saratoga living September/October 2108 issue by saratogalivingmagazine

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the hunger

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inside

september • october 2018

14 The Team 18 The Editor

the front 21 Saratoga By The Numbers 21 It’s True (We Think) 22 The Saratoga/Friends Connection 22 Say What? 24 Biz: Legacy Juice Works 26 Power Players: Art and Linda Kranick 28 Extra: Laurence Gartel 29 The Answers 30 Good Works: Old Friends at Cabin Creek

Managed by FENIMORE ASSET MANAGEMENT

the back 112 Saratoga After Dark 120 Design: Colin Cowie 122 Drive: Saratoga Automobile Auction 128 Arts: The Weepies 134 Calendar 138 Drink: 9 Maple Avenue 140 Over There

Retirement planning with no wrinkles

142 Word Play 142 Overheard

the end 144 *Saratogian Of The Month: Maria Daviero

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ON THE COVER Celebrated chefs David Burke, Roslyn Riggi, Danny Petrosino, Tracey Kwiecien and Jasper Alexander. Photographed by Fahnon Bennett exclusively for saratoga living. Grooming: Matty Shu, Vinny’s Barbershop of Saratoga, Saratoga Springs. Photo assistant: Stephanie Gaito. Shot on location at Putnam Place, Saratoga Springs.

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MANAGING EDITOR SENIOR EDITOR DESIGNER LUXURY EDITOR SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR DESIGN EDITOR ARTS EDITOR NIGHTLIFE EDITOR SENIOR WRITER PHOTOGRAPHY DIRECTOR DIGITAL LEAD WEBSITE MANAGER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER EDITORIAL ASSISTANTS

EXECUTIVE EDITOR

EDITORS AT LARGE

Kathleen Gates Will Levith Natalie Moore Anne Newgarden Linda Gates Marco Medrano Abby Tegnelia Colin Cowie Bill Henning Lizzie Hunter Jeff Dingler Erika Phenner Monika LaPlante Hakan Akyuz Dori Fitzpatrick Madeline Conroy, Payton Huntington Chloe Krammel (DESIGN), Sarah Midani Greg Calejo, Susan Gates

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS

Karen Bjornland, Brien Bouyea, Tony Case, Kyan Douglas Kate Doyle Hooper, Teresa A. Genaro, Cornelia Guest, Joe Mastrianni Simon Murray, Octavio Roca, Kevin Sessums, Zachary Weiss WRITERS

Jonah Bayliss, Chris Berger, Rosie Case, Rebecca Hardiman Jacqueline Kuron, Jordan Levin, Sandy MacDonald, Maria McBride Bucciferro Katie Navarra, Mario Quirce, Mitch Rustad, Lindsey Shumway Michael Slezak, Chris Spoonogle, Beverly Tracy, Joe “Woody” Wood ARTISTS / PHOTOGRAPHERS

Kyle Adams, Meaghan Aldridge, Fahnon Bennett, Dave Bigler, Tracey Buyce David Cowles, Francesco D’Amico, John Daly, Katie Dobies, Anna Murray, Ian Parker Terri-Lynn Pellegri, Susie Raisher, Robert Risko, Myrna Suárez, Scott Teitler, TJ Tracy

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Volume 20, No. 6, September • October 2018 Copyright © 2018 Saratoga Living LLC. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission from Saratoga Living LLC. All editorial queries should be directed to editorial@saratogaliving.com; or sent to 422 Broadway, Suite 203, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866.

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the team

JOIN US FOR Saratoga’s magical mineral waters was one of my favorite assignments,” she says. “I’ve lived here for 30 years, but my exploration of the mind-blowing natural wonders of Saratoga Springs and the Adirondacks is never-ending.”

KEVIN SESSUMS has written two New York Times bestselling memoirs, Mississippi Sissy and I Left It On The Mountain. His countless cover stories and celebrity interviews have appeared in Vanity Fair, Elle, Playboy, Marie Claire, Interview, Travel+Leisure and more. He lives in Hudson, NY, and is the Editor in Chief of sessumsMagazine.com. “I’ve joked that I’m known for writing impertinent puff pieces about movie stars,” he says. “This isn’t a puff piece on Saratoga. Maybe a little impertinent here and there— but so is Saratoga. I found the town deeply lovely and so were the people I met there.”

Wednesday, October 17, 2018 6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Longfellows Restaurant 500 Union Avenue Saratoga Springs Purchase Tickets at Atccf.org/Events

KAREN BJORNLAND is an

award-winning writer, whose work has appeared in Adirondack Life, Adirondack Explorer, Albany’s Times Union, Schenectady’s The Daily Gazette and Fodor’s New York State travel guide. “Telling our readers about

JONAH BAYLISS is a former Major League Baseball player (Royals, Pirates) turned realtor and writer in Saratoga Springs. “What I found common among everyone I spoke to about improving Saratoga was an unwavering passion for the city,” he says. “Opinions of improvements may differ, but the overall love for the town remains constant across the board.”

(Bayliss) DORI FITZPATRICK

FAHNON BENNETT is a Brooklynbased photographer, cinematographer and filmmaker. “I love assignments like this,” he says of shooting this issue’s cover story. “I hadn’t been to Saratoga Springs since childhood, and it was great to rediscover it, while doing what I love. My friend [Editor in Chief] Richard Pérez-Feria and the chefs were a joy to work with, and the food scene in Saratoga is clearly amazing. I can’t wait to come back.”

Special Thanks to Longfellows Restaurant, our event sponsor.

Media Sponsors

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14 saratoga living

⁄ SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2018

the team

tres amigas (from left) Sarah

Midani, Madeline Conroy and Payton Huntington served as Editorial Assistants through one of the magazine’s busiest (and most successful) stretches.

SARAH MIDANI is a senior at Siena

College, completing her bachelor’s degree in English. She’s particularly interested in languages, and has studied three besides English. “From day one, I felt truly immersed in the saratoga living culture, and what it means to work here,” she says about her editorial assistantship. “I was greeted with a smile, then assigned stories to research and write. It was the best possible introduction to the world of magazine journalism.”

MADELINE CONROY is a junior at

Hobart and William Smith Colleges, who’s majoring in English and loves portrait photography. “Working at saratoga living has been such an engaging and wonderful experience,” she says of being an Editorial Assistant. “I’m so grateful for the learning opportunities and the incredibly supportive team.”

PAYTON HUNTINGTON is a senior

pursuing a degree in psychology with a minor in business at Siena College. “As an Editorial Assistant, I’ve gained so much experience by engaging in all aspects of the business,” she says. “I’ve made many unexpected connections within the Saratoga community that will be beneficial in the coming years.”

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from the editor

chefs

Richard Pérez-Feria

EDITOR IN CHIEF

@RPerezFeria

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18 saratoga living

⁄ SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2018

FAHNON BENNETT

very Sunday, when I was growing up in Miami, my family had a tradition that, given today’s frenetic schedules and perpetual motion, seems impossibly quaint in hindsight: My parents and my three siblings and I would attend a late afternoon matinee (we kids would take turns choosing the movie; my brother, Star Wars; me, Annie Hall) before going to El Segundo Viajante, a traditional Spanish restaurant, for delicious paella, jamón Serrano, caldo gallego and other Iberian delicacies. So began my special and ongoing relationship with fine dining. During my university years in New Orleans, one of the greatest food towns in the galaxy, I fell deeply in love with Chef Paul Prudhomme’s Creole and Cajun dishes at the iconic K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen. I had never tasted food like that in my life—and I was hooked. After graduation, three dining experiences in three consecutive weekends in three different cities completely elevated the stakes for my personal hunger games: Chef Mark Militello’s sublime snapper at Mark’s Place in North Miami; Chef Daniel Boulud’s mouthwatering duck at Le Cirque in New York City and Chef Alice Waters’ tear-inducing spring lamb at Chez Panisse in Berkeley, CA. I know how fortunate I’ve been in my life to be at the tables of some of the greatest culinary talents anywhere, but as a young adult, to experience those chefs’ magical creations—in consecutive weekends, no less—was, in a word, ridiculous. In subsequent years, as I moved around the country, I discovered even bigger “wow” dining adventures, featuring the restaurants and dishes of Jean-Georges Vongerichten (Vong, JoJo, Perry St, Jean-Georges); Bobby Flay (Mesa Grill, Bar Americain, GATO); Gilbert Le Coze/Éric Ripert (Le Bernardin); José Andrés the food brood Editor in Chief, Richard Pérez-Feria, flanked by culinary greatness: (Jaleo); Wolfgang Puck (Spago, CUT); Rick Bayless David Burke, Tracey Kwiecien, Jasper (Frontera Grill); Thomas Keller (The French Laundry) Alexander, Roslyn Riggi and Danny Petrosino. and on and on. Lucky me. When I decided to make Saratoga Springs my home, I couldn’t imagine and didn’t count on fine dining being a part of the equation for such a small city (I’d lived in Manhattan, LA, Miami and Vegas prior to moving here). Within days, I was blown away by the likes of Osteria Danny’s edible Tuscan miracles and Hattie’s slap-your-mama hot fried chicken and Fish at 30 Lake’s these-shouldn’t-be-thisgood brussels sprouts and R&R’s creamy, unforgettable scallops and Salt & Char’s perfectly seared filet and Boca Bistro’s can’t-get-enough calamari—and the hits keep coming: Hamlet & Ghost’s squid, 15 Church’s fried oysters, Prime’s seafood tower, Max London's eggs Benedict, Chianti’s antipasto, Harvey's steak tacos...They all make Saratoga unbelievably, unquestionably and undeniably the country’s best small city restaurant destination. But how? I suspect those fast ponies and the impressive cultural scene have something to do with it; but no matter the reason, I, once again, find myself in the presence of culinary giants. Told ya I was lucky. You are too. Hungry yet?

the front

SEPTEMBER 7-9

Saratoga By The Numbers

3000

The weight, in pounds, of the bell in the Universal Preservation Hall bell tower (it was forged in Troy!)

The number of MacArthur Fellowships awarded to former residents of Yaddo

40,231

The record number of Deadheads who attended the Grateful Dead’s 1985 show at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center

A Colin Cowie event with guest appearances by David “Big Papi” Ortiz, celebrity chefs David Burke and Todd English and a stunning display of 80 luxury Bugatti automobiles.

Visit spac.org for full schedule and tickets

The number of academic majors available at Skidmore College (hotel) KENNETH C. ZIRKEL

David “Big Papi” Ortiz

The number of months it took Donna Mock and her son to hand paint the ceilings of the refurbished Adelphi Hotel

855

The number of building permits issued by Saratoga Springs’ Building Department in 2017

It’s True (We Think)

Just Desserts

WAS PIE À LA MODE INVENTED IN CAMBRIDGE, NY? MAYBE. MORE IMPORTANTLY, WAS IT REALLY INVENTED? n BY NATALIE MOORE

ime for a little controversy à la “The Dress”—you know, the one that broke the Internet three years ago. This debate dates back to the 19th century and involves not a disagreement over colors (team white-and-gold forever!) but the origin of an invention. Actually, “invention” might be too strong a word. According to What’s cambridge analytica Cooking America, a web portal that claims to Pie à la mode was be “America’s most trusted culinary resource supposedly “invented” since 1997” (I don't know about you, but mine’s actually delish. at The Cambridge Hotel. com), ice cream was first served on top of a piece of pie at The Cambridge Hotel in Washington County in the mid 1890s. That’s right: Pie à la mode supposedly hails from Saratoga County’s neighbor to the east. The story goes that one Professor Charles Watson Townsend dined regularly at The Cambridge Hotel (which, before it closed for good, was featured on celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay’s Hotel Hell series in 2012), and often ordered ice cream with his apple pie. One day, Mrs. Berry Hall, a diner seated at the next table, asked him if he had a name for his ingenious creation. When he said he didn’t, she dubbed the dish pie à la mode. Townsend then went around eating in New York City restaurants such as Delmonico’s, berating the managers for not knowing what he meant when he ordered his newly invented (and monikered) dish. But even if What’s Cooking America has actually been our most trusted food resource for 21 years, what kind of authority does it have to tell us what went down more than a century ago? Why should we not believe the claim floating around Minnesota blogs that the desserts were first combined in Duluth, MN? Because the evidence is weak at best. In the book The Oxford Companion to Sugar and Sweets (2015) author Sidney Mintz writes: “… midwestern newspapers provided evidence that John Gieriet of Switzerland had previously invented the dessert in 1885 while proprietor of the Hotel La Perl in Duluth, Minnesota…” The evidence, as far as Perfect Duluth Day (which claims to be Duluth’s Duluthiest website— surprisingly more believable than What’s Cooking’s claim) can tell, is a menu from the hotel published in 1885 that lists both pie and ice cream, but not served together. Maybe they should’ve called it deconstructed pie à la mode. In my respectable opinion (I consider myself a connoisseur of both pie and ice cream), it doesn’t really matter. But, if I had to hand the credit to someone, it wouldn’t be Townsend or this high-and-mighty Hotel La Perl. Because pie à la mode isn’t an invention: It’s two types of food on the same plate. The real credit goes to good ol’ Mrs. Berry Hall, who had enough of a mind to name the dish.

the front The Saratoga/ Friends Connection Revealed! YE S , P H O EB E, C ENT R A L P ERK A N D S K I D MO R E A R E AL L I NVO LV ED.

‘BRIGHT’ LIGHT

FRIENDS’ EXEC PRODUCER, KEVIN S. BRIGHT, IS MAKING A HUGE DIFFERENCE IN THE CAPITAL REGION. BY N ATA L I E M O O R E

S AY W H AT ? = illustration by

DAVID COWLES e x c l u s i v e ly f o r

saratoga living

BY NATA L I E M OOR E

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22 saratoga living

⁄ SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2018

(On the phone with the operator)

“Yeah, in Albany. Could I have the number of Frank Buffay? OK. Um, in Ithaca? All right, um, Saratoga? Oneonta? All right, you know what? You shouldn’t call yourself ‘information!’” (Hangs up phone)

– P HOE B E B U F FAY ( L ISA KUDROW) O N FR I E ND S

Central Perk/ Uncommon Grounds: THE FACE OFF

CENTRAL PERK Waitresses serve you Live performances Orange couch

You’re bound to see someone you know It’s THE hangout

UNCOMMON GROUNDS Pick up food at the counter Music from speakers Leather couch

Sometimes they get your order wrong

Double latte is $2.75* (pivot infographic) SPARE ROOM

may have been a little late to the Friends party—I was born after the hit comedy debuted in 1994—but now, 24 years later, I’m basically its hostess. Sure, my love affair with Ross, Rachel, Monica, Phoebe, Chandler and Joey had a slight hiccup when my mom banned me from watching it with my older sister after I told her (when I was seven) that Ross got stuck in his leather pants in a woman’s bathroom in a rerun of “The One With All the Resolutions.” But when I was couch-ridden after knee surgery in high school, I made up for it, watching every episode in order. When you’ve spent so much time watching a show, it’s inevitable that you’ll start finding connections between it and your daily life (What Friends lover can resist yelling “PIVOT!” when moving a piece of furniture? See infographic). Here are some connections the saratoga living team found between Friends and its world and our own hometown of Saratoga Springs.

Used to be a bar

Double latte is $4.60 (med.) Used to be a drug store

–NATA LI E MOOR E

*Due to cost of living adjustments, the double latte that cost $2.75 in 2000, when the episode that mentioned it originally aired, would cost $4.04 today.

t’s the final episode of the final season of Friends. The gang walks out of Monica’s apartment for the last time, and the camera pans around the empty space, landing on the framed peephole on the purple door. The screen fades to black, and the names of the executive producers appear: David Crane, Marta Kauffman and Kevin S. Bright. These are the three people I have to thank for one of the greatest shows in TV history—and countless hours of binge-watching enjoyment. And one of them also gets props for his work on behalf of one of the Capital Region’s most noble causes. Since October 2017, Bright has served as a member of the Board of Directors at Ballston Spa’s Gateway House Of Peace, a donor-driven, nonprofit community support home for end-of-life care. His decision to join the Board was sparked by a meeting with a 35-year-old Gateway House patient—and Friends fanatic. (The face-to-face was arranged by Bright’s sister-in-law, Patti Veitch, who’s also on the board.) “She was at peace and was very grateful for the way Gateway House was able to bring her home,” Bright said of the meeting. The TV exec summers in Greenfield Center, where his wife grew up. Gateway House’s mission is “dedicated to providing a safe, comfortable, caring residence for terminally ill patients.” I don’t know about you, but to me that sounds a lot like the Friends theme: “I’ll be there for you.”

Fun Friends Facts • saratoga living Design Editor Colin Cowie numbers Friends actresses Jennifer Aniston and Lisa Kudrow among his many celebrity clients. • In the 2018 “I Do!” Issue of saratoga living, I featured Aniston’s wedding dress from the Friends’ pilot episode in one of my first features in the magazine. • Actor Eddie Cahill, who played Tag Jones, a love interest of Rachel’s, in seven episodes of Friends, attended Skidmore College.

• On Friends: The One With All The Party Music, a six-track CD sampler released in 2004, the fifth track is The Lemonheads’ “Into Your Arms.” The band’s frontman, Evan Dando, attended Skidmore , too. • On October 27-28, Proctors Theatre in Schenectady will host Friends! The Musical Parody, which “lovingly lampoons” the original sitcom. This may be the perfect tribute to one of the best television shows in history. – WILL L EVIT H

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saratogaliving.com 23

THE CAPITAL REGION’S PREMIER PAVING COMPANY

the front

Biz

Liquid Gold

L EGACY J U ICE WOR K S IS M A KING SA R ATO GA H E A LT H IE R , ON E B OTTL E AT A T I M E. n B Y M A D E L I N E C O N R O Y

won’t soon forget my first experience with Saratoga Springs-based Legacy Juice Works. My dad, who’s a major spice fanatic, gave me a sip of his Big Shot—one of the company’s 12 cold-pressed

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24 saratoga living

juices, which is made with apple, lemon, ginger...and cayenne. Needless to say, my mild-suited palate was ill prepared, and it completely cleared my sinuses! Thankfully, Legacy has a number of other

⁄ SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2018

more me-friendly flavors, such as Smooth Green (cucumber, apple, kale), and my favorite, Melon Breeze (watermelon, grapefruit and a hint of lime). I’ve since become a big fan. Who do we have to thank for Legacy’s sweet (and sometimes spicy) legacy? Colin and Christel MacLean, who originally opened the business as Saratoga Juice Bar on Broadway in 2013. Two years later, the couple moved into the wholesale market with Legacy Juice Works, and

juicy secrets Legacy Juice Works’ cold-press juices are subjected to 87,000 pounds of pressure, killing bacteria and keeping enzymes and vitamins intact; (top) Colin and Christel MacLean opened Saratoga Juice Bar in 2013 and started Legacy Juice Works two years later.

since then, the brand has exploded, expanding its presence to more than 800 retailers nationwide, including both JFK and LaGuardia airports in NYC, 27 Gelson’s Markets on the West Coast and hundreds of CVS pharmacies. Legacy was even commissioned by Wegmans Food Markets to produce the lone coldpressed tart cherry juice on the market. “Our store is our innovative lab space,” Christel says. “We use it as a testing space where we create new recipes, mix new flavor profiles and get feedback. You’re hearing things all the time, you’re understanding what people are looking for, and it’s great to be able to take that and develop it for the wholesale market. I think that’s our little secret weapon.” Aside from making an honest living, one of the MacLeans’ main goals in producing their delicious line of juices is to promote healthy living—and the cold-press process is the key. Each “Our store is our 12-ounce bottle has the juice of innovative lab approximately space. We use it three pounds (!) as a testing space of fresh produce where we create in it. After each bottle is filled, it new recipes, goes into what’s mix new flavor called a coldprofiles and get water chamber. feedback...I think There, it gets hit from all sides with that’s our little 87,000 pounds secret weapon.” of pressure, killing any bacteria but keeping the active enzymes and vitamins intact. The bottle is then heated, killing even more bacteria. The finished product retains 100 percent of its raw ingredients’ nutrients. So why choose Saratoga for their company’s HQ? “Saratoga’s so unique: People really do care about wellness and playing hard, but being healthy at the same time,” Christel says. I know exactly what she’s talking about. As someone who plays hard and stays healthy—but sometimes skips my daily dose of fresh fruits and vegetables—I find Legacy Juice Works the perfect liquid meal. (Hold the cayenne, please!)

