps, such as NYRA Bets, DRF and TwinSpires. “We’re buying a projector that connects to the TV and projecting the races onto the side of the house next door,” says Saratoga resident Maggie Quinn, who lives downtown. “There’s a yard in between, for people to bring chairs to set up six feet apart.

Everyone’s already been sitting outside and betting on their apps. We’ll make a special season happen this year, no matter what, even if—especially if—it’s just us locals.”

If bars and restaurants are open by the time Saratoga's modified track season begins, they could also play host to socially distanced racing fan camaraderie via big-screen TVs or projectors. Caroline Street could be turned into a makeshift Grandstand, and the Adelphi could be a this-summer-only 1863 Club satellite.

And while NYRA's security will strictly enforce social distancing on the Union Ave. side of the fence, fans will, no doubt, congregate or park along the fence to try to catch a glimpse of a race. Or if you’re lucky enough to own a house along the perimeter of the track—say, on Nelson Avenue— you might be able to get a peek with some high-powered binoculars from your roof. Be careful up there during happy hour, though.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC)

T

he other key piece of Saratoga’s economic/cultural landscape is SPAC. But with the classical season now canceled and the majority of Live Nation acts having either been nixed completely or postponed until 2021, the focus, at least for SPAC’s nonprofit arm, has shifted to its educational programming and newly launched digital offerings. “We started morphing SPAC’s mission statement last year, because we’d really changed so much in certain fundamental ways,” says Elizabeth Sobol, SPAC’s president and CEO. “We looked at ourselves as no longer just a presenter of great performances on a stage, but a convener of community and education and a protector and steward of the Earth because of our beautiful location.” In just three-anda-half years, the venue has provided free arts education and experiences to more than 50,000 area students, and early last month, SPAC debuted a new virtual Learning Library, stocked with free educational videos and arts-themed activities.

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spac on track SPAC has quickly switched gears to offer a variety of virtual programs and concerts in lieu of its regularly scheduled live performances.

On top of this, the venue recently announced that it had partnered with Caffè Lena, one of the lone arts venues in the region to have been deemed “essential,” to stage the canceled Saratoga Jazz Fest as an enormously important virtual event to be streamed on the Caffè’s YouTube page June 26-28. “We will be doing more of all of this,” says Sobol.

“I can’t say today exactly when, because the river is moving so quickly, but more is definitely coming.”

What could that “more” look like? Of late, there’s been a surge of international interest in drive-in music venues, in

which fans watch live, outdoor performances from the comfort and safety of their cars. (Shows are broadcast over the FM radio frequency, and fans can interact with performers via Zoom.) Could SPAC convert its two parking lots, on either side of Route 50, into a COVID-secure music venue? Anything’s possible. Last month, country superstar Keith Urban played a concert to car-bound frontline healthcare workers in an amphitheater in Tennessee.

Or locals could just DIY it. “Because there won’t be any SPAC concerts, which is a thing that my friends and I like to do a lot,

I thought we would bring the concert to the backyard,” says Ballston Lake native Molly McCormack. She’s planning on putting on her own Live Nation homage shows on the day they were scheduled to happen at SPAC. For example, on June 6, she’ll host a socially distanced Lumineers concert, where her friends join her to listen to an “opening set” by a band of her choosing, followed by a pre-made Lumineers “set list” on Spotify. There’s even talk amongst her friends, she says, of bringing Oboys from Esperanto and 16-ounce Bud Light cans to make the concerts that much more SPAC authentic.

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local motive With fewer tourists coming to Saratoga this summer, the Spa City economy is going to rely on locals more than ever before.

Downtown Saratoga

S

aratoga’s many small businesses, especially along Broadway, bank heavily on the presence of summer tourists from the two aforementioned venues. And while there likely won’t be the usual crush of out-of-towners— Governor Cuomo has warned against too much interstate and intrastate mixing, for fear of upping the infection rate and having to shut things down all over again—there is still hope for a lucrative summer season, powered by us locals, some of whom usually leave town to escape the crowds or make money by renting out our homes.

“We’re usually busiest during the summer, when a lot of people sit outside,” says Tyler Russell, co-owner of Saratoga restaurant Farmers Hardware, which is still temporarily closed to diners but has been doing a steady takeout/to-go business (see Hot Chef, p. 72). “This year, with our brunch boxes, we were busy in April and May, with 100 percent local people supporting us and our community. The takeaway is how strong our community is. We can survive this with just our local community. We’re prepared for our second pivot.” His business partner and wife, Julia

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Sanzen, echoes his positivity. “After all of this is over,” she says, “we’ll still be here.”

At press time, the Capital Region was already a week into the aforementioned first phase of its reopening—or the return of construction, manufacturing and wholesale supply chain businesses; curbside pickup for retail outlets; and a refresh for agriculture, forestry and fishing. If the phases are spread out over two-week increments, as the governor has estimated, technically, we could be fully reopened by about mid-July—just in time for the fan-less races. (The track was set to open on July 16.) That would mean many of us would be back to work, with social distancing and personal protective equipment protocols in place, throughout the city; restaurants and hotels would have reopened, with similar tweaks in place; and arts, entertainment and recreation venues would have the go-ahead to reopen but likely with major restrictions on crowd sizes. In other words, the economy would be ready to rock.

