FUN FACT

The Foundation offers two application cycles a year, funding gifts of up to $2,500. In its most recent, the Foundation received 17 applications and granted $21,000 to nine of the applicants. Recipients include Wait House, Glens Falls Youth Center, Tri-County Literacy, Habitat for Humanity, Up Yonda Farms, Crandall Park Beautification Committee and World Awareness Children’s Museum, among others.

The nonprofit organization, which was recently backed by its first legacy member, Boralex, also offers a micro grant of $250 once a month to help with difficult issues that arise throughout the year.

“Our goal was simple: to give back to the tremendous community that supported us through difficult times and continues to step up for their neighbors,” said Weber, who serves as president of The Foundation’s board of directors. “The Foundation has been able to support even more programs that are truly making a difference in the lives of the people we want to serve.”

COMMON ROOTS CO-OWNER BERT WEBER PURCHASED PROPERTY ACROSS MARION STREET FROM THE TAPROOM WITH PLANS TO BUILD A WAREHOUSE TO ALLOW FOR STORAGE OF SUPPLIES SOMETIMES DIFFICULT TO SECURE GIVEN SUPPLY CHAIN ISSUES.

Then, Common Roots owners saw an opportunity. “We could do another taproom and event space over there; we get a lot of requests for weddings and it doesn’t make sense to rent out the taproom on weekends,” he said.

Work has begun on the new facility, designed to match the current build-

Even if you haven’t heard of Sidekick Creative, it’s likely you have seen some of its work. Lately, the company’s bright, clean illustrative designs seem to be everywhere.

Sidekick co-owners Will Fowler and Cara Greenslade were working for a regional marketing agency when they registered for SUNY Adirondack’s StartUp ADK. The duo finished the eight-week program, then founded Sidekick Creative.

The creative agency seemed an immediate success, securing contracts that made its artwork highly visible throughout the greater Glens Falls area. But in the past two years, Sidekick has forged a lead role in the regional design world.

“We have been super busy,” Fowler said, explaining how the company recently hired two designers to help keep up with demand.

Among Sidekick’s larger clients was Lake Placid World University Games, a two-year project that started with logo and branding, then grew.

“That turned into a monthly retainer to do all sorts of stuff helping to market the Games: all the signage for the venues and the ski gates; lots of really unique, fun, unexpected projects like designing the gold, silver and bronze medals, the mascot, costumes that would be worn during the ceremonies, the torch and cauldron for the opening ceremonies,” Fowler said. “It was really cool to touch on every aspect of the Games; some of the elements were very different from what we usually do, but we learned it’s just about making the brand come to life and applying what we love about the design.”

At Russell Sage College, Sidekick worked with local artists to transform their artwork into branded facades, interior murals and building-sized banners.

“That was really cool from an experiential architectural standpoint, then we got to have fun with the artwork itself, which is all illustrative and focused on diversity, equity and inclusion,” Fowler said. “It was fun to create artwork, then work with other artists and let them do their magic and we helped make it something that could be installed.”

When Sidekick took on these largescale projects, the company was in transition. Fowler and Greenslade relocated their office to the heart of downtown Glens Falls and worked with a consultant to figure out the best way to grow the business.

“Out of that came new positioning, revisiting our mission, what type of