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INSIST ON THE INCOMPARABLE

teach the kids is don’t take the easy way out. You don’t need to win trophies—do it for yourself, to make yourself a better person. Hopefully, we can influence them and make our little part of the world a better place. The things you learn— commitment, dedication, persistence, setting goals and achieving them— translate to later in life.

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ON THEIR FONDEST MEMORIES AS COACHES There are so many that don’t involve training or the meets or winning. It’s about life experiences. We’ve been to 39 weddings of former athletes, with three more this fall. And we have children of former athletes and students on our teams now. That’s exciting. We get to travel everywhere with our teams. This past January, we went to Scotland with Kelsey Chmiel, the first-ever American to win the Great Edinburgh International Cross-Country Challenge.

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F O R T H R EE D E CA D E S, SA R ATOGA HIG H SCHOOL CROSS-COUNTRY C OAC H ES A RT A N D LIN DA K R A NICK HAVE OWNED THE ROAD. B Y T O N Y C A S E n P H O T O G R A P H Y B Y D O R I F I T Z PA T R I C K

f you’re like me, some days, a half hour on the treadmill can feel like Olympic-level exertion. The idea of competitive running is probably just as unfathomable to you as it is to me—on par, maybe, with winning at the racetrack or doing your own stunts à la Tom Cruise. But if you’re a fan of high school athletics in Saratoga, you know that running—and most importantly, winning—has seemingly come easy for the Saratoga Springs High School cross-country team. The team’s one constant

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cross fit Super couple Linda and Art Kranick have been winning consistently for Saratoga High School cross-country teams for more than three decades.

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since the mid-’80s? The dynamic duo of Coaches Art and Linda Kranick. The couple started coaching cross-country and track at Saratoga Springs High School 33 years ago and have since helped the home team fill a case with trophies and medals from many national and state championships—which are conveniently advertised on a sign near the entrance of the Saratoga Spa State Park. They remain every bit as committed to “the kids,” as they refer to their student-athletes..

What struck me about the Kranicks is their quiet modesty, despite all they’ve achieved for the Blue Streaks and multiple generations of Saratoga athletes, not to mention the accolades they’ve scooped up for themselves—among them, induction into the National Track and Field Hall of Fame in New York City and titles including National Coach of the Year and New York State CrossCountry Coach of the Year. I caught up with the Linda and Art Kranick to find out about living their life on the fast track.

ON BEING COACHES THAT HAPPEN TO BE MARRIED We were at a coaching clinic in California together, and one of the coaches said, “How do a husband and wife work together?” We’ve known each other since we were 14. We’re not only husband and wife, we’re best friends.

ON THEIR COACHING PHILOSOPHY It’s very basic: If you want to succeed, you have to put in the time and effort. We put in the work that we expect the kids to put in. One of the things we try to

ON THEIR CONTINUED SOURCE OF MOTIVATION One of the benefits of coaching for so long is watching the kids you coached grow up to be terrific adults. We keep in touch with them, and they always say thank you to us. That’s when we realize what we’re in it for.

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Extra

Digital Art In Overdrive

LAURENCE GARTEL BRINGS HIS DESIGN MAGIC TO SARATOGA. n BY JEFF DINGLER

may be a Millennial, but I fall into that awkward camp of older, earlythirty-somethings who grew up before the advent of smartphones and social media. In fact, the most impressive piece of technology I had growing up was the original, thick-as-a-brick Nintendo Game Boy. I was very late (and reluctant) to get a smartphone, I still refuse to take selfies and only recently, did I agree to enter the Twittersphere (it’s strictly for business purposes). OK, so I’m a little behind. Laurence Gartel, on the other hand, who’s nearly twice my age, has been ahead of the tech curve for more than four decades. “I discovered digital art in

1975 because of a high school girlfriend,” he tells me (more on that story in a minute). In fact, Gartel’s a legendary digital artist. The New York City native’s work has been exhibited all around the world, and he was the official artist for the 2015 Grammy Awards. He even introduced Andy Warhol to digital art, teaching the famed pop artist how to alter an image on his Amiga 1000 home computer. This summer, Gartel’s driven some of his best work straight up to Saratoga Springs. Literally. DePaula Auto Group commissioned Gartel to skin a uniquely crafted Maserati Ghibli art car, bumper to bumper, with his eye-catching digital

italian art Laurence Gartel, standing next to the Maserati Ghibli art car he created for DePaula Auto Group this year.

designs. The car made an appearance on Opening Day at Saratoga Race Course, at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, and has figured in a number of other charity events in the Capital Region this summer. Art cars are nothing new for Gartel; his first was a trippy (pun intended) Roadster commissioned by Tesla for the 2010 Art Basel Miami Beach. The Saratoga-themed Maserati that Gartel designed down in Florida marks his 58th such creation, and it’s been a part of raffles and

fundraisers for Equine Advocates, Skidmore College and the Saratoga Automobile Museum, among others: Couples have been bidding for a chance to drive the art car to Lake Placid for a weekend getaway. (Tickets for the Auto Museum’s art car raffle will also be available at the Saratoga Wine & Food Festival presented by saratoga living September 7-9.) But back to that girlfriend—and discovering digital art. Though Gartel says his mother used to take him to the Guggenheim Museum in New York City every Saturday, his true fascination with computers and digital art began more than 40 years ago when, fatefully, he followed that high school love interest to the University of Buffalo for a semester. There, by chance, he met avantgarde Korean-American artist Nam June Paik, long considered the father of video art. At the time, Gartel was interested in taking still images off of moving ones—and approached Paik with the idea (he’d gotten the notion watching Charlie Chaplin’s film Modern Times). “I told him, ‘I believe this is the future of art,’” says Gartel. “And he said, ‘You’re a crazy man.’” Taking that as a “huge compliment,” Gartel followed his passion, and the rest is history. It allowed him to drive a Maserati up from Florida to spend a summer in Saratoga. Sounds like he made the right decision.

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answers WHAT’S THE BEST PLACE AND TIME TO WATCH THE LEAVES TURN IN SARATOGA? “There are countless ways to take in Saratoga’s colorful foliage this fall. While strolling Downtown, stop at Congress Park for some breathtaking views and photo ops by The Spirit of Life, Spit and Spat and the carousel. Drive just over a mile to the Saratoga Spa State Park for foliage nestled between the historic Hall of Springs, Saratoga Automobile Museum, Roosevelt Baths & Spa and more. Enjoy mountain views on the Hadley Mountain trail for a more adventurous leaf-peeping experience. History buffs and families love exploring the Saratoga National Historic Park for a glimpse of the Saratoga Battlefield and monument. Peak viewing times vary, but I recommend leaf peeping in mid-October for the most stunning views.” TALIA CASS, Director, Marketing & Communications, Discover Saratoga HOW IS IT POSSIBLE TO TEACH ART IF IT’S SO SUBJECTIVE? “[Art] is not subjective. Art is a complex system of colors, form and perception; the underlying basis of that subjectivity is formed by an objective and mathematical reality of color theory, ratio, proportion and composition and other elements that make up art. Other arts offer just as much to the observer. Just as painting is to art, ballet is to art, literature is to art, et cetera. The more you know and understand its elements, the greater the appreciation of the art.” REGIS C. BRODIE, Emeritus Professor of Art, Skidmore College

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the front Good Works

After The Finish Line OL D FRIENDS AT CABIN CREEK IS SARATOGA’S PREMIER THOROUG HBRE D RETIREMENT DESTINATIO N.

I down the stretch Zippy Chippy is one of 16 Thoroughbreds who found a home at Old Friends at Cabin Creek after retirement.

can safely say that I wasn’t raised a country kid. Actually, I wasn’t even an outdoor kid. No horseback riding lessons or 4-H club for me. Growing up in Albany, I was close enough to Saratoga Springs to know it had a historic racetrack—but what happened to its horses after they retired never crossed my mind. JoAnn Pepper has the answer: Since 2009, she and her husband, Mark, have owned and operated Old Friends at Cabin Creek, the only Thoroughbred retirement farm in Saratoga County, and a “living museum” of racehorses. Their mission is simple: to provide a dignified retirement for Thoroughbreds and show that older racehorses are just as deserving of care as their younger counterparts. Location is integral to the farm’s success, and it’s funded entirely by donations. “Saratoga attracts a lot of visitors in the summer, which helps feed the horses,” says Pepper of the spike in donations the farm receives during racing season. In fact, several of the farm’s 16 Thoroughbreds have competed right here at Saratoga Race Course. Old Friends is also exclusively run by dedicated volunteers whose only payment is knowing they’re helping give retired racehorses the best care that they can receive. “The Thoroughbred business does really care about what happens to their horses,” Pepper says. Old Friends at Cabin Creek is open to the public year-round, and donations are encouraged. Needless to say, I know where this city girl will be on dark-day Tuesdays at the track next summer. Won’t you join me?

CONNIE BUSH

BY MADELINE CONROY

@prime_saratoganational

@primeatsaratoganational 518.583.4653

www.primeatsaratoganational.com

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Photos by: @exploresaratoga | @biglerstudio | @alexandriaeigo_photgraphy | @tracey_buyce_photography

/exclusive f

COVER STORY

home cookin’ The Adelphi Hotel’s David Burke; Boca Bistro’s Roslyn Riggi; Osteria Danny’s Danny Petrosino; Fish at 30 Lake’s Tracey Kwiecien; and Hattie’s Restaurant’s Jasper Alexander are five of the master chefs in Saratoga’s explosive restaurant scene.

r e g n u h

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HOW SARATOGA SPRINGS SUDDENLY EMERGED AS THE BEST SMALL CITY RESTAURANT DESTINATION IN THE COUNTRY IS A STORY BEST TOLD BY A MASTER STORYTELLER. SETTLE IN, FOLKS.

By Kevin Sessums

photography by

FAHNON BENNETT exclusively for saratoga living

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saratogaliving.com 33

“I got here to Saratoga

in the winter. It was so peaceful…the snow… when it snowed, it was beautiful,” celebrity chef and businessman David Burke tells me when I ask him at the height of the 2018 summer season about being the newest addition to this renowned resort town’s burgeoning food scene, its restaurants now giving its legendary racetrack a run for its money—well almost. Let’s not go overboard. A menu, no matter how well-written and maintained, will never replace the Daily Racing Form in Saratoga Springs. Yet it was that lack of racing that lay incongruously before Burke when he first arrived here, just the charm and allure of Saratoga itself, a nohorse town in such months. Winter’s terse whisper, tucking itself into corners of Broadway after finding its way uphill from Phila Street, was even quieter than a jockey’s mysterious whisper in a horse’s ear between the paddocks and the gate when their last bit of bonding is taking place just as the first bit was happening between Burke and the town. When remembering his first winter days here, Burke’s quick, staccato voice had been for a moment reined in by the memory. “I kept hearing about the-trackseason-the-track-seasonthe-track-season,” he now says, the rhythmic cadence back in his canter-like voice. “It’s been my first season here. I’ve been to the track a few times. Now I know what everybody raves about. It is beautiful. But, man, the winter. There is a balcony on the second floor of the Adelphi Hotel where my room was when I first got here. It would be snowing, and I’d look out at the snow and street lights glistening in it. I felt as if I were in a movie. I felt as if I were in a western and Clint Eastwood was going to come down the road on a horse. Or Doc Holliday was going to walk out on one of the porches around town.” David Burke’s voice again slows, trails off. Out at the track on Union Avenue, an August thunderstorm is rumbling toward us as if it is echoing the hooves having made it past the primeval backstretch and now hurrying around

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meet market Prime’s Chef Jason Saunders and Chianti’s Chef Fabrizio Bazzani greet each other, while Osteria Danny’s Chef Danny Petrosino and Hattie’s Restaurant’s Chef Jasper Alexander do the same.

Chef Burke is a bit taken aback by my impertinence to ask such a question in such a town—the question lands with a thud itself in our conversation—but decides to give me a serious answer and by doing so, displays for me the patience a chef needs in such unexpected moments, although the glint in his eye does signal that he just might like to sauté me in a bit of olive oil.

the final bend at this very moment toward the spectators ready to be drenched as they watch the riders, not a lanky Eastwood in the bunchedup bunch, drive their Thoroughbreds toward yet another finish. Then—silence—the noiseless, noticeable thud of it between claps of thunder striking my ear as downright eerie, for silence in the summer in a Saratoga abuzz with ballet and betting folks and the Philadelphia Orchestra is as rare as an unfinished dish at Osteria Danny or Boca Bistro or Hattie’s or Fish at 30 Lake or one of Burke’s three new restaurants at his home base there at The Adelphi Hotel: Salt & Char, Morrissey’s Lounge and The Blue Hen. I take the eerie silence as my cue. “As Culinary Director at the Adelphi, would you ever serve ‘filet de cheval’ at Salt & Char?” I ask. Chef Burke is a bit taken aback by my impertinence to ask such a question in such a town—the question lands with a thud itself in our conversation—but decides to give me a serious answer and by doing so, displays for me the patience a chef needs in such unexpected moments, although the glint in his eye does signal that he just might like to sauté me in a bit of olive oil. “I haven’t eaten horse personally,” he says, carefully. “But classically, steak tartar was made from horse meat in the US. I don’t know if it’s even legal here. Either way, I think they’d be up in arms in Saratoga if I did. I’ll stick to beef.” “And bacon,” I say, having the day before ordered Burke’s famous, large clotheslined strips of the stuff at Morrisey’s. “We call it Well-Hung Bacon or Dirty Laundry,” Chef Burke jokes. “The fact of it is that it’s conversational. Instagram-able. Shareable. All those good things you want now.” He’s sounding like a business guy who knows a lot about all sorts of chops—pork and lamb and, most important, the mad marketing kind. How does Burke straddle his first impulse—the love of cooking—with his love of building a business empire? How does he stay true to himself? “When you’re younger and you’re a chef and you’re very determined and you work really

hard, sometimes you think you’re the only one working, so it becomes about the back of the house. Everybody’s got to work at your pace and with the same sense of purpose,” he says. “But that’s not reality. As you become an older chef, you begin to realize everybody needs each other and everybody has a role. And then when you own a few places and you have a few under your belt, you understand even more aspects of it all. You begin to focus on other things—you begin to squeeze the lemons that have the juice. The little stuff isn’t that important—not to say that the details aren’t important. But there are things that aren’t worth chasing. You chase instead the big picture and the big picture is teamwork, camaraderie, systems and, yes, marketing. The quality of food and the taste of it is always paramount, but there are things that have to come together. To put it in rock band terms, the whole album has to work together, not just one song.”

As I find myself in Saratoga, I am surprised, rather ruefully so, how this yankee enclave reminds me so much of my southern upbringing in Mississippi and somehow makes me nostalgic for a childhood for which I am seldom nostalgic. Saratoga has a way of knowing you that helps you know yourself.

The one song I keep

humming when I walk around exploring Saratoga on my first ever morning here is one taught to me by the late Carol Brice when we were starring together in the musical version of Truman Capote’s The Grass Harp on CBS. It was back in 1977. I was playing the orphaned boy Collin Fenwick, and she was recreating her Broadway role of Catherine Creek. We were sitting around the set one day in the studio killing time when I asked her about other shows she’d been in. She smiled and shook her head and told me about the musical Saratoga, based on the Edna Ferber novel Saratoga Trunk, which had bombed in 1959, even though its music was composed by Harold Arlen, its lyrics written by Johnny Mercer and its sets and costumes designed by Cecil Beaton. It had been directed by Morton DaCosta, the man who’d directed both Auntie Mame and The Music Man. Carol Lawrence starred as a Creole beauty, and Howard Keel was her gambler lover. Brice played Lawrence’s maid, Kakou, and laughed rather ruefully when she told me about the song she sang for Lawrence’s coachman, a dwarf named Cupide played by a

fish tale Tracey Kwiecien is the Executive Chef at Fish at 30 Lake, which has been housed in the Pavilion Grand Hotel since its opening in 2016.

little person named Tun Tun, which Mercer had written in what he had imagined to be AfricanAmerican patois. I laugh, too, today as I meander around Saratoga accompanied by that memory and sing softly the song she taught me, “Goose Never Be A Peacock,” which is about owning who you are and being proud of that person you are no matter where you find yourself. As I find myself in Saratoga, I am surprised, rather ruefully so, how this yankee enclave reminds me so much of my southern upbringing in Mississippi and how its yankee-ness and the lore and lure of its horse racing and the city swells from all over the country who have swelled its summer months for over 150 years all somehow make me nostalgic for a childhood for which I am seldom nostalgic. Saratoga has a way of knowing you that helps you know yourself. The first time I’d ever heard of Saratoga—which was also combined with food even then—was back in Mississippi during my teenage years when the writer Eudora Welty, a good friend of Frank Hains, a gentleman journalist and local set designer in Jackson who was mentoring me as a writer and actor, told me of her time in this lovely town when she attended Yaddo back in 1941 along with her buddy Katherine Anne Porter. Miss Welty, Frank and I would sit around Frank’s kitchen table as they drank Maker’s Mark on-the-rocks and dug into some of Frank’s homemade mac’n’cheese. Miss Welty would often regale Frank and me with her days at the racetrack here in Saratoga about which she later elaborated on in an interview with The New York Times. “Katherine Anne had also bought an old run-down clapboard farmhouse, perfectly beautiful, sitting in a meadow outside Saratoga Springs,” said Miss Welty. “It was heavenly, in the real country, and she was restoring it. We went out there every day. She bought a car, a Buick, first time she had ever had one, and had just learned to drive. I helped her drive some of the time, if I remember. I would rather help her drive. Anyway, we went forth. So, of course, I took pictures of all the progress of the house and of the daily life of Katherine Anne. All the good pictures I took of her in my life were out there. She found in

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Heyday of the dining hall at the Grand Union Hotel in 1854: seating capacity: 1400 guests number of cooks: 35 number of waiters: 200 number of carvers: 12

Its menu included:

Vermicelli for soup, and fish baked bass with port wine sauce, boiled leg of mutton, corned beef, chicken with pork, beef à la mode, Phipps ham, beef and tongues. Roasts were beef, veal, saddle of mutton, turkey, saddle of lamb, venison with currant jelly, ducks. Entrées included chicken pie French style, mutton with vegetables, rice croquettes flavored with wine, Ficandeau of veal, tomato sauce, breaded lamb chops, broiled pigeons, à la Americans, stewed mutton with potatoes, casserole de Ris a la Finacore, macaroni Italian style. Pastries included pineapple pie, apple pie, charlotte russe à la vanilla, and desserts were raisins, almonds, walnuts, nuts, nutmeg, melons, oranges, apples and watermelons.