“What I’m looking forward to is having our city come back to life,” says Saratoga Mayor Meg Kelly. “We need to get the shops open, the restaurants open, we need to see people walking downtown. I just think the vibrancy needs to come back, but we need to do it in the safest way possible.”

In the meantime, downtown businesses that have been forced to temporarily close have gotten creative, with many focusing their energies online. One Spa City-based gift shop and home goods store, Homessence, formerly at 439 Broadway, has completely switched over to online retail—at least for now. “We were there on Broadway for eight years as of March 2020,” says owner Tina DeMartino. “We were doing so well before the pandemic. We were actually doing better than ever.” DeMartino decided to close her storefront location, take photos of her entire inventory and put her shop online at the end of May. But DeMartino’s not planning on staying virtual forever. “I do plan to relocate, but certainly not until things really settle with the economy,” she says. “I do love having a store on Broadway—I love meeting people from all over the country and the world—but without a track season, I don’t see the point of moving forward with a store on Broadway.”

It’s a long shot, but the city could explore turning Broadway into a socially distanced bazaar for portions of the summer, by closing off car and truck traffic between Congress Street and NY-29, for stretches of the afternoon or evening—or the entire season. It would promote safety and health—and above all, business, as restaurants and boutiques could reopen with socially distanced tables and retail racks, respectively, extended out into the street.

We’d do anything to save Saratoga. Wouldn’t you?

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spencer’s gifts Lena Spencer, who ran Caffè Lena from the early ’60s until her death in 1989, had a knack for recognizing future hitmakers; (opposite) folk artist Michael Cooney shares the stage with Spencer.

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f f a C

’ l a i t n e s s E ‘ l l i t S s r a e Y e s e h T l l A r e t Af E VENU K L O F O ONIC C I AY S T S ’ W A W G E TO .

G N SARA PPEN NDIN I A F H L Y L I R IS ST HISTO E K A M

JOE DEUEL

h t i v e L l l

By Wi

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folk yeah (clockwise from top left) Caffè Lena owner and matriarch Lena Spencer; The New World Singers, featuring Happy Traum (at top left); Bob Dylan performed at Caffè Lena in 1961 and 1962; folk singer Maria Muldaur, who first appeared at the Saratoga venue in the early ’70s; the original location of Hattie’s on Federal Street in Saratoga.

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a n e L è f Caf at 60 (Hattie’s) SARATOGA SPRINGS HISTORY MUSEUM; (The New World Singers) HAPPY TRAUM

hile New York City wrote itself into music history with its sheer volume of folk venues—The Gaslight Cafe, The Bitter End, Cafe Wha?—Saratoga Springs needed just one. Caffè Lena, opened by Lena and Bill Spencer on Phila Street 60 years ago last month, typified a decade marked by great cultural upheaval and the transformation of societal norms. “The first show that ever happened on Caffè Lena’s stage was a Jewish woman opening for an African-American man,” says Sarah Craig, Caffè Lena’s executive director of 25 years, referring to Maxine Abel and Jackie Washington Landron. “It was very clear that Lena and Bill, while they may not have been out at the front of marches and might not have been making speeches, were having the Caffè take a position.” That same month, the Civil Rights Movement was in full tilt in the segregated South, with lunchcounter sit-ins in Nashville, TN. And the soundtrack of that cultural revolution—the punk rock of its time—was folk music.

Folk singer Happy Traum, who had been active in the Washington Square and Greenwich Village scene since the 1950s, remembers taking the bus up to Albany in the dead of winter and being picked up at the station by Bill and driven to Saratoga to play a pair of sets at Caffè Lena in 1961. While in town, he made a rather prescient personal discovery. “I was put up at the home of Dave and Mac Wasser; they had a big Victorian house, and put up a lot of [Caffè Lena’s] visiting artists,” says Traum. “It was at the Wassers’ house that I first heard Bob Dylan’s first album, where he did mostly traditional folk songs. I was pretty knocked out. I knew almost every song on the record, but it sounded so different when he did it.”

cover band Homegrown rockers The Figgs have played Caffè Lena multiple times throughout the years, and this photo of them rocking the stage was used as the cover for their 2010 album The Man Who Fights Himself.

The following year, Traum joined a group called The New World Singers, which caught the attention of Dylan, and by ’63, they wound up in a historic session with Dylan and in it, became the first group to ever record Dylan’s “Blowin’ in the Wind.”

Of course, Dylan himself made two cameos at Caffè Lena, one in 1961, the other in ’62. The latter year, Bill ran off with a Skidmore College student, leaving Lena to manage the venue by herself. Instead of closing it, she transformed the Caffè into one of the country’s most important folk venues, one that was often a catalyst to history. Craig recounts one such example: “An African-American college student and Civil Rights activist from Albany, GA, named Bernice Johnson, was sent by her mother to work for Hattie [Moseley Austin] in Saratoga, as a place to get a summer of respite, because she had been on the front lines of the Civil Rights struggle.” (Moseley Austin was the owner of Hattie’s Chicken Shack, which at that time was located on Federal Street.) “A customer overheard her singing to herself and said she had a wonderful voice and she needed to come try out for Lena,” says Craig. Soon Johnson was booked at the venue, playing throughout the summer of ’62. She’d eventually go back to college and form The Freedom Singers, a group that would be at the forefront of the Civil Rights Movement, performing at Martin Luther King, Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech in Washington, DC; and during the Selma to Montgomery March, among other historic events.