For me, all this summoned southernness here in Saratoga also has to do with the porch after porch after expansive porch I encounter on my meander this morning.

prime time players Jason Saunders, Executive Chef at Prime at Saratoga National, and his son, Bryce.

the walls of this house honey bees’ nests that must have been there since it was empty, and she found a whole lot of tiny ladies’ slippers and men’s shoes from, she thought, colonial times. And some hoops to be worn with hoop skirts. Katherine Anne was a cook. She made French onion soup, an all-day process. I was the grocery girl. I couldn’t work in Yaddo. Everybody had a sign on their door saying, ‘Silence, writer at work.’ I read my proofs for A Curtain Of Green, but I couldn’t write in there. Everything was so tense, even exalted. So I walked into Saratoga, and to the races, and took pictures in Saratoga. And I would bring home groceries for Katherine Anne to cook with and so we had a good time.” For me, all this summoned southernness here in Saratoga also has to do with the porch after porch after expansive porch I encounter on my meander this morning. I haven’t seen the ghost of Doc Holliday on one but I do begin to recall the peas I helped shell on such porches and the corn I shucked and the watermelon I ate and sweet ice tea I swigged on sweltering summer days. Porches were where life became performative, where food, consumed more leisurely, just tasted better somehow. One rocked on the porch. One perched on porch swings. Gossip was digested along with dessert. Cobblers were topped with homemade ice cream fresh from its hand-cranked wooden ice cream makers set up on porches in the early evening hours, a dasher ready to be licked clean when it was pulled free from the sweet and creamy concoction it had helped to conjure there inside the bucket chilled with cracked salted ice. Fireflies festooned the darkening air around a porch. People courted on the porch. Fanned themselves on them. Atticus Finch was a father on one.

Another southerner who loved Saratoga hotel, motel G The Grand Union Hotel in Saratoga Springs was the world's largest in its day.

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disagreed with me about the leisurely pace about which its myriad porches make me so contemplative. “Saratoga was fast, man. It was real fast. It was up all night long,” said Louisianaborn Hattie Gray who opened her namesake restaurant in 1938 serving southern fare after

moving here when she left the employ of the A.E. Staley family who would summer in Saratoga from their home in Chicago. “Yeah, back in the day Saratoga was something else,” says cookbook author Jasper Alexander, who has been the chef and Co-owner at Hattie’s for nearly two decades. “I mean, it still is, but in a different way. Back then there were all-night blues clubs, gambling dens, the whole nine yards. It was a real scene.” “Sounds fun,” I tell him, having peeked into Hattie’s on my morning stroll, the very sight of it bringing to mind my Mississippi past when I’d travel down to New Orleans, Hattie Gray’s hometown, where I had my first taste of gumbo and jambalaya, two specialties on the Hattie’s menu. “It does sound fun,” agrees Chef Alexander. “A little grit is always nice. I was one of the ones who was not a fan when Giuliani cleaned up Times Square. A city like New York needs a bit of the grime. It needs a bit of the grit.” Is Alexander still furnishing a bit of the grit and the grime himself here in Saratoga after 19 years—not just the shrimp and the grits on his brunch menu? “Oh, no. I’m at home in bed by nine o’clock, if I’m lucky,” says the chef who has southern roots himself. “My family is from Winston-Salem and Lexington. My whole family is from the south,” he tells me. “But there is no cooking-by-my-grandmother’s-knee story in my career. I have always looked at cooking as a set of techniques. You can apply those techniques to anything whether it is French techniques or Japanese techniques or Thai techniques. For me, Hattie’s has been my interpretation of southern cuisine even though we are very mindful of not pushing the restaurant into something it isn’t. Southern food is the hottest thing right now, but we’ve just sort of stayed the course and do what we do and do it consistently well.” Another Saratoga culinary marvel who has stayed the course is Chef Danny Petrosino whose restaurant, Osteria Danny, which is run by his wife Patti, serves as a kind of family gathering each night it’s open. And it stays open as long as people want to eat. There’s no closing

5 Questions For Saratoga’s Top Chefs Tracey Kwiecien

CHEF OF FISH AT 30 L AKE yin and yang Chef Roslyn Riggi of Boca Bistro and Chef Danny Petrosino of Osteria Danny both name the other's restaurant their go-to spot in Saratoga.

1. What do you cook better than anyone else? My grandmother’s food, especially pierogies. 2. What’s your go-to spot to eat in Saratoga Springs that’s not your own? Karavalli and the Spring Street Deli. 3. What’s your favorite food city? Boston, at the moment. 4. What’s the best advice you were given as a young chef? Stay organized and prioritize everyday tasks. 5. What culinary TV show could you imagine yourself on? None.

I continue my morning walk around Saratoga. I'm fascinated by the well-dressed women sashaying along Broadway and in the varied, shaded neighborhoods. Some walk about arm-in-arm in the manner of women in this town for generations. They wear their privilege as nonchalantly as they wear their crisp linens while they promenade.

CHEF Danny Petrosino OF OSTERIA DANNY

1. What do you cook better than anyone else? Eggplant.

2. What’s your go-to spot to eat in Saratoga Springs that’s not your own? Boca Bistro. 3. What’s your favorite food city? New York City. 4. What’s the best advice you were given as a young chef? Buy the best ingredients and try not to ruin them. 5. What culinary TV show could you imagine yourself on? Molto Mario.

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saratogaliving.com 37

5 Questions For Saratoga’s Top Chefs C O N TI N U E D

the masters (from left) Brian Bowden (R&R Kitchen and Bar, Upstairs at 43 Phila), Danny Petrosino (Osteria Danny), Tracey Kwiecien (Fish at 30 Lake), David Burke (Salt + Char, Morrissey's Lounge, The Blue Hen), Jasper Alexander (Hattie’s Restaurant), Fabrizio Bazzani (Chianti Il Ristorante), Roslyn Riggi (Boca Bistro), Jason Saunders (Prime at Saratoga National).

David Burke

CHEF OF SALT + CHAR, MORRISSEY’S LOUNGE AND THE BLUE HEN 1. What do you cook better than anyone else? Eggs. 2. What’s your go-to spot to eat in Saratoga that’s not your own? Boca Bistro and Osteria Danny. 3. What’s your favorite food city? Hong Kong. 4. What’s the best advice you were given as a young chef? Follow the best, not the money. 5. What culinary TV show could you imagine yourself on? Gordon Ramsay’s kids show, MasterChef Junior, as a judge or instructor.

CHEF

Jasper Alexander

OF HATTIE’S RESTAUR ANT

1. What do you cook better than anyone else? Fried chicken: There’s not only a lot of history to the dish, but also a science to seasoning it. Hattie’s has been using special methods of cooking chicken for 80 years. 2. What’s your go-to spot in Saratoga that’s not your own? That’s a political question. Let’s say Compton’s. 3. What’s your favorite food city? New York City or New Orleans.

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CREDIT

4. What’s the best advice you were given as a young chef? Keep your head down, focus on the fundamentals and outwork the person next to you. 5. What culinary TV show could you imagine yourself on? Does it have to be related to food? Law & Order.

☛ ⁄

saratogaliving.com 39

time. “As long as people keep coming, we keep serving,” he says. “This is our business. I support my family with this. This is not something I do as a hobby—which nowadays you find a lot of. Patti takes every reservation. Her cellphone number is the restaurant number.” This is Chef Petrosino’s second restaurant in town. He originally opened Mio Posto when he, an Amsterdam, NY, native, moved back to the region from Florida, where his restaurant Red Sauce was such a success, to be closer to his parents and daughter and grandchild. “I originally opened that place because I thought at first I’ll move back home here and get a job, but honestly nobody wanted to hire me because I’m too old. That’s the reality of this business. So we opened that place and everybody said, ‘You’re nuts. Who’s gonna come there? You’ve only got 20 seats. And da-da-da.’ But it kinda took on a life of its own. We did really well there and sold that to a friend of mine. We’ve got Danny’s now which is a little larger. We wanted the same feel though. I do what I want to do. I serve what I want to serve. I change my menu every day. Some people don’t get it. But when you come to our restaurant, it’s like you’re coming to our house. It’s like a party over there every night. You come in, you talk to the people next to you. People say, ‘Well, we want a quiet table.’ Not gonna happen. It’s like a circus in there. I cook food I would like to eat. That is what I worry about: Is this gonna be good? I’m not creating art. I’m not an artist. Other chefs consider themselves artists. They are artists. But I consider myself a really good mechanic.” “I’ve always looked on it as an art form,” Fish at 30 Lake’s Executive Chef Tracey Kwiecien says. “In high school, I always thought I was going to be a ceramics teacher or teach some kind of art of design. But I ended up in the food world, because food is hands-on and it is beautiful and it is colorful. It has all these things to it—smell, touch, taste. I see it as an art form, yes.” Boca Bistro’s Executive Chef Roslyn Riggi agrees with Chef Kwiecien. “I feel like food is art. I do. People eat with their eyes. That’s

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the way I, too, look at food and what’s on the plate: the colors and the textures. Our food at Boca is very colorful. Obviously taste is very important, but when you see something, firstand-foremost it has to look appealing.”

It is interesting that all three of the male

oh, danny’s boy Chefs Danny Petrosino of Osteria Danny and Brian Bowden of R&R Kitchen and Bar and Upstairs at 43 Phila.

It is interesting that all three of the male chefs to whom I have talked in Saratoga sort of pooh-pooh the idea that they are artists—even seem embarrassed by the concept, preferring to be thought of as craftsmen.

chefs to whom I have talked in Saratoga sort of pooh-pooh the idea that they are artists—even seem embarrassed by the concept, preferring to be thought of as craftsmen, I think—whereas these two female chefs gladly, even proudly claim the mantle. Does that have something to do with kitchens domestically having been for so many generations the purview of women but when a kitchen is a professional one then men tend to take the reins? Is being an artist a way of pushing back? The percentage of executive chefs in the rarified restaurant world who are female is still shockingly low and that holds true as well for the Saratoga restaurant community. “Isn’t that weird?” muses Chef Riggi. “I have no idea why. I am typically surrounded by mostly males in the kitchens where I’ve worked,” she tells me, having gotten her start at 14 washing dishes at Siro’s. “But when I have the opportunity to have females, I do. They are great assets to the kitchen. We think differently. We’re a little more detail-oriented and less scatterbrained than men. A little more evenkeeled. A little more commonsensical.” Chef Kwiecien: “I think, oftentimes, that being a chef and working in a restaurant’s kitchen are often hard jobs so that comes off as a masculine, hard-labor job. But I think we’re changing that. I think there is so much of a woman’s touch that is needed in the kitchen.” How would she define “a woman’s touch”? “Well, I think organization and cleanliness,” she says, offering me a knowing smile. “I don’t want to sound ‘unfeministic’ because I’m not. I’m definitely a feminist in every sense. But we do add another style and softer notes to the kitchen where it’s been this hard-bashing environment for so long. We, as women, are trying to push the artistic aspect toward the women’s touch or

the softer tones in the kitchen.” She’s told me about the woman’s touch in the kitchen. Has she had to deal with the man’s touch in the same environment? Has she had any #MeToo moments? “Sure. Absolutely,” she says without hesitation but then surprisingly expounds on the subject. “For a lot of us who have worked in the business for so long, you more or less get used to that sort of thing. People start looking on you as one of the guys. They’re not looking to violate you in any way. But you’re like their teammate. Men do it to men and men do it to women and women do it to men. It doesn’t make it OK, but it makes it go unnoticed because it is considered OK. So when something really bad happens, it is hard to draw the line. It’s just the environment you’re in. But people have to know where to draw the line.” Hiring more women to work in such environments would help to draw it. Is it important to her to be a mentor to other women in the business? “I have a lot of women in the kitchen right now,” Chef Kwiecien says. “It’s a small kitchen. It’s wonderful. I’m proud of them and their hard work—just as I am of the men, too. But, yes, I’m absolutely aware of mentoring more women—now more than ever with my getting older. Mentoring women is part of what encourages me every single day to come into work and help them move up the ladder. It’s not just important to me; it’s humbling.”

I continue my morning walk around

Saratoga. I’m fascinated by the well-dressed women sashaying along Broadway and in the varied, shaded neighborhoods. Some walk about arm-in-arm in the manner of women in this town for generations. They wear their privilege as nonchalantly as they wear their crisp linens while they promenade, a privilege that is bespoke but of which they do not speak. When they do speak, it is softly to one another. I try to eavesdrop but to no avail. Like jockeys on their mounts, like last winter when it welcomed David Burke into town, they too whisper in indecipherable yet endearing ways.

5 Questions For Saratoga’s Top Chefs C O N TI N U E D

Roslyn Riggi

CHEF OF BOCA BISTRO

1. What do you cook better than anyone else? Paella. 2. What’s your go-to spot to eat in Saratoga Springs that’s not your own? Osteria Danny. 3. What’s your favorite food city? New York City. 4. What’s the best advice you were given as a young chef? Always lead by example. 5. What culinary TV show could you imagine yourself on? Chopped.

Fabrizio Bazzani OF CHIANTI CHEF

IL RISTOR ANTE

1. What do you cook better than anyone else? Risotto and pasta, because they’re close to my heart. chef profile Chef Jason Saunders of Prime at Saratoga National ponders stoically.

2. What’s your go-to spot to eat in Saratoga that’s not your own? I enjoy a simple barbecue outside. 3. What’s your favorite food city? New York City is the heart of the food world. I used to live in Los Angeles, and the Asian influence is on another level. 4. What’s the best advice you were given as a young chef? Be simple, stay simple and never use more than three ingredients. Study the nature of products to recognize when and how they’re good, so they can perform at their best. 5. What culinary TV show could you imagine yourself on? I would’ve loved to have traveled with Anthony Bourdain.

☛ ⁄

saratogaliving.com 41

Call it Saratoga serenity. It is a jaunty kind of joy but not too robust, too rowdy—not like it once could be when the town was a bit rougher in Hattie Gray’s day. There is fleetness here, to be sure. But nothing else is flaunted.

f What would you serve on a Saratoga porch at the height of the busy track season?

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Henry James, when he was

kitchen crew (from left) Chefs Danny Petrosino, Roslyn Riggi, David Burke, Tracey Kwiecien and Jasper Alexander.

27, visited the town for The Nation and wrote a travel essay for the magazine’s August 1870 issue, noticing the same sort of men, the same sort of women. “Casting your eye over a group of your fellow-citizens in the portico of the Union Hotel,” he wrote of one of the town’s grandest establishment at the time, “you will be inclined to admit that, taking the good with the bad, they are worthy sons of the great Republic. I have found, at any rate, a great deal of entertainment in watching them. They suggest to my fancy the swarming vastness—the multifarious possibilities and activities—of our young civilisation. They come from the uttermost ends of the Union— from San Francisco, from New Orleans, from Alaska. As they sit with their white hats tilted forward, and their chairs tilted back, and their feet tilted up, and their cigars and toothpicks forming various angles with these various lines, I seem to see in their faces a tacit reference to the affairs of a continent. They are obviously persons of experience—of a somewhat narrow and monotonous experience certainly; an experience of which the diamonds and laces which their wives are exhibiting hard by are,

(porch) KEVIN SESSUMS

JASPER ALEXANDER: “Cheese straws. Some pimento cheese. Maybe some hushpuppies. Fried chicken, of course. Potato salad. Tomato salad. And yes, watermelon.” DANNY PETROSINO: “Definitely some nice cheeses with fruit. Nice meat—some prosciutto and salamis. Nice bread. Figs now—definitely figs— with some blue cheese.” DAVID BURKE: “Ice tea or lemonade. Champagne cocktail with fruit. Some local produce to start. Radishes. Watermelon. Goat cheese. Grilled toast of flatbread. Some kind of roasted or grilled fish. Roasted chicken served at room temperature. Lettuce wraps. And then pie. Definitely pie.” ROSALYN RIGGI: “Ceviche served with a nice rosé wine.” TRACEY KWIECIEN: “It matters what kind of porch I’m on. If I’m on a Victorian-style porch, I’d want tea sandwiches. Lobster salad sandwiches. On one of the new bohemian houses and their porches, I’d maybe serve different kinds of dips. I would just like to be on a porch for an afternoon. That would be wonderful.”

The men? I wonder what sports columnists and Saratoga Race Course aficionados Ring Lardner and Red Smith would have made of some of the groupings of them I spot on Broadway during my stroll, a threesome having their morning cigars on the corner at James & Sons while others down the sidewalk a bit at Uncommon Grounds are grinding out the odds for that day’s races enthralled with their own arguments for this horse or that one. These are not the carefully tanned cadre of gentleman having their breakfasts out at the track although there is a weathered lack of weariness in all their faces. They all seem so content to be exactly where they are in the world at this very moment. Call it Saratoga serenity. It is a jaunty kind of joy but not too robust, too rowdy—not like it once could be when the town was a bit rougher in Hattie Gray’s day. There is fleetness here, to be sure. But nothing else is flaunted.

perhaps, the most substantial and beautiful result; but, at any rate, they have lived, in every fibre of the will. For the time, they are lounging with the negro waiters, and the boot-blacks, and the news-vendors; but it was not in lounging that they gained their hard wrinkles and the level impartial regard which they direct from beneath their hat-rims. They are not the mellow fruit of a society which has walked hand-in-hand with tradition and culture; they are hard nuts, which have grown and ripened as they could. When they talk among themselves, I seem to hear the cracking of the shells. “If the men are remarkable, the ladies are wonderful. Saratoga is famous, I believe, as the place of all places in America where women adorn themselves most, or as the place, at least, where the greatest amount of dressing may be seen by the greatest number of people. Your first impression is therefore of the—what shall I call it?—of the abundance of petticoats. Every woman you meet, young or old, is attired with a certain amount of richness, and with whatever good taste may be compatible with such a mode of life. You behold an interesting, indeed a quite momentous spectacle; the democratisation of elegance.” Of course, that’s it: the democratization of elegance. That pretty much sums up Saratoga now as much as it did back in 1870. It explains the town’s famed love of the gentlemen and ladies’ sport of horse racing even as such a sport appeals, shall we say, to a brusquer bunch; the place’s oddly familiar, even familial allure for anyone who first sets foot in it, as I have done this morning on my meander; and, yes, its burgeoning food scene filled with artistic female chefs and crafty male ones. Miss Welty had it half right about Saratoga when she spoke of Yaddo down the road a piece, as we say in the south. It is not tense at all, but it is exalted. “Takes a whole heap’a’learnin’ for a person to know this old world keep’a’turnin’, but it turn mighty slow,” I sing, the lyrics from the musical Saratoga that Carol Brice taught me so long ago. I stroll on. I slowly stroll.