Lena had a knack for inviting future movers and shakers to play Caffè Lena’s stage. “She was very dedicated to the club and to the [artists],” says Bill Staines, who played his first official shows there in 1969, and has performed at the venue more than any other artist. “The people and the musicians that she knew really kept her life going.” Jesse Colin Young appeared there in ’64, five years before his band, The Youngbloods, recorded “Get Together,” one of the era’s greatest peace-and-love anthems; Don McLean graced the stage in ’68, three years before topping the US charts with his epic “American Pie” (a song long rumored to have been written in Saratoga—it wasn’t); and eventual 14-time Grammy winner Emmylou Harris, who hadn’t even released her solo debut yet (an album she reportedly abhors), graced its stage in ’68 as well. Another artist who appeared at Caffè Lena on the cusp of fame was Maria Muldaur, whose eponymous 1973 debut album would eventually hit No.3 on the Billboard 200. “I remember playing at Caffè Lena in 1973 with David Nichtern,” Muldaur says. “David was a talented young guitar player who

JOE DEUEL

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was very encouraging to me when I was first starting out as a solo performer, and he turned out to be the songwriter that penned my big Grammy-nominated ’74 hit ‘Midnight at the Oasis,’ which worked out really well for the both of us.”

Lena managed the venue up until her death in 1989, when the Caffè fell on uncertain times. At that point, it was converted into a nonprofit, and an all-volunteer board took over, running Caffè Lena for more than a year, managing and booking the venue collectively. “It was a lot to ask of volunteers, but they really muscled through,” says Craig. By 1995, the year she stepped in, there was a leadership vacuum and “a fear of losing a connection with Lena,” as she puts it. The venue had also incurred a fair amount of debt. “A lot of what I brought to the Caffè was a grassroots mentality, which is just the perfect fit for the folk world,” she says. The debt was stamped out by generous donors from across the country, and Craig began to set up the framework for fundraising, a membership program and annual fund drive. “[It needed a] consistent person who was there, who could bring to life the values of the organization,” she says. “To make it a living, breathing embodiment of its legacy, capacities and best potential.”

a n e L è f f a C at 60

JOE DEUEL

nder Craig’s watch, Caffè Lena once again rose to prominence, undergoing a multimillion-dollar renovation, which was completed in 2017, expanding the venue’s capacity to 110 and allowing it to coax in national touring acts. Just last year, it welcomed everyone from The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson bandleader Doc Severinsen and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer John Sebastian, to Grammy-winning folkie Judy Collins.

When the COVID-19 crisis hit this past March, though, Craig once again found herself staring down an uncertain future for the venue. On March 12, a sold-out show hosted by the Caffè, featuring indie artist Josh Ritter, who was set to play for 500 fans at Bethesda Episcopal Church, was canceled at sound business (opposite, top) In recent years, the Caffè has brought in nationally renowned acts such as The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson’s famed band leader/trumpeter, Doc Severinsen; (opposite, bottom) Happy Traum (at left), performing with fellow folkie Jim Kweskin, is one of the many artists that has played the historic venue multiple times since the ’60s; (inset) Dee Sarno (right), former executive director of the The Saratoga County Arts Council, presenting its Lifetime Achievement Award to Lena Spencer.

the last minute. The next day, Gov. Andrew Cuomo tightened the restrictions on audience sizes at all venues, halving Caffè Lena’s already tiny audience for that night’s sold-out John Paul White show. “In that situation, White got to the heart of his art, and delivered the show that you would deliver on the last day of civilization,” says Craig. “It was such an important moment for an artist.” After that performance, the venue temporarily closed—and began streaming archival content on its YouTube channel, which Craig says unexpectedly reined in massive audiences. Luckily, the venue had already been wired to stream concerts virtually—and had a popular series called Late Night Sessions, which featured artists recording songs after their gigs at the venue.

Craig also hatched a plan to land Caffè Lena “essential” status, so that it could continue bringing in performers to play live in front of no audience, with the shows streamed for viewers on YouTube. “I kept reapplying every time [the state] changed the rules about who could be exempt and who could be considered ‘essential,’” Craig says. “I went through that process four times—and then, all of a sudden, we got this approval.” That was in late April. Now, thanks to Craig, folk music is once again alive and well inside Caffè Lena. At press time, it’s the lone performing arts venue in Saratoga that’s been deemed essential. The venue has rebranded its live/virtual YouTube series as the Stay Home Sessions.

But it’s certainly going to be an uphill battle for Caffè Lena.

“The whole music industry is a network that requires every piece of it to be up and running,” Craig says. “We’re bringing in national tours, and that means that people have to be able to tour to all parts of the country, that there has to be a critical mass of venues to play at and that those venues need to be able to deliver paychecks that sustain that artist and their whole team. And so, if venues like a 500-seater are operating at 50 percent capacity, that’s still 250 tickets. If a 110-seat venue is operating at 50 percent capacity, that’s 55 tickets, and you are very limited in who you can bring in.” Craig’s goal is to continue building out the venue’s online presence, so that once life returns to normal-ish, Caffè Lena will have a double dose of potential new members, sponsors or donors—the ones sitting inside the venue and the ones tuning in at home. It’s certainly not a perfect situation, but it’s a big reason why the venue has been the longest continuously operating folk music venue in the country. Sixty years in, and Caffè Lena’s still raging against the machine, showing the world that it's never been more essential than it is right now.

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ROLLING IN DOUGH

T H E O B O Y, DECONSTRUCTED ENRICHED HIGH GLUTEN UNBLEACHED UNBROMINATED WHEAT FLOUR

A T R I B U T E T O S A R AT O G A’ S F AV O R I T E L AT E - N I G H T S N A C K , T H E O B O Y.

BONELESS SKINLESS CHICKEN • CREAM CHEESE • WATER CHEDDAR AND JACK CHEESE • MONTEREY JACK CHEESE CORN STARCH • CANOLA OIL AND EXTRA VIRGIN OLIVE OIL BLEND

I

BY NATALIE M OORE p h o t o g r a p h y by FRANC E S CO D’A M ICO

SCALLIONS • SALT • LEMON JUICE • SECRET SPICE BLEND

t’s 2am, you just pushed your way through the crowds on the Gaffney’s patio and you’re ready to call an Uber and head for home. But, wait—your night out in Saratoga Springs isn’t over quite yet. As everyone who’s partied on Caroline Street on a Saturday night during track season knows, a trip to Esperanto isn’t just a potential nightcap, it’s pretty much a requirement. (I’ve been known to get up from the bar at Tap & Barrel, mid-beer, and head for the grab ‘n’ go hotspot on a solo mission.) And what do you order? After midnight, there’s really only one socially acceptable choice: the Oboy.

Formerly known as the Doughboy, the king of savory late-night snacks is a tubular treat filled with chicken, cheese, scallions and a secret spice blend wrapped in pizza dough. The Oboy has become a Spa City icon, a delicacy that the town’s tipsiest (and teetotaling) people the Capital Region over have been swooning over for decades. And even though Saratoga’s nightlife scene is on hold due to the COVID-19 crisis, you can still place an Oboy order to go on esperantosaratoga.com, or have one delivered via mealeo. So, what are you waiting for? If you can’t go out on Caroline Street, you might as well bring its spirit right to your doorstep.

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66:

Number of Upstate New York Stewart’s Shops that carry Oboys

2:

Number, in millions, of Oboys that have been sold over Esperanto’s two-and-a-half decades in business

2,700:

CREDIT

By The Numbers:

25:

Number of years Esperanto has been in business, serving up Oboys since the beginning

CREDIT

The OBOY

Size, in square feet, of the commercial Oboy bakery that opened in 2019 in Ballston Spa

4:

Cost, in dollars, of one ready-to-eat, chicken-andcheese-filled Oboy

99:

Cost, in dollars, to stock your freezer with 36 frozen Oboys to heat up whenever the craving strikes you

215:

Number of miles between New York State’s southernmost Oboy retailer in Clinton Corners and northernmost in Saranac Lake

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The New Normal saratoga living C H E C K S I N O N H O W S A R AT O G I A N S ARE MAKING THE MOST OF THEIR OWN P R I VAT E S PA C E S D U R I N G T H E C O V I D C R I S I S .

I N T E RV I E WS A N D P H OTO G R A P H Y BY

Francesco D’Amico

W

hen saratoga living Senior Photographer Francesco D’Amico pitched his idea for a “porch project,” just weeks into the COVID-19 crisis, our editorial team immediately agreed that it was a wonderful idea. Saratoga is known for its grand porches, and we assumed that Saratogians, on lockdown since mid-March, were probably spending way more time on their porches than ever before. Plus, a porch photo gallery could be easily shot from a socially distanced six feet away. It was a win-win-win.

We gave Francesco the green light, along with a list of names we thought would make good porch-gallery subjects, and let him do his thing. A few weeks later, he started sending in his work: Saratoga Mayor Meg Kelly on her porch, SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol not on her porch. Wedding photographer Dave Bigler on his porch, Bailey’s Co-owner Matt Beecher not on a porch. It wasn’t exactly what we imagined we’d get—but in the end, it turned out to exceed our expectations.

Sure, many homes in Saratoga have amazing front porches–but maybe their owners prefer to spend their time in the garden or at the firepit or out back watching their daughter jump on a trampoline.

In other words, it’s really not about the porches, it’s about the people.

“I was really touched by how levelheaded everybody was,” Francesco told us. “Nobody seemed to be losing their shit. Everybody seemed very Zen about the whole situation, latching on to the silver linings: family, home, inspiration, pets, hope for the future.”

So instead of a story about porches, Saratoga, you get a story about community. A story about a small city that, in these trying times, has turned to the things that really matter. Maybe someday we’ll write a story about porches.

But today, during an international pandemic that’s threatening our lives, businesses and relationships, it’s the people who really deserve the credit.

– N ATA L I E M O O R E

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drum shtick SPAC President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol playing the drums in her backyard with her musician husband, Jorge Gomez.