5 Questions For Saratoga’s Top Chefs C O N TI N U E D

Jason Saunders

CHEF OF PRIME AT SAR ATOG A NATIONAL 1. What do you cook better than anyone else? Steaks.

cooks off Chefs Brian Bowden, Jasper Alexander and Danny Petrosino leave Putnam Place after saratoga living’s photo shoot.

2. What’s your go-to spot to eat in Saratoga that’s not your own? Osteria Danny. 3. What’s your favorite food city? Kennebunkport, ME. 4. What’s the best advice you were given as a young chef? It could be the greatest food, but if you don’t get it up to the window in time, it doesn’t matter. 5. What culinary TV show could you imagine yourself on? Hell’s Kitchen.

Brian Bowden OF

CHEF

R&R KITCHEN AND BAR AND UPSTAIRS AT 43 PHIL A

Of course, that’s it: the democratization of elegance. That pretty much sums up Saratoga now as much as it did back in 1870.

1. What do you cook better than anyone else? Seafood—usually whole fish like halibut and salmon. 2. What’s your go-to spot to eat in Saratoga that’s not your own? Home. My wife cooks more often than me. 3. What’s your favorite food city? New York City. 4. What’s the best advice you were given as a young chef? Work hard, stay focused and above all, stay true to your craft. 5. What culinary TV show could you imagine yourself on? Top Chef.

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t s e b e h t

You Voted!

T HE U LTIM ATE

GUIDE

– N ATA L I E M O O R E

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MADELINE CONROY

A S I A N R E S TAU R A N T

BAKERY

SUSHI THAI GARDEN

MRS. LONDON’S BAKERY

26.17%

40.10%

SAR ATOG A A-Z

n high school, I was on the best volleyball team in the state. I’m the best in my family at Scrabble and at Field Day in fourth grade, I was the best softball thrower. These are all quantifiable facts: My team won the state championship game (twice), I’ve won far more Scrabble games against my parents than they have combined against me and I once threw a softball farther than anyone else in my grade. But being “best” isn’t always quantifiable, and people tend to use the concept subjectively. (I consider myself the best dancer, much to my boyfriend’s—no, everyone’s—embarrassment.) Keeping that in mind, it’s a tall task compiling an A-Z list of the “best of” what Saratoga Springs has to offer. Who’s to say one Asian restaurant in Saratoga is better than another one? (I’m partial to Phila Fusion.) The best (yes, subjectively) saratoga living could do was to hold a citywide survey asking the people what they were partial to (in the 12866 zip code), add up all the responses and crown the winners “the best of Saratoga.” Below, find our comprehensive guide to the Best of Saratoga A-Z. In total, nearly 1000 people cast their votes, and came up with this comprehensive Best of Saratoga A-Z guide. The winning percentages are noted.

Dd COFFEE

DINER

UNCOMMON GROUNDS

TRIANGLE DINER

41.92%

30.42%

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saratogaliving.com 45

TH E ULTI MATE

SAR ATOG A A-Z GUIDE

Ff ESCAPE

FLOWER SHOP

THE SAGAMORE HOTEL

SCHRADE’S POSIE PEDDLER

43.45%

43.04%

OSTERIA DANNY

GYM/FITNESS

HOTEL

SARATOGA SPRINGS YMCA

THE ADELPHI HOTEL

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31.33%

JACOB WEAKLAND

37.85%

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I TA L I A N R E S TAU R A N T

(Adelphi) GREG CEO

20.64% ⁄

saratogaliving.com 47

T HE ULT IMAT E

SAR ATOG A A-Z G UIDE

JEWELER

KARAOKE

NAIL SALON

OUTDOOR DINING

DEJONGHE ORIGINAL JEWELRY

SARATOGA CITY TAVERN

HELLO NAILS

DRUTHERS

34.34%

41.74%

16.70%

20.58%

Mm M E X I C A N R E S TAU R A N T

PURDY’S DISCOUNT WINE & LIQUOR

CANTINA

62.37%

44.76%

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(Hello Nails, Druthers, Esperanto) MADELINE CONROY; (Spa Park) NYS PARKS

LIQUOR STORE

(Cantina) MADELINE CONROY

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Qq PA R K

Q U I C K E AT S

SARATOGA SPA STATE PARK

ESPERANTO

47.72%

24.32%

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TH E ULTI MATE

SAR ATOG A A-Z GUIDE

Ss R A D I O S TAT I O N

102.7 WEQX

BROADWAY

15.62%

60.89%

SARATOGA PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

TAT T O O PA R LO R

UNISEX SALON

NEEDLEWURKS BODY PIERCING AND TATTOO

CLASSICAL CONCEPTS SALON

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14.07%

CARLOS QUEZADA

49.89%

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VENUE

MADELINE CONROY

STREET

68.15% ⁄

saratogaliving.com 51

1 2 3 4 5 6 7

TH E ULTI MATE

SAR ATOG A A-Z GUIDE

Xx WINE

THE WINE BAR

SPA STATE PARK 5K CROSS COUNTRY COURSE

30.90%

42.72%

Zz YOG A STUDIO

HOT YOGA SPOT 36.05%

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X- C O U N T RY PAT H

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Z E N S PA

ROOSEVELT BATHS & SPA 23.42%

(Wine Bar) MADELINE CONROY; (Spa Park) NYS PARKS; (Roosevelt Baths) KYLE ADAMS; (Hot Yoga Spot) JASON VALENTINE

8 REASONS TO

#LOVE

WHERE

YOU LIVE

PHOTOGRAPHY BY KYLE ADAMS E X C L U S I V E LY F O R

saratoga living

I’VE VISITED DOZENS of celebrated sporting venues as an on-assignment journalist and several more via my alter ego as a deranged fan (you don’t want to be around me if my beloved Boston Red Sox are on the short end of the stick against the New York Yankees). My professional and personal travels have led me to Fenway Park, Churchill Downs, Notre Dame Stadium, Madison Square Garden, Cameron Indoor Stadium and the Rose Bowl, among others. I’ve been to some fascinating places that have both great tradition and spellbinding ambiance, but I remain of the opinion that nothing in the world of sports holds a candle to Saratoga Race Course. Nothing. Saratoga’s hallowed history is without peer in American horse racing. Elite Thoroughbreds have been competing here since Abraham Lincoln’s presidency. Our treasured track has played host to the likes of Man O’ War, Secretariat and Affirmed, all of whom won here (and famously lost here, as well). These equine legends are still being spoken about in reverential tones decades after their glory, and Saratoga Race Course is much more than just these horses’ distinguished past; it remains a vibrant and wondrous experience imbued with the prestige that comes with the exclusivity of a six-week shelf life: We get “the season” for only 40 days. When September finally arrives, and we reach the conclusion of the annual Saratoga racing meet, we’re all a bit worse for the wear—but we continue to love it. It is uniquely us. As the track gates close following the Labor Day finale, summer fades into autumn. The Saratoga mystique, however, continues to stir our souls until the next time the noble animals return to the fabled Spa oval. On frosty winter nights, when the moon illuminates a fresh coat of sparkling snow atop the Saratoga roofline, it’s been said that it’s possible to hear the faint sound of hooves rhythmically gliding past the Grandstand toward the finish line. At Saratoga Race Course, anything seems possible. This is our “field of dreams.” It’s been that way for more than 150 years. I’ve already got next year’s Opening Day—Friday, July 19, 2019—circled on my calendar. I wouldn’t trade these six weeks for anything. Anything.

REASONS TO

#LOVE

WHERE

SPORTS

YOU LIVE

SARATOGA

RACE

COURSE

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CREDIT

BY BRIEN BOUYEA

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FIVE YEARS AGO this month, I quit my job to become a full-time freelance writer. One of the first gigs I landed was interviewing musician Mike Doughty, who fronted the jazz-hip-hop-fusion band Soul Coughing (they scored a top ten single in 1998 with “Circles”). In my pre-interview research, I learned that Doughty had composed music at Saratoga Springs’ famed artists’ retreat, Yaddo. Reporting the story for The Food Network, I asked him a question that was culinary in theme—and his answer was no less fascinating now than it was back then: “The truly iconic Yaddo food item is the carrot stick,” he told me. “You get an old-style construction worker’s lunchbox and thermos of tea and coffee every day to take to your studio, and it invariably includes carrot sticks. I don’t remember which writer it was, but somebody wrote that if Yaddo did some kind of Oscars thing, the statuette would have to be a golden carrot stick.” That answer re-enlivened my interest in my hometown’s most mysterious property. Although Yaddo abuts our city’s best-known venue, Saratoga Race Course, it might as well exist in a different dimension. Originally the country estate of Spencer and Katrina Trask, Yaddo comprises 400 acres of land and a sprawling mansion where its guests work, as well as some stand-alone studios—and an equally compelling garden, free and open to the public. (The private part first opened its doors to artists in 1926.) During my childhood, I only heard vague rumors about what went on within its walls—it was just this creepy, old haunted house that fit a Scooby-Doo episode better than it did Saratoga. “I was really struck that we were seen as a place of foreboding, which isn’t at all the soul of Yaddo and the Trasks,” says Elaina Richardson, current President of Yaddo, of what she arrived to in 2000. To combat this, Richardson’s struck a happy medium between Yaddo being a private artists’ retreat and one open to the public. “What we’ve tried to do is ask people in the Yaddo community to stay an extra couple of days—they get the protected time but then might be at Northshire Bookstore or UPH doing an event for us,” says Richardson. Taking advantage of the presence of those 200 annual guests makes perfect sense: Throughout the years, Yaddo has hosted 74 Pulitzer Prize winners, 68 National Book Award winners, 29 MacArthur Fellows and one Nobel Prize winner. Just imagine what it would’ve been like to hear Aaron Copland’s Fanfare for the Common Man at UPH or Truman Capote read from In Cold Blood at Northshire. (They were both Yaddo guests.) Ever since I did that interview with Doughty, I’ve had a singular Saratoga daydream: to someday be a guest at Yaddo. Maybe it’ll be for a future saratoga living assignment. A man can dream, no?

REASONS TO

#LOVE

WHERE

CULTURE

YOU LIVE

YADDO

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CREDIT

BY WILL LEVITH

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saratogaliving.com 57

BEING AN EVENT planner myself,

I’m naturally a tough critic when it comes to events: I always find myself making mental notes of things that inspire me at other foundations’ soirées. Every year, I leave Saratoga Hospital’s annual Summer Gala with a long list of mental notes: There’s just so much to love about the event of the season— actually, the entire year. From the second you set foot in the completely transformed tent to match the year’s unique theme—2018’s was “Havana Nights”—you could tell that the planning committee put its heart and soul into every aspect of the Gala. (In other words, I have total decor envy!) Every year, the committee entertains hundreds of guests with an unbelievable live auction—I can never understand how they track down all those must-have packages—and the food has yet to disappoint. It’s safe to say that after 36 years, Saratoga Hospital’s Gala committee has mastered “the equation” for planning not only a successful event, but also one that truly stands out among the many other amazing parties held in the area throughout the year. Furthermore, the Gala’s timing has always been sublime; it’s early enough in the season that attendees can get excited about it and without being exhausted from the six-week whirlwind that is the Saratoga Race Course meet. And these aren’t just any old attendees—they’re the quintessential Who’s Who of Saratoga Springs. You never know who you might see at the Gala. This year, you might’ve found yourself mingling with Saratoga’s own queen herself, Marylou Whitney. (That’s surely not something I get to do every night!) Lastly, let’s not forget the reason for this epic annual celebration: Saratoga Hospital. Much of the hospital’s success can be attributed to the contributions of Amy Raimo, the former head of the Saratoga Hospital Foundation who died in an accident just weeks before the 2018 Gala. In a Facebook post following the tragedy, the Hospital said, in part: “Leading the Hospital’s Foundation, Amy’s incredible spirit, passion, energy, and commitment to our community and to our hospital has left an indelible mark on everything we do.” I can’t help but feel like Amy had something to do with those dark, rain-filled skies dissolving away just in time for guests to enjoy this year’s Gala.

REASONS TO

#LOVE

WHERE

PHILANTHROPY

YOU LIVE

SARATOGA

HOSPITAL GALA

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CREDIT

BY LIZZIE HUNTER

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saratogaliving.com 59

I’D LIKE A Saratoga cocktail, please. You know, the one with the magnesium, potassium and lithium. Yeah, I’m one of those people who sips the zesty mineral waters that bubble up in Saratoga Spa State Park. My favorite mineral martini spews from Hayes Well Spring, which you’ll find near Geyser Island Spouter, a geological wonder that looks like a big rock dome. I belly up to the bar, a stone block studded with spouts, and the fizzy water burps into my clear plastic cup. As I slowly imbibe, the pungent potion tingles the tongue and tickles the senses. The deeper the spring, the stronger the taste. To me, it’s a delicious tonic, a lip-smacking elixir. Others find it repulsive. But with 12 springs on the drink menu, they can always select a different, milder cocktail. Saratoga Springs is the only place east of the Mississippi where you’ll find cold, naturally carbonated mineral water. Can you think of another town where a free, refreshing (and perhaps healthful) beverage is available, self-serve, 24/7, in every season around Downtown and in the piney woods of a beautiful nearby park? At Roosevelt Baths & Spa, one can de-stress in a deep tub of effervescence. And soon, the Roosevelt II Bathhouse, closed since the 1980s, will reopen as a health and wellness center. Our water isn’t just for local, personal enjoyment; it’s also become a famous tipple out there in the world. Saratoga Spring Water, in the classy cobalt-blue bottle, is poured in hotels and restaurants across the country and in the Caribbean, China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. George Washington drank from High Rock Spring (next to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market), and President Obama toasted his second term with it. Algonquian-speaking Native Americans believed that the Great Spirit Manitou stirred the waters, making them magical and curative, and until the mid-20th century, the waters were used as medicine for nervous disorders, arthritis, gout, indigestion, constipation and heart disease. Doctors even prescribed baths, and bottled waters were sold in pharmacies and on trains. At One Roof, a local holistic health center, founder Selma Nemer once told me that Saratoga’s water and its healthful properties are everywhere, whether you’re aware of them or not. “The healing waters are running under this city,” she said. “They’re under all our buildings.” I’ll drink to that. And keep those Saratoga cocktails flowing, I say.

REASONS TO

ENVIRONMENT

#LOVE

WHERE

YOU LIVE

THE

WATER

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CREDIT

BY KAREN BJORNLAND

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THIS IS GOING to sound a little bit

snobbish, but growing up in Saratoga Springs, the town of Malta was never a place I made a concerted effort to go to on a regular basis. Save maybe to catch the occasional movie at the Malta Drive-In, for me it wasn’t much of a destination. It was kind of just there. These days, there are thousands of people who’d take exception with that perspective—and for good reason. That’s because in 2009, international tech giant GLOBALFOUNDRIES broke ground in Malta on what has become one the world’s leading semiconductor (or chip) plants, part of a global network that includes a corporate headquarters in Silicon Valley and manufacturing hubs in Singapore; Germany; Essex Junction, VT; and East Fishkill, NY. Known as Fab 8, Malta’s state-of-the-art chip-making facility, which officially opened for business in 2012, has 460,000 square feet of cleanroom space—an airtight, contaminant-free area where the chips get produced by workers in Dr. No-like lab gear—and 2.4 million additional square feet to support all of its weighty infrastructure. All told, GLOBALFOUNDRIES has made a $12 billion investment in the area and pays out more than $300 million in salaries, according to Forbes. Look, nobody can beat Saratoga’s entertainment venues— the racetrack or SPAC (both of which made this list)—but in sheer tech know-how and worldwide manufacturing prestige, it’s hard to beat GLOBALFOUNDRIES. Even though I still don’t find myself in Malta all that often, when I’m there, I always get this nagging sense of chip-envy.

REASONS TO

#LOVE

WHERE

BUSINESS

YOU LIVE

GLOBAL FOUNDRIES

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CREDIT

BY WILL LEVITH

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WHAT IF, AFTER a day spent in

the Executive Box at the Saratoga Race Course, sipping Twisted Tea and betting your money away, you turned in for the night right after the tenth race? What if, after dropping $45 on three Bud Light Limes at the sold-out Imagine Dragons concert at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, you went straight home after the encore? As unimaginable as these scenarios sound, they could be a reality if it wasn’t for the Saratoga Springs social scene stalwart, the place that keeps us going late into the night and our after hours home base: Caroline Street. I only turned 21 a year and a half ago, so Caroline Street still holds its who-will-I-run-into, how-many-bars-can-I-hit-inone-night, where-should-I-go-to-get-late-night-pizza thrill. (Typically, it’s 20 people from my high school, four and Pizza 7, respectively.) But if you stand on the corner of Caroline and Putnam at 1am, it’s not just 22-year-olds you’ll see. It’s everyone. Your childhood best friend’s parents. A 35-year-old guy on vacation from Miami. (Find him: He’ll buy you pizza.) A group of college girls rocking questionable IDs and impressive high heels. Your boss. A senior citizen headed to tear up the dancefloor at Dango’s. How does one street appeal to such a panoply of people, whose only common fiber is the love of a good party? “There’s something different for everybody,” says Tin & Lint Owner Jim Stanley, who’s “been on Caroline Street longer than anybody” (48 years, to be exact). He’s right: It’s pretty rare to find a dance club, a dive bar, a four-story tavern, karaoke, live music and the best cocktail you’ve ever had (I’m looking at you, Hamlet & Ghost) all within one block of one street. Stanley was around when the T&L opened in 1970—when it was one of two bars on a street shared with a printing shop, grocery store, record store, haberdashery and barbershop. “I think the people that owned the bar then were the catalysts for the area moving forward,” Stanley says. “’Cuz now there are 16 bars before you get to the corner of Caroline and Henry. There are too many bars.” But even if there are too many bars, something’s kept Stanley on Caroline Street since the beginning. And I suspect that same something will keep me coming back, too, long after my 23rd birthday. Because, after all, there’s something for everybody.

REASONS TO

#LOVE

WHERE

NIGHTLIFE

YOU LIVE

CAROLINE

STREET

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B Y N ATA L I E M O O R E

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THE FIRST TIME I stepped through the massive walnut front door into the foyer of a house on North Broadway, it felt magical. It was 2005, and I was visiting Saratoga to find a place to live before my two young sons started school. I was invited to a dinner party in a 10,000-squarefoot Victorian mansion to celebrate the opening of the New York City Ballet’s run in Saratoga. Truthfully, it was sort of a date, but I simply wanted to see the house. A short walk from Downtown Saratoga Springs and bookended between bustling Broadway and the main entrance to Skidmore College’s campus is the residential section of the Broadway historic district, which includes the most coveted addresses in Saratoga. Primarily built as summer “cottages” by wealthy city residents who came to soak in the mineral baths and get away for the season—and marked by large, meticulously landscaped lots—North Broadway’s houses boast exceptional trim and architectural decoration. These grand homes, most of them erected during the building boom of the late 1800s in the High Victorian style, sit, regally, back from the wide corridor of North Broadway, reminding us of a more elegant time, as I was reminded, that magical evening 13 years ago. I recently ran into that first Saratoga “date” again. We reminisced about the dinner party; he recalled the fine wine, while I admitted to admiring the stunning French flocked wall-covering and matching silk velvet custom-tufted sofas. He went on to say that it had been a lovely evening, while I thought back to the sprawling front porch, original wood trim and fine art collection. Ultimately, he became someone else’s Prince Charming, but that night, I fell in love, not with him, but with North Broadway.

REASONS TO

#LOVE

WHERE

DESIGN

YOU LIVE

NORTH BROADWAY

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B Y B E V E R LY T R ACY

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I WILL ALWAYS have a special

place in my heart for the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). Not only because it’s where I’ve seen a couple of the best shows in my life, but also because it’s where I graduated from Skidmore College. I’ll never forget running from the packed amphitheater after the ceremony through a cold May downpour, my diploma in one hand, my girlfriend gripping the other. SPAC will forever be that place. But I’m just one of many people who’ve had the chance to create irreplaceable memories there over the years. First opening on July 9, 1966, with a performance of George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, SPAC was originally conceived of as a summer residence for the New York City Ballet (NYCB), The Philadelphia Orchestra and other classical institutions and composers from across the country. Almost exactly a year later, however, legendary calypso singer Harry Belafonte became the first nonclassical musician to perform at SPAC—and the venue soon welcomed in a younger, hipper crowd. Since then, SPAC has become a go-to destination for both the classical and pop music worlds. Of course, SPAC’s stayed true to its classical roots as the summer home of both the NYCB and The Philadelphia Orchestra. “It’s truly a pleasure to perform in such a beautiful environment, where the richness of the Philadelphia sound is on full display,” says the orchestra’s conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. “Each summer I look forward to this special combination of nature and music!” And who do we have to thank for SPAC’s ambitious (classical) lineup, which this past summer included one of the only stops by the Ballet Nacional de Cuba? President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol, that’s who. (A big hat-tip should also go to Live Nation for its incredibly diverse programming—which, in 2018, included everyone from Pulitzer Prize-winning hip-hop artist Kendrick Lamar to pop priestess Janet Jackson.) Sobol and company must be doing something right. This season alone, I felt like I saw a decade’s worth of great concerts—and I can’t wait to see what SPAC has up its sleeve next summer. Admit it—you can’t either.

REASONS TO

#LOVE

WHERE

PERFORMING ARTS

YOU LIVE

SPAC

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BY JEFF DINGLER

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e r o m8 ^ #LOVE REASONS TO

WHERE

YOU

SARATOGA RACE COURSE LETS YOU BYOB TO ITS PICNIC AREA

Seriously, how many sports venues in the world allow you to waltz right in with a cooler stocked full of your beer of choice? Besides playing tennis, hiking or, well, sitting at home, going to Saratoga Race Course is the most cost-effective way to spend a day with friends; all you need is a few bucks to get in and (if you’re me) a six-pack of Straw-ber-itas. Just make sure to snag a table; you can’t bring your cooler beyond the picnic area.

LIVE

Yes, there are more. B Y N ATA L I E M O O R E photography by e x c l u s i v e ly

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Course. Most Saturdays during track season, you can catch me sitting in my lawn chair on Broadway and Congress, waiting for the trolley (with cooler in hand) to take me to the track. DOWNTOWN SARATOGA HAS A FREE TROLLEY SERVICE

THE BATTLE OF SARATOGA MADE AMERICA

Speaking of a cheap day at the races, you can get there for free, courtesy of the Capital District Transportation Authority’s (CDTA’s) Saratoga Summer Trolley. The service is available July 1 through Labor Day, and the trolley runs from the Courtyard By Marriott on Excelsior Avenue to the Saratoga Casino Hotel, with stops at The Hilton, on Broadway and at Saratoga Race

Sure, we have a beer-friendly picnic area at the track and a free trolley, but how about the fact that, if it weren’t for Saratoga Springs, the United States itself literally might not exist? That’s right, the Battle Of Saratoga, which took place in what’s now Stillwater, was the turning point of the American Revolution— the first time the British Army ever surrendered and the battle that literally

changed the face of the world. And now we have a great nation (and national historic park!) to show for it. TWO WORDS: FREE PARKING

After spending four years rifling through pockets and center consoles, searching for rogue quarters for parking meters in Burlington, VT, Saratoga’s free-parking situation has been a much-needed reprieve. Saratoga’s one of few cities that has resisted the urge to line every street with parking meters or kiosks— and charge for every parking garage— and it makes visiting our city all the more pleasant. Now all you have to do is find a spot…which is easier said than done.

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WE HAVE DOUGHBOYS!

You know when it’s 2:30am, and you’re just craving something? Maybe you know you’re headed home to an empty fridge. Or you’re just sick of pizza, and your other options for cheap, quick, deliciously bad-for-you foods are limited. If you’re in Downtown Saratoga, you’re going to one place to get one thing: Esperanto’s own creation, a DoughBoy. The pizza dough-wrapped chicken-and-cheese concoction is arguably the best drunk food in the world, and Saratoga remains the only place you can get it.

OUR EPIC ‘FIRST NIGHT’ CELEBRATION

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(crowd) DORI FITZPATRICK

I have a confession. I’ve never been to First Night. (Cut me some slack—I moved to Saratoga on January 6.) Obviously, our New Year’s Eve celebration is legendary, with more than 15,000 revelers taking to Downtown to enjoy food, live performances and fireworks. But I’d like to take that a step further: It’s a rite of passage. I won’t consider myself a true Saratogian until I wake up on the first day of 2019 with the memory of the epic night before.

AMTRAK BRINGS US ANYWHERE WE WANT TO GO

Saratoga even has a means of escaping Saratoga (though I have no idea why anyone would want to do that). With an Amtrak station just a few minutes from Downtown, we can get to pretty much any city in the northeast— New York, Boston, Buffalo, Montréal, Philadelphia—with a reasonably priced train ticket. Honestly, anything that keeps me out of outbound NYC traffic

on my way back to the saratoga living headquarters is a godsend. SARATOGA’S JUST PLAIN SEXY

In the wise words of pop duo LMFAO, we’re sexy and we know it. Saratoga has culture, unbelievable food, horse racing and lots and lots of class. We’re proud to announce to out-of-towners that, yes, we actually live in the place where they’re vacationing, and, yes, we love it here. A lot.

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I Almost

n April 2013, I walked into Uncommon Grounds— and in a matter of minutes, my entire life changed. I remember there being a handful of Saratogians sitting at the tables outside that day, despite temperatures being in the 50s and there being gray skies. Inside, the air was alive with the aroma of fresh coffee and the gentle buzz of chatter from the coffeehouse patrons who filled the space. Yet, there I was, in a table off to the side with my wife, sobbing. She sat across from me in shock, trying to understand what was unfolding in front of her eyes. She was witnessing the moment I realized that the one thing I’d worked my entire life to accomplish—being a Major League Baseball player—was over. At spring training one year when I was in the minors, I remember Kansas City Royals legend George Brett telling us ballplayers that the day he took his jersey off for the final time, he “cried like a little baby.” Although I was moved by his words, I couldn’t help but chuckle just the slightest bit at the thought of this grown man, a Hall Of Famer no less, with tears rolling down his face. If only I’d understood! Brett wasn’t talking about baseball at all. After a decade as a professional ballplayer, playing at every level and on three different continents, I now realize that he was referring to the moment he knew the one thing he’d dedicated his entire life to had come to an end. As I was transitioning out of my playing career, my wife and I had several conversations about where we should go next. We had criteria that were important to us: We wanted to be close to our families and have access to good schools for our daughter. But

Perfect... Yes, yes, we know how great Saratoga Springs is and how lucky we all are to live here, but if you could change just one thing about the Spa City what would it be? We asked around.

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By Jonah Bayliss c

we also wanted to land somewhere with life, energy and radiance. Every conversation inevitably led us back to Saratoga Springs. To tell you the truth, I’m making this out to be a harder decision than it actually was. In reality, it was a nobrainer. I mean, I’ve been coming to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) since I was eight. (Seriously, my mom took me there to see Richard Marx. Sweet, right?) Couple that with the city’s vibrant nightlife, restaurants, track, arts, culture and everything else it has to offer, and you have a recipe for making any dramatic, life-changing moment just a little bit easier. Nowadays, I sell real estate, my wife runs a bed-and-breakfast, our daughter’s heading off to first grade and—surprise!—we absolutely love it here. Every day, we remind ourselves just how happy we are to have chosen Saratoga as our new home. What makes this city stand out to me is its unique ability to provide an array of experiences on any given day. I can wake up one day and have a coffee in the park while I watch my daughter do 400 cartwheels, and the next day, take in a performance by a renowned ballet or symphony. I can get scrambled eggs at a small café or indulge in some of the finest culinary offerings in the country. And it’s all minutes away. But let’s be greedy for a second. Let’s ask for more! Can we make Saratoga an even better place to live? If you could change one thing about Saratoga, what would it be? I posed that very question to a number of people from all walks of life in our community. Here’s how they answered.

Meg Kelly M AYO R , S A R ATO G A S P R I N G S

“In Saratoga Springs, we’re remarkably fortunate to have a great many citizens who give so unselfishly

of their time and abilities to improve things. We tap into a lot of that community spirit now, but I’m always looking for ways to reach out to more of those people who could make outstanding contributions. We often talk about health, history, horses and the arts—about tourism and attracting business—but the greatest thing about Saratoga Springs is its people, and I’d like to hear as much as possible from as many of them as possible. Saratoga can only be better if we make use of this resource well and wisely, and I’m working to do that.”

Ed Mitzen F O U N D E R , F I N G E R PA I N T

“I’d love to see a stronger effort to help those in our community in need. We tend to live in a bit of a bubble. I’d like to see us extending a bigger hand to the less fortunate, and not focus so intently on the races and SPAC. You have groups like the backstretch workers with no healthcare, and the homeless could use a shelter. Let’s make it better for everybody and reduce the disparity between the affluent and impoverished. It’s a mess.”

Diane O’Connor DIRECTOR OF CAMPUS A N D M E D I A R E L AT I O N S , SKIDMORE COLLEGE

“Saratoga is, of course, a great place to work, live and raise a family. If there was one thing that would complete my experience, it would be a Trader Joe’s. I miss being able to pop in and grab a singular item when needed.”

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Almost Perfect...

Charles V. Wait

CHAIRMAN AND CEO, THE A D I R O N D A C K T R U S T C O M PA N Y

“For me, it’s simple: The one thing I’d love to see Saratoga have is a truck bypass. It would be great if we could eliminate, or at least drastically reduce, the tractor trailers going down Broadway.”

Matty Shu PA R T N E R A N D M A N A G E R , V I N N Y ’ S B A R B E R S H O P O F S A R AT O G A

“If there was one way to make Saratoga Springs a better place to be, it would have to do with parking. In my opinion, and I’m willing to bet it’s the opinion of many—parking’s

Now Open in Downtown Saratoga!

a clear issue. If it were in my power to do so, I’d institute some type of underground parking area to lessen the necessity of on-street parking.”

(and would) support them if someone decided to open up more shops.”

Chris Shiley

Lianne Klopfer S A L E S A S S O C I AT E A N D SOCIAL MEDIA DIRECTOR, V I O L E T ’ S O F S A R ATO G A

“I’m walking down Broadway to Starbucks as we speak, and my head is on a swivel trying to decide what, if anything, this perfect little city needs. I feel like Saratoga could use a couple more retail options for the men and children in our lives. Maybe there’s not quite the market for 10 to 15 men’s stores, like there is for the ladies, but something tells me this community could

SENIOR DIRECTOR OF A R T I S T I C P L A N N I N G , S PA C

“I’d like to see the appropriate infrastructure built to be able to accommodate the summer influx of people. I think we all feel the squeeze a bit in July and August. On a deeper level, I’d like to see the city and its members implementing more creative ways to better integrate the commodities and attractions of Saratoga, making it less ‘segregated.’ I know that this already happens on a certain level, but I’d like to see it creatively taken beyond its current status.”

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Jackson and his human, Jason Christopher, are Adirondack 46ers— five times over. Here’s their truly amazing story.

The Climb B Y N A TA L I E M O O R E PHOTOGRAPHY BY JASON CHRISTOPHER

best in snow Jackson has a taste of snow on Tabletop Mountain in February 2016; (opposite) Jackson stands atop Mount Marcy, New York’s highest peak on a morning in October 2017.

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“46ers”—climbers who have summited all 46 peaks—and countless others have hiked the mountains without registering with the Club, like Christopher and Jackson. As of August 2018, the Club has also awarded 853 hikers the honorary title “Winter 46er”—that is, someone who’s hiked all 46 High Peaks between December 21 and March 21, not necessarily in the same year. Of course, Jackson and Christopher did do it in a single season—that’s a High Peak almost every other day for three months. “After that winter I thought I could leave Jackson out in the mountains, and he’d be fine,” Christopher says. After someone has become a 46er and a Winter 46er, the Club stops keeping track. But Christopher hasn’t. He keeps a detailed log of both his and Jackson’s summits, including the date of the hike and the other hiker(s) with whom they summited. Hence the 250th High Peak celebration. Christopher adopted Jackson in January 2007, about six months after he and his former girlfriend’s rescue puppy, Porter, died at just nine months old. Determined to find another furry companion, the couple returned to the same rescue organization in Albany and found “Jason,” the last in a litter named after the Miami Dolphins’ Hall Of Fame Defensive End/Outside Linebacker Jason Taylor. The attendant working at the rescue shelter accidentally introduced “Jason” as “Jackson,” and the name stuck (not to mention, it helped Christopher avoid the confusion of sharing a name with his dog). “The handwritten tag that he was wearing said ‘Jason,’ so I only had to, like, squeeze in two letters,” Christopher says. In the first few months that they had Jackson, they actually considered putting him back up for adoption, Christopher tells me. “He was so mellow and lazy, and he didn’t move for a month straight,” Christopher says. “We were making all these comparisons to Porter, who was smart and obedient but hyper. We were like, ‘Oh, maybe Jackson would be better off being with a senior citizen or someone who’s not so active.’” dog house (top) Jackson rests in the snow after hiking Buck Mountain, a 2330-foot peak on Lake George, in March 2011 for the fifth time that week; (bottom) Jackson and Christopher spend an unplanned night on Nippletop Mountain in November 2011, after a drop in the weather made trails impassable; (opposite, clockwise from top left) Christopher gives Jackson a lift up a ladder on Mount Colden in May 2009; Jackson bunkers down on the summit of Rocky Peak Ridge in December 2009; Jackson atop Mount Emmons in September 2017; Jackson takes a swim in Saratoga Lake, on which he lives with Christopher, in April of this year.

(ladder) JACLYN RANCOURT

ackson doesn’t like champagne. He also doesn’t like being home alone, being inside or being woken up from a nap. That’s because Jackson’s a dog. But don’t tell his owner that. I met Jason Christopher after a series of serendipitous events: First, I started following his dog Jackson’s legendary Instagram account (@jacksonsjourneys)— which documents Jackson’s adventures scaling all of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks with Christopher at his side—only to find out that Christopher is my sister’s boyfriend’s friend’s brother. Then, I wound up playing against Christopher in my summer volleyball league. As of May 2017, he’s been “Junker Jay” to me, a nickname derived from his volleyball team’s name, Junker Jay and the Scrappers (he works in construction and always has scrap materials in his yard on Saratoga Lake). After I told Christopher that I wanted to write a feature in saratoga living about his possibly record-breaking dog—the Adirondack 46er Club keeps track of human High Peak summiters, not canine ones—he invited me on a sunrise hike of Mount Marcy, New York’s highest peak, to celebrate Jackson’s 11th birthday and 250th and counting (yes, you read that right!) High Peak. Personally, I’m not one for middle-ofthe-night hikes—I actually trekked all of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks myself, almost exclusively during daylight hours— but for Jackson, I made an exception. As did nine other humans, including my boyfriend, Nick, my sister, Chelsea (Christopher’s brother’s friend’s girlfriend) and Jen Lynch, Christopher’s pal and the creator of the @jacksonsjourneys account. All 11 of us gathered at the South Meadow Road trailhead at 2am on a drizzly October morning, and individually, we all wished Jackson a happy 11th birthday, as if he could’ve actually responded (he did give me what Christopher called a “hard lean,” when he rests most of his body weight against your knees). Christopher signed us in to the trailhead logbook, and we went on our way—but not before I glanced at the sign-in sheet. Under “number of hikers in party,” he’d written “12.” The Adirondack High Peaks are 46 mountains that pepper New York’s sprawling, 6 million-acre Adirondack Park and rise more than 4000 feet above sea level (with a few exceptions). Since 1918, according to the Adirondack 46er Club, approximately 11,000 people have become registered

Jackson’s even temperament made him the perfect companion for 15-plus-mile hikes, mostly in the winter, usually at night, and sometimes for days at a time.

jackson heights (top) Jackson and Christopher on the summit of Mount Marcy at sunset in March 2016, thus completing their single-season 46er tour; (bottom) Jackson and Christopher enjoy their first view from Panther Peak in August 2017, after several summits in the clouds and at night; (opposite) Jackson and Christopher complete their fifth round of the High Peaks on a socked-in Saddleback Mountain in October 2017.