Elizabeth Sobol P r e s i d e n t a n d C E O , S a r at o ga P e r f o r m i n g A r t s C e n t e r

What gives you inspiration during this crisis?

Books. People keep referring to these times as “unprecedented.” But human beings have suffered many great cataclysmic events over millennia—wars, natural disasters, pandemics and much more. There is so much to inspire us and to learn from in poetry, history, science and fiction—so much to remind us of the resiliency of the human spirit in its home on Earth, as long as we do not shrink into fear and aggression.

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Carly Connors E x ec u t i v e D i r ec to r , S a r at o ga A u t o m o b i l e M u s e u m

Have you been doing anything you never thought you’d be doing during quarantine?

I never thought I would be a teacher, let alone a music, art, gym, science, math and English teacher. My poor son will never forget the 4th grade.

Carly Connors with her son, Nik Bradigan Ritopecki, and mother, Laura Bradigan.

Tonya Pellegrini C o - Ow n e r , P e l l e g r i n i E v e n t s

How have you been personally affected by the virus?

Both of my parents who live downstate had COVID-19. My dad was asymptomatic with mild cold-like symptoms. My mom was hospitalized in early April, and she passed away on May 1. It was extremely hard not to be with her, but we are forever grateful for the incredible staff at New York-Presbyterian Hudson Valley, who cared so compassionately for our mother and our family.

Tonya Pellegrini with her daughter, Olivia Lawrence.

Matthew Beecher Ow n e r /O p e r at o r , B a i l e y ’ s

What are you most looking forward to doing when the stayat-home order is lifted?

Well, for one, just getting back to the norm. I’m all about the scene, so I just want to be around people and share stories with people. I can’t wait to catch up. And two—hugging all my buds for an awkward length of time.

Meg Kelly M ayo r , C i t y o f S a r at o ga S p r i n g s

How have you been personally affected by the crisis?

The whole pandemic is so unknown to everyone, and I think that’s the fear and anxiety that we see throughout the city, throughout the state, throughout the country, throughout the world. People are asking me all those questions that I don’t have answers to. So, has it affected me? Absolutely it has. And it’s affecting my family. My daughter is still at school—she didn’t come home because I still have to come and go as mayor, and she is immunocompromised, so I didn’t want her to come home and have to deal with me.

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Matthew Beecher with his Bailey’s co-owner, Morgan Grimes.

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Dave Bigler with his wife, Cilicia.

Johanna Garrison

Dave Bigler

E N L T e ac h e r , S a r at o ga S p r i n g s H i g h S c h o o l

P h oto g r a p h e r / V i d eo g r a p h e r , Dav e B i g l e r P h o t o s & F i l m s

What do your days in quarantine look like?

It took several weeks to find a rhythm, because the learning curve for instant online teaching was sizable. Despite the challenges, though, parents, students, teachers and staff have done an incredible job of adapting. I think we presumed we’d have more time now that we’re home, but I find the days flying by—even if I do forget which day is which. Essentially, it’s school, sowing seeds, monitoring bees, talking to my plants, cooking, taking walks, reading and watching PBS or Netflix.

What do your days in quarantine look like?

I’m a wedding and portrait photographer, so my world has come to a halt (other than daily calls from brides wanting to know what they should do about rescheduling their summer wedding). My wife, Cilicia, and I had a vacation to Greece planned for the start of April (we were doing the IronMan Greece 70.3 together). Instead, we got to do a “staycation” under quarantine and remodel a bathroom!

Garland Nelson Ow n e r , S o u l S e s s i o n E d u -ta i n m e n t, I n c . / M u s i c i a n

Have you been doing anything you never thought you’d be doing during quarantine?

Typically, I’m ramping up to our busy, busy spring-through-winter calendar. But having the psychic space to “be still” is unusual…welcomed, but strange. Bills aside, slamming the brakes has compelled an evaluation of why I’m doing this in the first place, how hard I’m pushing, and whether or not the sacrifices made are worthy of time lost. (opposite) Garland Nelson with his five-year-old daughter, Imani.

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Curing the Other Pandemic A N O P E N L E T T E R F R O M S A R AT O G A’ S K E N R O T O N D O O N H O W T O E N D T H E R A S H O F E Q U I N E F ATA L I T I E S — A N D S AV E T H E S P O R T O F K I N G S .

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and entrepreneurship, I have taken a keen, if not compulsive, interest in this evolving problem. Since last summer—and even during the current crisis—I have been investigating how to collaboratively, scientifically and programmatically improve the health and care of the equine athlete, at scale: Specifically, to reduce racehorse mortality, introduce technological advancements and repair what is currently an escalating nightmare. This is not an easy task considering the fragmented nature of the industry, insidious mistrust, lack of coordinated governance and a history of late adoption of innovation and new ideas.

To paraphrase Albert Einstein, you cannot solve your problems with the same thinking you used to create them. With that admonition, I am recommending a program called “Equine Innovation Link.” It is designed to deconstruct and redesign the ecosystem currently malfunctioning as the “horse racing industry.” I have been in collaborative conversation with the Jockey Club, prominent attorneys in the racing industry, industryrespected veterinarians, trainers, racetrack owners and deans from five US veterinary colleges. All are seriously concerned and impacted by this current debacle. Additionally, I have been in collaboration with IBM Data Scientists and the Wharton Business School to comprehensively address this crisis.

dear saratoga “We are facing an immediate disruptive challenge in horse racing,” says Ken Rotondo, “which could justifiably lead to us losing the sport completely.”

(Rotondo) DORI FITZPATRICK

hile the horse racing industry is still grappling with the aftereffects of the COVID-19 pandemic—and locally, Saratoga’s racetrack is gearing up for what could be a summer without spectators—we must not ignore the fact that we could lose the sport for entirely different reasons. The time is now to save horse racing, and it will require leadership, innovation, entrepreneurship, collaboration and a lot of money.

As a retired veterinarian and past president of the New York State Veterinary Medical Society, I am shocked and saddened by the federal criminal indictments of 27 people involved in the horse racing industry this past March. Regrettably, some of these indictments included veterinarians.

Everyone in the racing industry, especially veterinarians, has an ethical obligation to assure all animals are treated humanely and afforded the proper husbandry and care.

Sadly, greed and malice have been tolerated for too long in the racing industry. It is a majestic sport that has lost all sense of institutional accountability for the equine athlete.

Residing in Saratoga Springs, being a veterinarian and working in the world of business communication, innovation

For the past five years, veterinary governance, universities, pharmaceutical companies and practices have espoused the necessity for an “entrepreneurial mindset,” as we face the innovative and disruptive challenges of the future. I believe that we are facing an immediate disruptive challenge in horse racing, which is agnostic to the current crisis and could justifiably lead to our losing the sport completely. Now is the time to take this much-talked-about entrepreneurial mindset and construct a new paradigm to breed, raise, train, race and humanely retire the equine athlete.

In response to Einstein’s admonition, this problem can be solved only with diverse creative minds, an entrepreneurial mindset, leadership and collaboration. Of course, it will also require significant funding to accomplish these goals expeditiously and effectively. Money should be the least

consideration. This is the Sport of Kings!

Living in Saratoga, I can personally attest to the fact that there are resources available to address this problem, provided all parties look beyond personal agendas, egos, tribalism, greed and personal advancement.

Why am I writing this letter? This is a time for action and leadership. This is not a time for committees, study groups, et cetera.

It is the time to recruit entrepreneurial problem-solvers and design thinkers, and to raise money. This majestic sport will be saved only by introducing innovation, technology, data analytics and machine learning into the daily operations surrounding the husbandry of the equine athlete, from foaling through retirement. With dedicated, smart, innovative minds, we can change the trajectory and restore the reputation and integrity of this wonderful sport.

Sincerely,

KEN ROTONDO, DVM, MBA

PRESIDENT MIND GENOMICS ADVISORS

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Fixing a Gala-less Spring

The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame’s Derby Party.

TH ESE CAPITAL REGI O N N O N P R O F I TS WE R E F O R C E D TO CA N C E L OR POSTP O N E T H E I R A N N UA L F U N DR A I SE R S. NOW’ S A BETTE R T I M E T H A N A N Y TO DO N AT E TO T H E M .

Upstate NY Autism Alliance 9th Annual Autism Expo & Art Exhibit (canceled) upstatenyautism.org MAY EVENTS

Home Made Theater HMT’s Spring Benefit: Pi(e) Day Partaay! (postponed) homemadetheater.org Regional Food Bank of Northeastern New York 11th Annual Mac n Cheese Bowl (canceled) regionalfoodbank.net

APRIL EVENTS American Red Cross Eastern New York Region Fire + Ice Gala (canceled) redcross.org

Saratoga Center for the Family Celebrating the Power of Hope (canceled) saratogacff.org

Animal Protective Foundation Tails by Twilight Gala (canceled) animalprotective.org

Saratoga County Children’s Committee Saratoga Mom Prom (postponed) saratogamomprom.com Saratoga Springs Rotary Education Foundation Teams for Dreams 3 on 3 Basketball Tournament (canceled) saratogaspringsscholarships.org

Saratoga History Museum Save the Adelphi Elevator Fundraiser (postponed) saratogahistory.org

St. Anne Institute Wine, Dine & Stein: International Masquerade (postponed) stanneinstitute.org

WAIT House Pizza and Wings and Baskets of Things (postponed) hycwaithouse.org Warren-Washington New York State Special Olympics Shamrock Shuffle & The Leprechaun Leap (canceled) specialolympics-ny.org

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Ballston Spa Partnership for Innovation in Education Fund Scotties Stampede Walk/Run (postponed) scottiesstampede.org

Saratoga County Children’s Committee’s Saratoga Mom Prom; (top) Universal Preservation Hall’s Shaken & Stirred Celebrity Bartender Party.