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But what Christopher had mistaken for laziness turned out to be the opposite—for Adirondack High Peak hiking, at least. Jackson’s even temperament made him the perfect companion for 15-plus-mile hikes, mostly in the winter, usually at night, and sometimes for days at a time. Just take the sunrise hike of Mount Marcy: Jackson stayed in the middle of the group, not running ahead like every other dog I’ve ever hiked with, and frankly, looking uninterested in anything other than getting to the top. And at the summit—which, alas, was completely surrounded by clouds, a tragedy typical of sunrise hikes— when Christopher poured champagne out near the Jackson’s snout and said, “Jackson, you did it! What you always wanted to do: hike 250 High Peaks!” Jackson just looked away. Not only has Jackson’s calm demeanor allowed him to endure grueling hikes that may or may not span multiple days (when you're a dog, you don't exactly know how long you'll be walking for), it’s also made him the perfect rugged, outdoorsy Instagram model. A quick glance at the @jacksonsjourneys account, which has nearly 3000 followers, reveals Jackson in a number of different poses: waking up from a power nap under a snowy tree; standing, alertly, in chestdeep snow; or majestically, against the backdrop of a deep-orange sunrise— not to mention getting comfortable in a canoe (a dog needs a break from hiking sometimes!). “Jay’s captured every single hike with Jackson, and all the photos are so incredible,” says Lynch, who originally launched and managed Jackson’s Instagram account but now is just a devoted follower. “I started the account, and when it got a few hundred followers, Jay decided he could take over. People were chatting with him and commenting, and it really became an engaging platform.” Now, when Jackson and Christopher go on hikes, they’re often recognized by people who follow Jackson on Instagram. Lynch is herself an aspiring 46er and has hiked most of her 27 High Peaks with Jackson. “He was on the first hike I went on, which was not an easy one, by any means, and he just kept circling back, making sure I was OK,” she says. “Jackson really let sleeping dogs lie (top) Jackson finds a “pillow” near the Ward Brook lean-to after a three-peak day in September 2017; (bottom) Jackson sits atop Rocky Peak Ridge before heading to Giant Mountain in January 2016; (opposite) Jackson scopes out Algonquin Peak from Wright Peak in January 2016.

treats everybody like they’re in his pack, even if he doesn’t know you that well.” As for Christopher, Lynch says, “He’s kind of just like this big brother. He definitely pushes me, but he always pushes me to the right limit. I’ve definitely pushed myself further than I thought I could go, thanks to him.” Although Christopher and Jackson do hike in a group fairly often, a lot of the time, it’s just the two of them out in the woods for an entire weekend, battling inclement weather, rough terrain and fatigue. Last summer, there was a 2-month period during which the duo hiked 18-25 miles a weekend—that’s 160 miles and 26 peaks in eight weeks. To put that into perspective, consider the fact that Mount Marcy, the highest High Peak, is only 16 miles round trip—the long way. I ask Christopher to delve into his 11 years of memories hiking with Jackson and come up with the most “Jackson” memory: What story most embodies who this dog—which Christopher claims is part wolf, part Sherpa—is? Fairly quickly, he recalls hiking in the Santanoni Range, near Newcomb, NY (just over two hours north of Saratoga), during his and Jackson’s single-season 46er tour. It was nighttime, naturally, and Christopher knew they were coming up to a particularly icy and steep section of the trail. He was nervous about Jackson being able to scale it, and in trying to boost himself up, lost sight of him. “I yelled for him twice, and I’m slipping and sliding,” he says. “And I look up, and he’s just standing there, looking down at me with a look like, ‘What the heck are you doing? Look at yourself.’” When he’s not hiking, Christopher is, of course, working like the rest of us—but he tells me he’s always looking forward to his next big hike with Jackson. Jackson, on the other hand, “lays around the house and complains that we’re not doing something,” says Christopher. He admits that Jackson has slowed down a bit in his preteen years— but he’s become all the wiser: He’ll wait for a butt-boost up a steep rock face rather than trying to do it on his own. But as long as Jackson’s healthy and capable, Christopher plans to keep bringing him on his epic hikes. In an Instagram post from last October celebrating Jackson’s and Christopher’s fifth run of the 46 Adirondack High Peaks, Christopher wrote: “I could go on forever about how proud I am of Jackson, or how many memories we’ve created together, but for now I just want to thank you for being the best damn friend I could ever ask for.” I’m fairly certain that if Jackson wasn’t a dog—or at the very least, could talk—he’d say the exact same thing back.

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THE HEALING ARTS A RTI ST DAV ID K EEN AN’S ST U NNING WO RKS C A M E TO LIF E AF TER A TR AG EDY. TH E POWER O F ART K N OWS N O BO UN DS .

BY ROSIE CASE (top)

TITLE: It Girl

MEDIUM: acrylic on canvas DIMENSIONS: 36x36 in.

(right)

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CREDIT

GALLERY: AMP Galleries TITLE: A Lakeside Farm MEDIUM: acrylic on canvas DIMENSIONS: 36x36 in.

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(top) GALLERY: AMP Galleries TITLE: Minutes To Post MEDIUM: acrylic on canvas DIMENSIONS: 36x36 in. (right) GALLERY: AMP Galleries TITLE: Spit Or Spat MEDIUM: acrylic on canvas DIMENSIONS: 30x40 in. (opposite) GALLERY: Gallery5one TITLE: Power MEDIUM: acrylic on canvas DIMENSIONS: 24x24 in.

“I take risks—I’ve got nothing to lose. I want to be ⁄

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100 percent satisfied that I gave it everything I could.” ⁄

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value transparency. My favorite people tend to be those who easily reveal things about themselves without much thought to holding back. I found local artist David Keenan to be one of those people when we chatted about his distinctively high-energy works. From capturing the drama of horse racing and portraiture to a twist on patriotic themes, Keenan’s style is a celebration of saturated color and exaggerated scale. “I put everything I can into painting,” Keenan says. “I take risks—I’ve got nothing to lose. I want to be 100 percent satisfied that I gave it everything I could.” It was personal loss, however, that ultimately brought him to this confident, creative place. Keenan describes how the untimely death of his wife had him reeling for years— but how throwing himself headlong into his work became cathartic, and ultimately, led to a creative rebirth. “I had the perfect life, and then the world just stopped,” he says. “Art was the one thing that got my head straight. I’m finally in a good place, and I think that shows in my work.” Keenan maintains that his favorite piece is always the one he’s working on, but after some light prodding, he admits that he’s partial to Remembrance, a painting of a jockey who prevailed in a race he wasn’t supposed to win. “The odds were something like 30 to 1 against him,” says Keenan. “He’s looking up, with his hand to his face, as if to acknowledge someone who had passed. I found it to be very powerful.” As a child, Keenan would accompany his father and siblings to Saratoga Race Course, but placing bets wasn’t what wound his clock. “There was always so much to look at: the colorful jockey silks, the horses and so much history,” he tells me. These days, he pops into town as often as possible to see his friends Rebecca Kane and Sharon Castro of AMP Galleries and Mike Marino of Gallery5one, all of whom display his work, and are always encouraging him to get into his studio to cook up more brilliance. He’s clearly been following their advice. “When I work on a piece, I look at it more than I paint on it,” he says. “I hang it up so I can stare at it, then I go back and work on it.” He then asks playfully: “Ever hear that expression, ‘a painting’s never really done?’ For me, it’s done.”

TITLE: Rememberance MEDIUM: acrylic on canvas DIMENSIONS: 40x30 in.

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“I had the perfect life, and then the world just stopped. Art was the one thing that got my head straight.”

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farm aid Stillwater’s Irish Hill Century Farm dates back to 1883, and has raised some of the Thoroughbreds that run at the nearby Saratoga Race Course.

BORN THIS WAY Dozens of Thoroughbred farms in Saratoga County are all vying to be the best. Irish Hill Century Farm would like the title.

BY KAREN B J ORNL AND PHOTOGR APHY BY DAN VIDALI

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ust 20 minutes southeast of the late-summer bustle of Saratoga Race Course is a different kind of horse country altogether—one that’s equal parts green and tranquil. Hulking Holsteins, golden sunflowers and armies of sweet corn flash by my car window as I spin along the two-lane roads. By the time I pull into Irish Hill Century Farm, where horses nip at the grass behind darkbrown fences and the only traffic is a flock of chimney swifts that circle over the pavement, I feel my blood pressure drop. Irish Hill dates back to 1883, and owner Rick Burke is the fifth generation in his family to manage the nearly 400-acre Stillwater farm. He breeds mares, raises their young and looks after the Thoroughbreds that run at the nearby Saratoga Race Course. “I do it because I love it,” says Burke. The best part of the job is “getting to see them on the racetrack…I brought that baby into the world, I raised it up until it was a yearling,” he tells me. If you’re looking for a “best of” list of Thoroughbred farms in Saratoga County— forget about it. “Everyone probably thinks they’re No.1,” says H. James Bond, an award-winning trainer, owner and breeder, who runs Bond Racing Stables & Song Hill Thoroughbreds, also in Stillwater. (Among its many successes, Song Hill foaled and raised Mr. Groush, a New York Horse of the Year winner.) Besides Bond’s license to

wide open spaces A serene scene at Irish Hill Century Farm; (inset) Irish Hill spans 400 acres.

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barn burner Another idyllic scene on the bucolic Irish Hill Century Farm.

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win, there’s nearby McMahon of Saratoga Thoroughbreds, founded by Joe and Anne McMahon. McMahon of Saratoga is best known for producing Funny Cide, the 2003 winner of the Kentucky Derby and Preakness Stakes, the first two legs of American horse racing’s Triple Crown. At Irish Hill, Burke’s riding high too: Bellamy Road, one of eight stallions standing stud there, is the sire of Diversify, the New York-bred bay gelding that won this past August’s Whitney Handicap at Saratoga Race Course. (For those keeping track, “standing stud” refers to the period when male horses—i.e., sires— are available for breeding services.) The proliferation of horse farms in the region is a big reason why Saratoga has become such a mecca for horse racing— it’s turned it into a year-round venture, and the numbers back it up. There are some 45 Thoroughbred farms in Saratoga County alone, and in turn, the County is home to about 11,000 horses of all kinds, more than any other county in the state. “Yes, it’s the horse capital of New York State,” says Jeffrey Cannizzo, Executive Director of New York Thoroughbred Breeders, Inc. (NYTB). “The horse corridor starts right here in Saratoga County, and it’s wrapped around this racetrack, which is one of the most prestigious racetracks in the world.” Bond, a Rochester native who moved to Saratoga County 12 years ago, says what brought him (and kept him) here was “the soil, the land, the quietness and the tranquility of Saratoga.” I agree, Mr. Bond. I think you’re on to something.

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CELEBRITY CHEFS Kicking It’s 2014, and I’m at the Saratoga promotional photo. Not only is it a off the weekend of events is Performing Arts Center (SPAC) for the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the Fired Up! Grill Competition. first time. I’m sitting on a checkered a future Hall Of Famer, but it’s also for a James Beard Award-winning chef picnic blanket on the lawn, snacking on good cause: A portion of the proceeds David Burke (of Saratoga’s own Salt & cheese and crackers with my childhood will benefit the David Ortiz Children’s Char, Morrissey’s Lounge and The Blue best friend and her grandma, taking in Fund, a charity that provides support Hen), and Chef Todd English, who was the magnificence of the New York City to children in New England and the nominated for an Emmy for his PBS Ballet. And I’m obsessed. Four years Dominican Republic who are unable to show, Food Trip With Todd English, will later, I’m living in Saratoga Springs and afford essential cardiac services. Later, act as celebrity judges, helping guests working at saratoga living, and Ortiz will also be hosting a VIP nightclub name the 2018 Saratoga Grill Master. SPAC’s become a summertime staple experience overlooking the Spa State for my friends and me. I’ve Park reflecting pool. been pleasantly overwhelmed by all the culture and charm CHARITY Speaking of this small city has to offer. Big Papi’s charity, this But my favorite thing? The year’s event provides myriad restaurants and bars all Festival-goers with many other within walking distance of one opportunities to give back. A another. I’m a self-proclaimed portion of the proceeds from foodie (Saratoga’s pretty much the Festival will benefit SPAC’s the perfect place to be one), educational programming and and when I found out about the flagship program, Classical Kids, saratoga living-sponsored which introduces children to Saratoga Wine & Food Festival, the arts through interactive, inREASONS TO LOVE THE which takes place at SPAC, no school assemblies hosted by less, from September 7-9, it was a whole range of professional love at first bite. In case you musicians and dancers. haven’t heard the buzz around town, here are six reasons why COLIN COWIE WorldSAVE T HE DAT E : S E PT E M B E R 7 - 9 you should be attending this renowned event planner epic Saratoga event—besides and saratoga living BY PAY TON HUN T I N G TO N its beautiful location at SPAC. Design Editor, Colin Cowie, was hired by SPAC to expand this BUGATTIS For the first time year’s Festival, which moves in 15 years, two ultra-rare, $40 to a new location near the The Capital Region’s finest restaurants million-plus 1936 Bugatti Type 57SC Saratoga Spa State Park’s reflecting will battle it out for the title, while eventAtlantics will be together—at SPAC! pool. Cowie’s famous for executing goers enjoy gourmet food, great music These luxury antique automobiles, one-of-a-kind events that incorporate and refreshing wine and spirits. part of the American Bugatti Club 2018 his “five-senses” approach— International Bugatti Tour, are the only and will cohost a brunch, with BIG PAPI Boston Red Sox legend two known to exist in the world. The Chef English, which will include custom David “Big Papi” Ortiz, who’s Tour will also include more than 80 scent consultations, floral and table now a wine mogul and recently other Bugattis, ranging from classics design presentations, upbeat music graced the cover of saratoga to modern-day hypercars. This is the by On The Move and as always, living’s “Saratoga After Dark” issue, phenomenal drinks and food. first time the International Bugatti Tour will be making his triumphant return has taken place in the US in almost a to the Festival. The baseball icon will decade, and the first time in New York saratoga living Trust us: attend the Fired Up! competition and State. (It was made possible in large part We don’t just put our name on host a VIP meet-and-greet on the night by the Saratoga Automobile Museum, a anything. The fact that we’re of September 7. The first 100 fans to Festival partner.) I don’t really consider the presenting sponsor for this year’s buy a specially priced Fired Up! ticket myself a car person, but honestly, more Festival should be all the evidence you will get to take a photo with the Sox than $40 million for a car? How can you need that it’s going to be a truly epic great and receive an autographed not be intrigued? I know I am. weekend. We’ll see you there!

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Suzie & Mark’s Saratoga Springs Wedding

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FUTURE STARS: Record Prices Fall At Fasig-Tipton’s Yearling Sales Saratoga’s famed horse auction is a veritable mint. Here’s what happened during its four sessions.

BY NICOLE RUSSO DA I LY R A C I N G F O R M

he Fasig-Tipton Saratoga sales, which this year ran from August 6-7 (“The Saratoga Sale”) and August 11-12 (“New York Bred Yearlings”), are always a sight to see. Even if you’re going solely as an observer—keep your hand down, lest you bid on an expensive colt!—it’s an entertaining and intriguing night out in Saratoga Springs. Here, Daily Racing Form reporter Nicole Russo breaks down the highlights of this year’s weekends of sales. –WILL LEVITH

T HE SA R ATO G A SA LE

(AUGUST 6-7) It was Medaglia d’Oro’s world, and everyone else was just living in it, back in August at Fasig-Tipton Saratoga’s selected yearling sale. A trio of yearlings by the Darley stallion broke the seven-figure ceiling, led by a $1.35 million colt. The opening session of the select sale, which featured a $1.2 million filly and a $1 million colt from the first crop of Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, got the auction off to a solid start, with the average price rising 7 percent from the comparable

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Your Inspiration Destination The $1.35 million sale topper by Medaglia d’Oro was sold to a partnership including West Point Thoroughbreds, Robert Masiello, Chris Larsen and Siena Farm. opening session in 2017. That momentum continued into the following night when, led by the trio of Medaglia d’Oro yearlings, the average price spiked 10 percent to $388,839, up from $352,716 in the comparable session the prior year, which concluded a sale featuring just a pair of seven-figure lots. The 2018 sale completed its two-day run with 170 yearlings sold for record gross receipts of more than $62.8 million, a gain of 18 percent from the 156 sold for $53 million last year. The cumulative average price finished at $369,376, the boutique auction’s second-highest all-time, and a gain of 9 percent from $339,712 last year. The $1.35 million sale topper by Medaglia d’Oro was sold to a partnership including West Point Thoroughbreds, Robert Masiello, Chris Larsen and Siena Farm. WinStar Farm, which bred the colt, could also potentially buy back in to the youngster for a piece in the partnership, according to Terry Finley of West Point, who said those discussions were still ongoing. Also of note on the second night of the sale was a filly by perennial leading sire Tapit, which sold for $875,000 to celebrity chef Bobby Flay.

N E W YORK BRED YE ARLINGS (AUGUST 11-12) The following weekend, at Fasig-Tipton’s New Yorkbred yearling sale, a Pioneerof The Nile colt sold for a sale-record $600,000. The sale, which showcases the surging New York-bred program, improved on the then-record gross, average and median figures established just last year. A total of 172 yearlings sold over the course of the two-day sale for gross receipts of $18.5 million, a gain of 14 percent from last year’s mark of $16.2 million from 182 sold. The average price realized was $107,512, soaring 21 percent from

$89,088 in 2017. The median was up 9 percent to $76,000, from $69,500. The Pioneerof The Nile colt sold to Shortleaf Stable. His record price surpassed the $500,000 paid just last year for a colt from the first crop of Cairo Prince, a son of Pioneerof The Nile. A WinStar Farm stallion, Pioneerof The Nile is represented among this year’s first-crop yearling sires by Triple Crown winner American Pharoah, whose progeny are averaging more than $500,000 in the auction ring. “Pioneerof The Nile is a sire of sires. He looks like he’s going to go a lot further than he already has,” said Ed Anthony, who signed the sales ticket for his father’s Shortleaf Stable. “If you’re looking for stallion prospects and want to be relevant in the classic picture and Triple Crown trail, you’ve got to pony up sometimes and play the game.” The sale’s second-highest price was the $450,000 American Pharoah filly, sold to Randy Hartley and Dean DeRenzo. The filly was bred by Joanne Nielsen’s Sunnyfield Farm and was consigned at the sale by Francis and Barbara Vanlangendonck’s Summerfield Sales. She is from the family of Grade 1 winners Denman’s Call, Evening Jewel, General Challenge and Notable Career. Rounding out the sale’s top five prices were a $400,000 Ghostzapper colt out of stakes winner Clear Pasaj, purchased by Tracy Farmer; a $350,000 Into Mischief filly out of stakes winner Risky Rachel, sold to Kindred Stables from the Paramount consignment; and a $320,000 Into Mischief colt out of a half-sister to millionaire Upstart, purchased by Michael Neatherlin. This story has been edited lightly and condensed from two separate articles that originally ran in the Daily Racing Form; additional reporting by DRF’s Matt Hegarty and Dan Illman.

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chez witt Many of Witt Construction’s projects have European influences; (opposite) John Witt is Witt Construction’s Founder and Owner.

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HOW DID WITT CONSTRUCTION BECOME SUCH A FORMIDABLE POWERHOUSE IN SARATOGA? LET’S ASK THE MAN HIMSELF. BY SARAH MIDANI PHOTOGRAPHY BY RANDALL PERRY

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ven though I felt like a tourist on my first day at saratoga living (and on my second, even more so, when I got a parking ticket), I was determined to blend in. Back in March, my boyfriend, Ben, and I made the drive from Albany up to Saratoga Springs and spent an entire day exploring Downtown Saratoga’s streets, eateries and shopping destinations, so that I’d have a clue as to where things were when I came back to work at saratoga living in June. (Apparently, I should’ve paid more attention to the parking signs.) As we strolled up North Broadway, the houses seemed to get bigger and grander with every step, and we paused outside a 20,000-square-foot mansion, sporting

house beautiful “A Witt house is truly custom,” says Witt Construction’s former in-house interior designer Beverly Tracy.

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intricate stonework, majestic staircases and a sleek, black-and-gold front gate. I nudged Ben’s arm and wondered aloud, “Is this someone’s house?” Later, I learned that the home in question was conceived by the awardwinning Saratoga-based building firm, Witt Construction, which this year, is celebrating its 30th anniversary. Witt Construction’s Founder and Owner, John Witt, tells me that it was a summer job on Lake Winnipesaukee, NH, framing houses in the early ’80s, that sparked his interest in construction. A few years later, that interest grew stronger, while he was traveling the world as a member of the US Freestyle Ski Team. Witt visited architectural and artistic hubs such as Milan, Rome, Paris and Monte Carlo, absorbing each city’s architectural subtleties. “I remember driving through Italy and seeing villages with houses built on top of houses, overlooking the ocean,” says Witt. “It was something totally different than

what we have here.” He spent the majority of his downtime abroad teaching himself the ins and outs of architecture and construction, reading everything he could about the industry. Then, in 1988, soon after retiring from professional skiing, Witt Construction was born. Setting up his home base in Saratoga, Witt began to incorporate European influences into his firm’s projects—and that Old-World ethos has become one of his firm’s signatures. His most recent project, for example, a condominium neighborhood that he’s calling Downton Walk, reflects the nuances of European architecture and is the company’s most unique project to date, he tells me. “We have seven single-family homes on a small piece of property, so it has that very European feel,” he says. While

witt and whimsy A Witt Construction dining room and kitchen, designed by E Tanny Design.

the nest “Witt Construction has changed the landscape of Saratoga Springs with John’s vision, talent and unique use of materials,” says interior designer Beverly Tracy. This home was a winning collaboration between Witt and Balzer + Tuck Architecture.

Witt certainly caters to his clients’ own visions and specs for their dream home concepts, they choose him knowing that he’s a master builder with a flair for the incomparable. “A Witt house is truly custom,” says Beverly Tracy, who spent seven years as Witt Construction’s inhouse interior designer. “John starts the design process with a napkin and

a pen. He draws as he listens to new clients talk about their dream house. He’s a true designer.” Regardless of architectural prowess, though, local builders such as Witt Construction know that they must follow strict guidelines—and seek prior approval from Saratoga’s Design Review Commission—before starting new builds or doing renovations within Saratoga’s historic and architectural districts. Firms must also be able to straddle the line between modern architecture and Saratoga’s classic look. “Not everything we’ve done matches what Saratoga is,” says Witt. “Projects that fit into the scale of the city are very important. The city holds us accountable, but it’s for good reason. That’s why we have such a great city, because we can’t just build anything anywhere.” Tracy, for one, believes her former employer’s work fits the bill—and has even made the city better. “Witt Construction has changed the landscape of Saratoga Springs with

public housing Witt Construction will open one of its new homes to the public as part of the 2018 Showcase of Homes for three consecutive weekends in September.

John’s vision, talent and unique use of materials,” she says. “Celebrating the anniversary of Witt Construction is celebrating the very best of Saratoga and our thriving community.” Despite all the red tape, Witt takes great pleasure in building homes that families can enjoy for many years to come— especially in a city as remarkable as the Spa City. “Saratoga’s the place to be,” Witt says. “I’ve traveled quite a bit, and every time I come home, I feel privileged to live in such a great community.” Three decades in, Witt has no plans to call it quits anytime soon, either. “I don’t think I’ll ever retire,” he says. “I could see myself running the business forever.” Good news, Saratoga. We have an eternity’s worth of John Witt’s awardwinning work to look forward to.

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SO YOU WANNA BE A JOCKEY?

hen people ask if I ride horses, I always give the same answer: seldom, and badly. I took lessons, first as a kid growing up in Saratoga Springs, then as an adult with a Saratoga friend on a beautiful farm just off the Taconic Parkway. I was awful, and I felt sorry for the horses, which were more patient with me than I deserved. I watch jockeys and exercise riders, who can stand up in stirrups with more balance and confidence than I stand on a sidewalk. I marvel at their strength and athleticism, and I wish that, just once, I could experience that feeling of going as fast as you can, fearlessly. At the North American Racing Academy (NARA) in Kentucky, the students learn to do just that. In 1990, as he lay in a hospital bed healing from several broken bones, Hall Of Fame Jockey Chris McCarron wondered if he’d ever ride again, and if not, what he’d do with his life. “The answer I came up with was, train horses or kids,” he says. He chose the latter, and after more than a decade of planning, NARA opened its doors in 2006. The Riding Academy is a two-year program that’s part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System, and graduates have gone on to ride professionally, win races and appear in international jockey competitions. Saratogian Jacqueline Davis is a graduate; riding professionally since 2008, she most recently won on August 8 at Penn National Race Course. Her most memorable win, though, may have been in December 2011 at Aqueduct Racetrack on Sandyinthesun, a horse trained by her father, Hall Of Fame Jockey Robbie Davis. McCarron’s no longer with NARA; it’s now run by Dixie Hayes, the school’s lead instructor and Program Coordinator. The program boasts alumni who’ve won more than 3000 races and $35 million in purse money, and who work at well known racing stables and breeding farms. Though less tangible, the moments produced by the program are as valuable as those jobs and wins. I was at Aqueduct the day Jacqueline won, and I watched Robbie engulf his daughter in a hug. They couldn’t have been more excited, or more exuberant, if they’d won The Travers Stakes.

At the intense North American Racing Academy, aspiring jockeys learn to go fast, fearlessly.

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CREDIT

BY TERESA A. GENARO

horse course (from left) A jockey student at the North American Racing Academy, following a gallop assessment; an Equine Studies lecture at the Thoroughbred Training Center; a horseman student handling the late Cigar during a Thoroughbred sales class at the famed Kentucky Horse Park.

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hat’s off This year’s Saratoga Hospital Gala theme was “Havana Nights” and featured all things Cuba.

5 6 4

Saratoga Hospital Celebrates Cuba At Its 36th Annual Gala

7 8

1. (from left) 1. John Lefner, Dr. Jennifer Lefner; 2. Gloria Swiatek, Anthony Swiatek; 3. Marylou Whitney (right) was among the guests at The Gala; 4. (from left) Congressman Paul Tonko and one of his constituents; 5. (from left) Wendy Lawrence, Jennifer Hennessy; 6. (from left) Michael Billok, Tricia Mcgovern, Joyce Wolfe, Greg Champion; 7. Brooke Farrington, Josh Nemer; 8. Alice Corey, Mike Corey; 9. (from left) Blair Ciccarelli, Nicole Ciccarelli, Morgan Donnarumma, Dr. Rob Donnarumma; 10. (from left) Clark Brink, Paula Schewe, Sally King, Steve von Schenk; 11. Lisa Sasko, Jim Sasko.

H A V A N A W A S T H E D E S T I N A T I O N O F C H O I C E A T T H E V I P E V E N T. BY SARAH MIDANI

PHOTOG RAPHY BY DORI FITZPATRICK

n August 1, more than 1000 guests showed up ready to party at Saratoga Hospital’s 36th Annual Gala, an elegant summer occasion with an exotic “Havana Nights” theme. The warm weather and live Latin music at the spacious Polo Meadow at the Saratoga Casino Hotel whisked guests away to an evening in the Cuban capital city—right here in Saratoga Springs. The festive ambiance was made even more authentic by the Cuban-inspired cuisine, bright tropical decor and signature cocktails, and the outdoor location

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provided partygoers plenty of room to dance the night away. The event also included a live auction, which began with a tribute and toast to Amy Raimo, the Hospital’s former Vice President for Community Engagement and Executive Director of the Saratoga Hospital Foundation, who died earlier this summer. During the auction, honorary chairs Marylou Whitney and John Hendrickson purchased naming rights for the Hospital’s lawn jockey to memorialize Raimo and her generosity. Winning bidders of the 170-item auction contributed to the more than $300,000 raised to benefit the Saratoga Community Health Center, making this year’s Gala yet another successful one for Saratoga Hospital.

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1. (from left) Leia Nardacci, Diane Nardacci, Victoria Miller, Nina Nardacci Harmon; 2. a guest places a bid in the silent auction; 3. Guests are served strawberry-adorned drinks; 4. Party revelers expertly pose for a selfie.

Stop And Smell The Roses At The Opening Day Soirée

THE CELEBRATION OF THE OPENING OF SARATOGA RACE COURSE WAS ONE FOR THE AGES. BY MADELINE CONROY n PHOTOGRAPHY BY KATIE DOBIES

n the night of July 20, hundreds gathered in the grand ballroom of the Saratoga National Golf Club for The 65 Roses: Opening Day Soirée. Treated to a beautiful view of the golf course and music by the band, Gravity, attendees feasted on a delicious dinner from Mazzone Hospitality, enjoyed specialty cocktails at an open bar and silent and live auctions with one-of-akind items. The event benefited the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

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roses are red (top, from left) Champagne glasses stand at the ready; the band, Gravity, entertains guests; (inset) guests at 65 Roses: The Opening Day Soirée.

(CFF)—which landed its moniker, “65 Roses,” more than half a century ago from a young boy, stricken by the disease, mispronouncing “cystic fibrosis.” Although he eventually succumbed to CFF in 2014, it’s his memory—and words—that have helped keep up the good fight at this and countless other events like it. Sixty-five roses, indeed. COME VISIT OUR SHOWROOM!

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saratoga living Ushers In ‘The Season’ At Putnam Place

WE CELEBRATED ‘THE RACES!’ ISSUE—AND AN IMPORTANT NEW PARTNERSHIP—IN STYLE. BY WILL LEVITH down), Phinney Design Group and our brand-new content partners, Daily Racing Form (check out DRF’s daily presence on saratogaliving.com!). Did I mention that Saratoga’s most popular Italian restaurant, Osteria Danny, catered the event with a too-die-for spread? During the event, the magazine’s Executive Vice President/Publisher Becky

high spirits The signature cocktail, an awsome Margarita, was created by event co-host, Tequila Avión.

Kendall thanked all of the corporate partners who helped make this and every event such a success. And CEO/President/Editor in Chief Richard Pérez-Feria announced not only the historic partnership with DRF, but also that

saratoga living would be the presenting sponsor for the Saratoga Wine & Food Festival, which takes place at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center September 7-9. It wasn’t all business, though; Bobby Kendall and

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rust me. You’re going to want to commit this date to memory: July 31, 2018. That’s when saratoga living arrived. “The Races!” issue soirée, which officially kicked off the racing season in Saratoga Springs, was co-hosted by Tequila Avión (which provided the party’s delicious signature Margarita) and Putnam Place (where the party went

family kept the patio area moving, with their wonderful blend of pop and country music—and DJ Trumastr held down the fort inside the venue. It was a fitting kick off to “The Season” and saratoga living’s “The Races!” issue.

1. (from left) Will Wurzburg, Becky Kendall, Richard Pérez-Feria, Elizabeth Sobol; 2. (from left) Teresa A. Genaro, Alyssa Maresca, Adam Platka; 3. (from left) Jonah Bayliss, Seana Mosher, Elmer Santiago; 4. Mike Phinney, Marci Phinney; 5. Bobby Kendall; 6. (from left) Lizzie Hunter, Taylor O’Brien; 7. (back, from left) Will Lamparelli, Chris Spoonogle, Ian Flacke, Jeremy Krupa, Nick LaRose, Michael Cyrus, Maddy Halverson, (front, from left) Molly McCormack, Erica Ziskin, Jen Van Strander, Molly Gallagher, Natalie Moore; 8. Antipasto spread created by Osteria Danny.

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t was the happiest of hours, indeed! Whispering Angel Rosé and saratoga living hosted an exclusive cocktail hour on the roof of the Pavilion Grand Hotel on Thursday, August 9. Delicious, complimentary wine was in ample supply (and high demand!), as was tasty light fare from Fish at 30 Lake’s Executive Chef Tracey Kwiecien. Guests enjoyed the beautiful weather in the hotel’s penthouse garden—and the gorgeous view of the city of Saratoga Springs down below. It was a rosé all day kinda soirée.

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1. (from left) Nanci St. John, Sue Clare, Pam Lollias, Christine Cunningham, Susanne Simpson; 2. Pink-clad guests toast a beautiful afternoon in the Pavilion Grand penthouse garden; 3. (from left) Jeffry Olesko, Corinne Fiacco, Steven Coons, K. Gail Flores, Stef Ferradino, Sandra Fox; 4. (from left) Maggie Doherty, Raella Rayside; 5. (from left) Garrett Russell, AJ Schmidt, Bourke Kraus, Pat Poirer, Richard Pérez-Feria, Becky Kendall, Maggie Doherty.

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something borrowed Saratoga venues, such as The Adelphi Hotel and the Hall of Springs, make for a perfect wedding; (inset) It’s OK to dress up for Halloween as an adult.

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WHAT MAKES THE PERFECT SARATOGA WEDDING? A stunning venue, beautiful decor, amazing weather, a colorful guest list and a well-stocked bar! There’s nothing like Saratoga in summertime, and with venues like The Adelphi and Hall of Springs, it’s easy to bring your family and friends together in an absolutely gorgeous setting. There’s ample space to set up a tent, which for me is a blank canvas to get creative and make magic!

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car pool Some 300 cars will parade across the SPAC stage September 21-22 as part of the second Saratoga Auto Auction.

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F O R T H E S EC ON D CON SE C U T IV E Y EAR, THE SA R ATO GA AUTO AU C T ION R E A D IE S TO INVADE SPAC. STA RT YO UR E N GIN E S! BY SIM ON MURRAY

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Wheels Of Dreams ⁄

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or as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted a Ford Mustang Boss 429, also known in carenthusiast lingo as the Boss 9, a mnemonic device seemingly tailormade to be spoken by Matthew McConaughey in some gritty film, with that signature, self-assured lilt. Too bad I couldn’t have picked a cheaper car to pine over; today, the 429’s price at auction is hopelessly stratospheric. One of the rarest and most highly prized American muscle cars in existence—in total, there are fewer than 1400 originals out there, due to a limited production run between 1969 and 1970—they usually go for around $250,000 a pop. But it doesn’t stop there. I’ll accelerate or slow to a crawl in my modern Japanese hatchback just to take a peek at all kinds of grande dame autos as they roll by on the highway, much to the chagrin of other drivers around me. Bugattis, Ferraris, vintage Cadillacs— you name it. Blame such an obsession on my first love: a 1963 white Volkswagen Beetle with racing stripes. My infatuation with collector’s cars began at a young age with the sentient, anthropomorphic Herbie The Love Bug (two going once... “Car auctions are a huge spectator sport across the nations,” says Saratoga Automobile Museum Auction Director Jeff Whiteside, who expects to pack the house at SPAC.

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of my first words were “Buddy Hackett”) and has since taken on the intense voyeuristic tendencies of someone who knows, for certain, that they’re only one number away from winning the Powerball. If you’re anything like me (God forbid) there’s hope. Now in its second year, the Saratoga Auto Auction will once again take place at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) September 21-22. Presented by the Saratoga Automobile Museum, the two-day auction will see close to 300 cars parade across SPAC’s main stage, as registered bidders hope to come away with their dream car—or another gem to add to their collection. “Basically, what

auto trader Cars in the Saratoga Auto Auction will go for anywhere between $10,000 and $250,000.

we’re doing here is we’re taking the best of all worlds,” says Jeff Whiteside, the Auto Museum’s Auction Director. “We’re doing a smaller auction than a BarrettJackson or a Mecum”—highend, widely respected auto auction houses—“and we’re

doing it in a venue that’s phenomenal.” While other auto auctions around the country are more established—and in turn, have a set time of the year when they occur— Whiteside says launching a new auction in Saratoga at

the end of September was not done at random; it was selected to fulfill a demand in the auto auction circuit. On the heels of the worldrenowned Pebble Beach Auctions in California, and, locally, with Saratoga Race Course coming to a close Labor Day weekend, the auto auction is the next stop for those hunting for vintage cars on consignment— or those suffering a posttrack hangover heading into the fall. Whiteside comes to the Saratoga Auto Museum from RM Sotheby’s, a prestigious classic car auction firm. In August 2014,

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host story Auctioneer Brent Earlywine will return to host this year’s Saratoga Auto Auction.

he was part of the sale of a 1964 Ferrari 275 GTB/C Speciale that went for more than $26 million—at the time, the second-highest hammer price for a car

sold at auction (making the price of my Boss 9 pale in comparison). Whiteside says you can equate those rarefied car sales “to a piece of art from an artist who has died, like a Warhol.” While Saratoga’s auction is comparable to other highend auctions around the

country, don’t expect to see any rare Bugattis on display. (Though the Saratoga Spa State Park will certainly get its fix at the Saratoga Wine & Food Festival two weeks earlier.) “We’re not after that,” says Whiteside. “We’re after a nice broad mix, and our range in prices will go somewhere between about $10,000 and up to about $250,000.” You can actually find some great collector’s cars in the $10,000 ballpark, according to Whiteside. That includes your vintage production cars, such as a 1965 Mustang—which is a beautiful car, but about a million were made, so that drives down the rarity, as well as the cost. Adding to the general excitement going into

the auction, the Museum has also announced the addition of the Dennis Dammerman Collection. Dammerman is the late former Vice Chairman of General Electric, and his collection of 44 vehicles— comprised largely of a variety of mid-century domestic convertibles, coupes and sports cars—will be offered with no reserve. Dammerman was not only an avid car collector and enthusiast, but also a trustee of the Museum, displaying 16 of his vehicles in the 2009 exhibit entitled “Mid Century Marvels.” “Pretty much every single auction house in the country has been trying to secure this collection for consignment,” says Whiteside. “This collection is

going to put us on the map.” Prior to auction time, cars will be staged on SPAC’s lawn, starting on Wednesday, September 19. Then, on Friday and Saturday, each car will be driven across the stage, where it will be auctioned to bidders in person and from around the world using Proxibid, an online auction service. (According to Whiteside, approximately ten percent of all cars are now sold online.) Auctioneer Brent Earlywine, who has also worked for RM Sotheby’s, as well as Auctions America, among others, will return for the second year to host the auction. Cars come from all over the Northeast, from Philadelphia to

here kitty, kitty A 1966 Buick Wildcat is just one of the many vintage autos that will be up for auction in Saratoga.

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many, many more. “Car auctions are a huge spectator sport across the nation,” says Whiteside, who wants to pack the house at SPAC like a midsummer concert might.

“And the excitement of the bid is exciting even for the spectator.” Count me in as one of the excited, even if I won’t be driving away with my dream car anytime soon—that is, for now.

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#MeToo Music

HUS B A ND -A N D -WIF E F OLK-P OP D U O T H E WEEP I ES BR IN G T H E IR A M A Z ING S O NG S —A ND STOR IE S OF SU RV IVA L— TO T R OY M USIC H A LL. BY WI L L L EV IT H

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the second track, “Orbiting,” as my favorite, and just listened and re-listened to it, over and over again. After seemingly 1 million spins, I still had no idea what the song was about, and it had equally been bothering the music-lover and journalist in me. So, as sort of a throwaway question, I asked Talan what the song meant—if only to get some closure for myself. That’s when all the air got sucked out the room. Talan first paused, and I could hear her ask her bandmate and husband, Steve Tannen, off the phone, if it was OK for her to talk to me about the song’s meaning. It was clearly a sensitive, personal subject. I couldn’t hear his response. She then got back on the phone and explained that she’d done some digging on me before the interview and had come across a recent interview I’d done with the frontman of a ’90s alternative rock band, in which he detailed being sexually assaulted

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folk rocks The Weepies’ Steve Tannen and Deb Talan outside their home in Iowa.