St. Clement’s School St. Clement’s 26th Annual Spring Ball (postponed) stclementsschool.org

KATIE DOBIES

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Capital Region Bowl for Kids’ Sake (postponed) bbbscr.org

Wilton Food Pantry 9th annual Empty Bowls (postponed) wiltonfoodpantry.org

(Shaken & Stirred) DORI FITZPATRICK; (Mom Prom) PAIGE MCCARTHY

MARCH EVENTS

American Association of University Women (Adirondack Branch) AAUW 11th Annual Golf Tournament & Dinner (canceled) aauw.org

American Cancer Society Gala of Hope (postponed) acscapitalregionevents.com

Saratoga Sponsor-A-Scholar Derby Day Party (canceled) saratogasponsorascholar.org

Double H Ranch Annual Golf Pro-Am & Chef’s Dinner (canceled) doublehranch.org

St. Catherine’s Center for Children Casino Royale Gala (postponed) st-cath.org

National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame The Derby Party (canceled) racingmuseum.org

The Ryan Wersten MIOP Foundation 14th Annual Ryan’s Run (canceled) curemiop.org

Saratoga Automobile Museum Healing with Horsepower Derby Day Fundraiser (postponed) saratogaautomuseum.org Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation Historic Homes Tour (postponed) saratogapreservation.org

Universal Preservation Hall Shaken & Stirred Celebrity Bartender Party (postponed) universalpreservationhall.org The Wesley Community Wesley Foundation Gala: Under the Big Top (canceled) thewesleycommunity.org

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J U LI A SA N ZE N ’S FA RMERS H A R DWA R E B OXE S RES URREC T ED H E R B U SI N E SS—A ND SARATO GA’ S WE E KE N D B R U N C H O B S ES S IO N.

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or so many small business owners, COVID-19 has been a lesson in thinking outside the box. But at Downtown Saratoga’s Farmers Hardware, co-owners Tyler Russell and Julia Sanzen owe their pandemicsurviving success to what they are putting in the box. Specifically, their new weekend “Brunch in a Box” kits. The local husbandand-wife team (Russell hails from Lake George; Sanzen is a Saratoga native) debuted their weekend must-haves this past Easter, after having originally shut down all food service, with the idea of making them on holiday weekends only.

“We were hoping to sell 40 boxes over the weekend—20 on Saturday, 20 on Sunday,” Russell says. “We sold 100! Each box was for four people, so we went from feeding zero to about 400 people in one weekend. It was overwhelming—but it was good anxiety!” They rehired one of their furloughed employees and began offering the pick-up, family-style meals every weekend, complete with a “boozy” option

Marvin offers thoughtfully designed styles and options, as well as the highest standards in energy efficiency.

julia’s child Farmers Hardware’s Brunch in a Box kits are the brainchild of Chef Julia Sanzen and her husband, Co-owner Tyler Russell.

that they say about half of the people opt in for. Let’s dig into these boxes to see what Saratoga’s been brunching on.

Sanzen fills us in.

The boxes are pretty hefty and feed at least four people each. What’s in them?

Four big offerings—plus one small item, such as a peanut butter rice krispy treat or granola bars. I like the boxes to be well-balanced between savory and sweet.

There’s always an egg dish, such as a frittata with veggies, and something sweet, like bread pudding. Plus a meat or side dish—we did deviled eggs on Easter—and a starch such as roasted potato hash.

You’re so good about always offering gluten free and vegetarian options.

I’ve been a chef for about 11 years now, but my background is in health and wellness. I fell in love with working with people on their health needs.

Should fans of your restaurant expect to see their favorite dishes in the boxes, or something new?

Some things are familiar. The frittata is a favorite at the restaurant, so it was a no-brainer to put that in. But we never want to bore anyone! Some of our most popular new dishes have been a cobbler made with fresh biscuits and mixed berries, and a brie and berry pudding.

We try to be creative.

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the back Thirst ⁄

Brewnited We Stand

HOW SIX LOCAL BREWERIES TEAMED UP TO RAISE NEARLY $25,000 FOR OUT-OF-WORK HOSPITALITY EMPLOYEES. n BY NATALIE MOORE

O

ne day, shortly after the COVID-19 stayat-home order was put in place, Max Oswald, the director of sales and operations at Queensbury’s Northway Brewing Co., was sitting at home, bored, wanting to go out for a beer.

He quickly realized that he couldn’t, since all the bars and restaurants were

closed. “Then I just started to steamroll,” Oswald says. “You know, having been in the beer business for a while, knowing all kinds of bar and restaurant owners; it’s kind of my lifestyle. And it was a wave of ‘what is going to happen to these people who have lost their income?’”

The next day, Oswald reached out to a handful of his contacts in the beer industry

to do something to help tipped service industry workers, who are out of jobs because of COVID-19.

From those conversations, Brewnited, a partnership of these six breweries— Northway Brewing Co., Adirondack Brewery, Bolton Landing Brewing Company, Druthers Brewing Co., Artisanal Brew Works and Common Roots Brewing Company—was formed.

Its first move was a natural one: to make some beer.

Brewnited came up with Negative Input, a simple American lager that would have a wide appeal. “The name comes from that Twiddle song, ‘White Light,’ and it’s this: ‘Take the negative input and flip it upside-down.’ We actually

non-froth-it The multicolored threads on the Negative Input label represent the six breweries that make up Brewnited.

put the label upside-down for that purpose. The song is really true to what’s going on globally, so it was kind of the perfect name.”

What good will these four-packs of craft beer do?

All profits from Negative Input sales go directly to local tipped workers who are currently unemployed.

Those who fit that criteria can apply for assistance on wearebrewnited.com; in the same place, there’s a list of locations selling the limited edition four-packs as a well as a donate button for more immediate action. At press time, Brewnited had raised $23,805 through donations and Negative Input sales,

WH E N TH E TIME C O ME S.

as well as through a large contribution from Ball Corp. The partnership was also on track to receive a contribution from Death Wish Coffee’s “Broke, Not Busted” charity T-shirt campaign.

To quote more of Twiddle’s “White Light”: “So many people burning down/So many people need a lift/ It starts with one big smile/ And grows with every laugh.”

With Brewnited and Negative Input, it seems as though Oswald and his team of brewers have come together to be that one big smile the Capital Region service industry needs right now.

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the back Décor ⁄

A AFTER

Paint and Flip

FO U R D IY HOME AND FURNITURE MAKE OV E R S TO IN S PI RE YOUR INNER DESIGN E R . story and photos by SUSAN WALDRON

H

i again, friends!

It’s really OK, though: The This month, I’d first time I picked up a brush like to share and a can of spray paint, some before-andit wasn’t pretty. But I told after photos of myself then and still do now, some stand-out “It’s only paint!” If projects from my you’re not happy own home. As you with the results, a know, my style of little sanding here decorating and and there can give designing is very a piece an entirely hands on and different look. Or, DIY; I always try to you could always BEFORE incorporate found just try again. objects or thrift Here are four shop pieces into any room examples of how you can I take on. I also love to turn a tired piece of furniture inspire others to look at what (or an entire room!) into the they already own and think centerpiece of your home. they might be tired of, and be confident that they can A: This dressing table was sweet to begin with—and a use it in a different way. bargain to boot—but what a I don’t want to scare difference some paint and you away, but a lot of my changing the pulls made. projects involve painting.

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bonus: The light above my apothecary cabinet was also a DIY project and required no wiring work at all. I simply removed the wiring from a sconce, hot glued a battery-operated puck light to the inside (the one I used has a remote) and hung it on the wall. It makes a great night-light—or would be perfect anywhere you just want a little glow.

B AFTER B: Essential oils are popular now, and I needed a convenient place to store mine. So I created an “apothecary” cabinet using an old shop cabinet and, yes, some paint. Keep an eye out for an old medicine or curio cabinet.

D AFTER

C AFTER

C: This rescued underlayment, buffet got a new life plywood cut into BEFORE with a simple coat of strips as “shiplap” white paint. Do you have one and salvaged split-rail fencing that could use a little love, too? as beams—plus a few coats of white paint—I transformed this once dark and gloomy D: This attic used to be space into one of the nothing but walls and brightest in my house. insulation. Using flooring

✁

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overheard in quarantine “I wanna see a turtle soon.”

SOMETHIN’ TO TALK ABOUT...

“What’s TikTok? Is it like a meme?”

“I always twist my updog.”

“I don’t think my blood is working.”

⁄

saratogaliving.com 79

palette expander Catherine Hover opened a second Palette Cafe location, in Schenectady, mid-pandemic.

before moving her entire business online to keep it intact. “Coffee and being positive are both essential,” she says. “When you’re loud about it, people listen. So we were loud about [the fact that] 'it is going to be OK.’”

Early Adapter

PA L ETTE CAFE’ S CATH ERI NE H OV E R SWI F T LY BE CA M E T H E SMALL BUSINESS OWN E R TO WATC H DU R I N G LOCKDOWN, ONE SOCIAL MEDI A P O ST AT A T I M E .

BY A BBY TEGNELIA

n

M

p h otogra ph y by KAT I E DO B I E S

ost of us have faced some dark times during this pandemic, but for anyone checking in on social media, there was a consistent ray of sunshine—the dancing, smiling, laughing pink-haired bright light that is Catherine Hover, owner of Palette Cafe. The colorful coffee shop on Broadway celebrates its first anniversary this month, with its female-focused Palette Upstairs co-working space being open only

⁄

80 saratoga living

⁄ SUMMER 2020

four months when we all had to go remote in March. Hover didn’t stop moving (literally posting videos of herself dancing her way through the pandemic), getting her member events online and figuring out curbside pick-up for the cafe in record time.

She'd worked so hard to create an all-inclusive space for moms, new business owners, those changing careers—anyone, really, in need of a community. So remote or not, “essential” or not, she barely blinked

COVID-19 forced all small businesses to move online. To anyone paying attention, it was clear that Palette was one of the fastest. Walk us through the early days.

It was always my vision to have a digital experience at Palette—if anything, the universe pushed me into doing what I was already going to do. I opened up a Zoom account and took every single event of ours online. We started doing daily check-ins, where we went live on Facebook and asked our members how they were doing. In times like these, we sometimes don’t ask that.

By not overthinking things and immediately moving your day-today operations online, how has that ultimately helped your business survive?

By adapting quickly in the beginning, it allowed us to baby-evolve over nine weeks instead of having to do a huge shift later. It allowed us to gradually ease into this new normal, which was less daunting.

Some people fall apart during a crisis, but you are definitely one who has risen to the occasion.

Why do you think that is?

From day one, it reminded me of surviving Hurricane Katrina when I was a child living in New Orleans. What mattered was that we had each other.

Everyone’s house was floating; the loss was overwhelming. When there’s so much need, you have to be of service.

Right now, there’s a lot of invisible need.

I knew we had to keep showing up.

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