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he last time I interviewed The Weepies’ Deb Talan, things got decidedly heavy, fast. First, a little background: At the time of the interview in 2015, I was living in a micro-home with my wife and puppy in the hills of Oakland, CA, and was hovering right around rock bottom. My freelance writing career was tanking, and assignments were drying up (ironically, California was also suffering from a seemingly endless drought). The few writing jobs I did pick up, I poured my heart and soul into— and one of those was a piece on folk-pop duo The Weepies, of whom I’d grown fond over the previous handful of years. Ever since I’d gotten the advance CD for 2008’s Hideaway in the mail, I’d been binge-listening to it, memorizing the lyrics and proselytizing about its wonderfulness to anyone who’d listen. I honed in on

CREDIT

PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROBERT SEBREE

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as a child. After reading that story, Talan said she felt she could talk to me about something bad that had happened to her as well. What came out was a heartbreaking story about being sexually abused, a situation that upended and promptly ended her relationship with her parents, whom she hadn’t spoken to

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in more than a decade. “Orbiting,” it turned out, was written for her mother in the aftermath. (Listen to its two sister songs on the album, “Antarctica” and “Old Coyote,” to get the full picture of the pain, suffering and healing process that followed.) Mind you, long before the #MeToo movement got underway—and Talan was

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tears for years Besides being bandmates, The Weepies’ Steve Tannen and Deb Talan are married and have three young boys.

not only telling a journalist (me) the story for the first time, but also bringing it to light during a particularly trying time in her life: She was battling Stage 3 breast cancer and had just gone through a grueling, brutal regimen of chemotherapy and a double mastectomy. (Thankfully, she’s in full remission at this time.) So when I found out

three years later, after returning from Cali to Brooklyn and then moving to Troy—which, eventually, brought me to saratoga living magazine—that The Weepies would be playing at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall this September 29, I immediately bought tickets and scheduled an interview with the band. It turns out that The Weepies have more than one connection to the Capital Region. In fact, they’re old pros. “Back in the day, we played at Caffè Lena,” Talan tells me. “And one of my college roommates lived in Saratoga Springs for quite a few years, and she now lives in Troy.” (It was just a happy coincidence that the band ended up playing there.) Tannen, on the other hand, tells me he attended the NYS Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga back in the ’80s, staying at Skidmore College while there and seeing one of his first-ever concerts—38 Special with Night Ranger— at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. “It was so instructional,” he deadpans. For those unfamiliar with the band, Talan and Tannen first met while performing as solo artists in Boston, later marrying and moving to California, where they started a family. (The couple now has three children—all boys [ages five, eight and ten]—whom

they homeschool.) A handful of years ago, they left California and settled in Iowa, where they’re now based. Armed to the teeth with folk-pop gems and expert songwriting skills, they’ve made a number of friends in high places, including actress/musician Mandy Moore (This Is Us), who co-wrote a trio of songs with the band for her 2007 album, Wild Hope, and President Barack Obama, who featured their song “Can’t Go Back Now” in a 2008 campaign ad. They also had songs placed in TV shows such as Grey’s Anatomy, Gossip Girl and How I Met Your Mother. Over 12 years, the band has released five studio albums—Happiness (2003), Say I Am You (2006), the aforementioned Hideaway (2008), Be My Thrill (2010) and Sirens (2015)—all of which are peppered with songs that will likely show up in their upcoming live shows. However, diehard fans might be bummed to learn that the band doesn’t really have any new music coming out anytime soon. (Though Talan just released a wonderful 13-song solo album, Lucky Girl, in 2017.) “We are usually really prolific, and we haven’t been,” says Tannen. At the time of this latest interview, they’d just recently finished a 23-date tour, where they paid homage to the 10th anniversary of Hideaway, and for the first time in a while, were content not putting pen to page. “We’re on our first nostalgia tour,” they both say in near unison, dissolving into laughter. “Troy’s going to get the tail-end of it,” says Talan. Fans should expect to hear a heavy dose of tracks from Hideaway, as well as a curated set-list of songs the band has cherry-picked from their deepening catalogue—some of which have awakened memories of the past. One those tracks, “Lighting Candles,” reminded Tannen of the time right before the birth of his and Talan’s first child. “I forgot all the fears before you have a baby,” he says. “Is the baby going to be healthy? Is the mom going to survive? What’s going to happen? It’s so huge. And then, after the first year, you totally forget.” Of course, they’re also playing “Orbiting,” which Talan tells me she’s

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they write the songs Deb Talan and Steve Tannen of The Weepies writing together in their home studio.

used as an opportunity to “speak out as a survivor and call out to other survivors in the audience.” She says she feels less intimidated to talk about her experience now that #MeToo has gone global. “Since I’ve done a lot of my own healing through all of this, I almost feel a responsibility to have a voice about it for those people who aren’t there yet,” she says. Adds Tannen: “We’ve gotten more fan emails about this subject on this tour than we ever have before.” That didn’t mean all the cities on the recently wrapped tour responded the same way when Talan brought up her hyper-personal story of abuse onstage. In San Francisco, for example, the crowd immediately cheered and showed its support, while in other cities, there was an air of “discomfort,” says Tannen. “It was almost a feeling of shock, initially,” says Talan, followed by intense attention and then a deep breath or “sense of relief.” In other words, the emotional energy was palpable. “I’m not being flip here at all, but I thought those cities felt better as a setup than those who were fast with

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www.TheFurntiureHouseNY.com acceptance,” says Tannen. “It felt like you were standing up,” he says to his wife. “I felt really proud about those shows.” When I ask the couple why they decided to leave California for Iowa, they gave me all the usual responses: the need to get away from the frenetic California city life and ability to raise their children in a quieter environment—why my wife and I left Brooklyn for Troy. Which got me thinking out loud: Maybe the reason the band wasn’t writing any new material was because they’re just content. They chuckle. “There’s a songwriter named Catie Curtis who has a great song that says, ‘Love and happiness ruined my ambition,’” says Tannen. “There’s a deep truth to that.” Don’t get them wrong; their 2015 album, Sirens, isn’t the last music you’ll be hearing from The Weepies. “I feel like we’re shifting into whatever gear is next,” Tannen says. At the end of the day, I’d be content hearing them sing the phone book in Troy—and whenever they decide to start writing new material again, rest assured, I’ll be listening. I hope you will be, too.

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the

Legendary ‘Outlaws’ Bring Big Guns To SPAC MUS I C I C O NS WILLIE N E LSON A N D NEIL YOUNG TOPL INE SA R ATO GA’ S OU T LAW F E ST IVA L. n BY JEFF DING L ER Saratoga Hospital’s Annual Golf Invitational (SEPTEMBER 12)

Now’s the time to brush up on your short game. The Invitational may be taking place on a workday (September 12 is a Wednesday), but you’ll have a better-than-average excuse for your boss, because it’s all for a good cause: It helps to support the Nursing Scholarship Program at Saratoga Hospital. And you never

know; he or she might want to be the fourth in your foursome, when you mention it’s at the awardwinning Saratoga National Golf Club. Tickets cost $100 each and include a full day of golfing, catered meals and a chance to win a “dream vacation,” which includes a grand prize of $9000 to plan a golf outing (or a non-links-related trip) anywhere in the world, along with an additional $1000 in spending money (all tax-free, too). Invitational tickets are limited to 400.

greek gods The Orpheus Chamber Orchestra plays Troy Music Hall on September 21.

Irish 2000 Music & Arts Festival (SEPTEMBER 15)

You don’t need the luck of the Irish to enjoy the 22nd annual Irish 2000 Festival on September 15; you just need to love their music. Whether it be traditional folk or gritty Irish punk—or anything in between— Ballston Spa’s Irish 2000 Music & Arts Festival offers a one-day event jampacked with two stages’ worth of music, featuring local Celtic rockers Hair of the Dog, the Schenectady

Pipe Band (one of the oldest in the US) and Canadian fiddler and singersongwriter Ashley MacIsaac (he’s a he, thank you very much!). It’s all happening at the Saratoga County Fairgrounds, and tickets are $16, if you preorder, or $20 at the gate.

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Apple & Wine Festival (SEPTEMBER 15-16)

Celebrate two of Upstate New York’s most delicious products at the 26th Annual Apple & Wine Festival, which takes place at the Altamont Fairgrounds the weekend of September 15-16. Not only will the festival have a dizzying selection of the sweetest and tartest apples available in the region, but patrons will also be able to test out a number of varieties of apple cider and wine. And, oh yes, apple cider doughnuts, too! Aside from all the eating and drinking, the festival will also feature an arts and crafts show, with

balloon animals The Adirondack Balloon Festival is one of the Capital Region's best free, fall activities.

more than 125 exhibitors, a car show, live entertainment and plenty of kid-friendly activities. Tickets are $8 per person, and entry includes a 10-ounce souvenir winetasting glass.

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Adirondack Balloon Festival (SEPTEMBER 20-23)

September 20-23 in Glens Falls is the only time that being full of hot air is a requirement for a fun, scenic weekend. Enter the internationally renowned 46th Annual Adirondack Balloon Festival (as in hot air balloons), which draws balloonists from around the country (and globe!). The festival’s become such a worldwide hit that it’s launched partnerships with sister-ballooning cities such as Saga, Japan and Gatineau, Québec, which hold similar events. The Festival currently takes place at the Floyd Bennett Memorial Airport in Queensbury and is free to the public.

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Orpheus Chamber Orchestra

ERIN REID COKER

MATT DINE

(SEPTEMBER 21)

Award-winning performance group, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, will be touching down at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall on Friday, September 21. The orchestra, based in New York City, is as well known for its impeccable d Joriginals.com

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Art In The Park (SEPTEMBER 22)

Enjoy a day of live entertainment, food and, of course, fine art, in Saratoga

Springs’ Congress Park, with the 20th Annual Art In The Park set for Saturday, September 22 (a rain date of the 29th is already in the books). Presented by

Saratoga Arts, the outdoor celebration features nearly 80 artists from around the Capital Region displaying and selling their original paintings, prints,

EDITOR’S PICK

OUTLAW MUSIC FESTIVAL (SEPTEMBER 23) The Outlaw Music Festival is bringing some of the biggest names in rock history, past and present, to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) on Sunday, September 23. The crown jewels of the lineup are coheadliners Willie Nelson, a member of the Country Music Hall Of Fame since 1993, and Neil Young, a two-time Rock & Roll Hall Of Famer (he got in as a solo artist in ’95 and again as a member of Buffalo Springfield in ’97). The festival’s supporting cast includes recent Grammywinning country crooner Sturgill Simpson, Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats (whose song “You Worry Me” has been getting mounds of local airtime), along with Nelson’s own son, Lukas, and his band Promise of the Real (who’ll be backing up Young during his set).

sculptures, photographs, ceramics, jewelry and more throughout the park. The event is free to the public and caters to patrons of all sizes: This year’s Art In The Park includes a special kidfriendly Art Zone.

pet food, take care of their pets’ grooming needs and a number of entertaining and insightful seminars and demonstrations on pet care. Admission is free, and visitors are encouraged to bring canned or bagged pet food to support local animal shelters. Leashed pets are welcome!

Capital Region Pet Expo (SEPTEMBER 29)

Schenectady’s Via | Port Rotterdam mall hosts the Capital Region Pet Expo on Saturday, September 29. Pet adoptions will be available at the event, and a number of vendors will also be selling dogs, cats, fish, birds, reptiles and countless other cute and cuddly critters (hey, snakes need love too!). Expo-goers will also be able to stock up on

The Heart of Senior Living in Saratoga

Melissa Etheridge (OCTOBER 13)

ALQIE/FLICKR

musicianship and eclectic repertoire as it is for being conductorless. In fact, the Orpheus has rehearsed and performed without a down or upbeat since its founding in 1971. With more than 70 albums under its belt—and at least one Grammy to its name—the orchestra’s apparent structurelessness seems to have worked out just fine. Its September 21 program will include classic works by Chopin and Tchaikovsky—as well as one by Estonian modernist/ minimalist composer Arvo Pärt.

On Saturday October 13, two-time Grammy Awardwinner Melissa Etheridge, who also won an Academy Award for Best Original Song in 2007, will be making a stop on her 25th-anniversary tour at Albany’s The Egg. The tour celebrates Etheridge’s

yes she is Grammyand Oscar-winning singersongwriter Melissa Etheridge will be bringing her 25th-anniversary tour to Albany’s The Egg, which celebrates her bestselling album, Yes I Am.

breakout 1993 album, Yes I Am, which spawned hit singles “I’m The Only One” and the Grammy-winning “Come To My Window.” (She also came out the same year.) Known for her LGBTQ advocacy, as well as for her soulful, raspy voice and confessional lyrics, Etheridge has remained, for more than three decades, one of America’s most powerful and prescient singersongwriters.

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This ‘Buck’ Is Money

9 MAP L E AV E NUE OF F E RS UP A T WI ST O N A CLASSIC HORSE -T HE MED C O C K TA I L—W IT H A KICK— F OR ITS E N T RY F O R T HE NE XT G RE AT SARATOGA COCKTAIL.

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Wayne Chase BAR: 9 Maple Avenue COCKTAIL: Saratoga Rye Buck MIXOLOGIST:

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wanted to create a Saratoga-themed cocktail, fusing old and new cocktail recipes and adding a little local appeal. With the popularity of “Mule” cocktails and their variants, we recently added a “Buck” cocktail to the menu at 9 Maple Avenue. It harks back to an old, near-forgotten cocktail named the Horse’s Neck, which was simply

⁄ SEPTEMBER • OCTOBER 2018

160 4 S.Conven Broadw 86 West Ave 160outerw S. Bro Did you know that we can waterproof your 3 Hampstead keep you warm and dry? Ask for this special servic

Saratoga Rye Buck

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INGREDIENTS

ginger ale or beer on ice with a twist of an entire lemon. When a kick was required, whiskey (or another spirit) was added, and eventually the cocktail received its name, the Buck. All equine references aside, the Saratoga Rye Buck’s base is rye whiskey because of the spirit’s recent resurgence and its longtime connection to New York State. I went with an overproof Rittenhouse Rye to give the Saratoga Rye Buck a little extra kick.

1 oz. Rittenhouse Rye 1 oz. Stirrings Ginger Liqueur 1/2 oz. fresh-squeezed lemon juice 1/2 oz. simple syrup Splash of Saratoga Sparkling Water Lemon twist INSTRUCTIONS

In a 12-ounce glass, add Rittenhouse Rye and Stirrings Ginger Liqueur, along with fresh-squeezed lemon juice and simple syrup. Fill glass with ice and shake well. Top with Saratoga Sparkling Water and garnish with a long twist of lemon. Enjoy!

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wading for fall Guests can don a pair of waders and venture into the cranberry bog at the Cranberry Harvest Celebration October 6-7 in Wareham, MA.

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The Cranberries Are Coming! The Cranberries Are Coming!

oping to spice up your autumn? Spend Columbus Day weekend (October 6-7) in Wareham, MA, at the Cranberry Harvest Celebration, which honors the annual cranberry harvest’s cultural and economic importance in the Bay State (Wareham is just under four hours from Saratoga Springs, by the way). Organized by the A.D. Makepeace Company—the world’s largest cranberry grower—the event includes activities such as a scenic helicopter ride over the Frogfoot cranberry bogs and stunning autumn landscape; lunch, courtesy

A.D. MAKEPEACE COMPANY

BY SARAH MIDANI

of participating local restaurants, cafés and food trucks; and a visit to the farmers’ market. Cranberryloving adventurers wanting to dip their toes directly into the action can don a pair of waders and stand in an actual bog—the weekend’s best selfie opportunity, for sure! The festivities also include live music performances, paddleboat rides, pony rides for children and wagon rides around the cranberry bog. All of the events take place from 10am-4pm on both days. Standard admission is $10 per person, with a $5 military and senior discount (children under seven are free). Don’t miss this berry special event!

Cape Cod Loves Beer

BY PAYTON HUNTINGTON

o beer or not to beer? That is the question. Hmm… we say beer, definitely! On Saturday, October 13, in East Falmouth, MA, the Cape Cod Brew Fest—now in its seventh year—will be serving up samples of 300-plus sudsy styles of craft brews from more than 100 breweries across the country. The Fest’s single session takes place at the Cape Cod Fairgrounds from 2pm-5:30pm (East Falmouth is just over four hours from Saratoga). Participating

tap this More than 300 craft brews from 100-plus breweries will be on tap at the Cape Cod Brew Fest on October 13.

breweries include locals such as Bad Martha (based on Martha’s Vineyard, of course) and Mighty Squirrel (from Waltham, MA), as well as big-timers such as Samuel Adams and Yuengling. (The Capital Region’s own Brown’s Brewing Company will also be represented!) Tickets

include unlimited samples at all breweries, as well as access to live music and more than a dozen food vendors, including Extreme Tailgators Barbeque and Jaju Pierogi (yummy!). You’ll even get a custom pint glass on your way out. Tickets are $55 (presale) and $60 at the door. Cheers!

word play

Simply The Best BY N ATA L I E M O O R E

ACROSS: 1. A female sheep 4. Relaxing places Saratoga’s known for 8. American automaker 11. Bar brand? 13. ____ Enchanted 14. Wander 16. Gender reveal words 17. Terrible ending 18. Beginning 20. 2018 Best Picture 23. Catch rays 24. John Legend’s “___ of Me” 25. The limit, to optimists 26. Cap. Region time zone 29. Web browser? 32. Verb form for 29-across 34. Oak seed 36. Paper quantity 38. Actress Moreno 42. The best of everything can be found here 45. 1982 and 2010 sci-fi film 46. ___ Ness Monster 47. Woman with an online list 48. Prefix meaning “three” 50. Basil, for one 52. Towards the stern of a ship 53. Bouncer reqs. 56. St. 58. Honest pres.

60. 2017 Best In Show 67. The Sound of ____ 68. Ripped 69. Hipster haircut 70. Kunis of That ’70s Show 71. October baby’s birthstone 72. Mix 73. Twelfth letter 74. Branch of US military 75. Opposite of beginning

DOWN: 1. Make corrections 2. Accompanied by 3. With ___ (without difficulty) 4. Honda Accords and Toyota Camrys 5. The sound of a stone falling in water 6. Plant used in alternative medicine 7. Girl Scout cookie with coconut topping 8. Dog warnings 9. ____ Lisa 10. Picks an actor 12. Final 15. Timid 19. Touchdown, in rugby 21. Halloween verb 22 Sit down heavily 26. Finland, from Norway 27. Mufasa’s brother

40 45

25 32

59 65

58 70 73

28. Bull, in Madrid 30. Therefore 31. Stretch to grab 33. ___ Brockovich 35. Tirade 37. Tennis star Arthur 39. Swenson of The Miracle Worker 40. End of wk. exclamation 41. “They come as ___” (two words)

43. Small pitted fruit 44. Jewish religious leader 49. A mischievous child 51. Not often 53. Multinational tech. company 54. Ear___ 55. Essman of Curb Your Enthusiasm

57. English superstar John 59. Failing grades 61. Window bottom 62. Soup, in Barcelona 63. Abbr. related to one of Newton’s laws 64. Destiny 65. Thor’s dad 66. Uncool person

 OVERHEARD  SO M E TH IN ’ TO TALK AB O U T...

Obviously, I have to figure out how to do this blood drive business. –U N COMMON GROU N D S

You’re in the lizard family, I take it. – OUTS IDE CANTINA

It’s much better to cry in a Lamborghini than on a bicycle. Either way, there will be tears. – OUTS IDE S IR O’ S

ANSWERS ON saratogaliving.com

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*saratogian of the month happy meal Scallions’

longtime server, Maria Daviero, is all smiles, all day.

exudes everything we love about this town. Maria embodies the very best of what Saratoga has to offer. How’d you end up in Saratoga? When my husband retired from the fire department in Schenectady, he said to me, “Maria, I don’t think I want to retire in the middle of five-and-a-half acres; I want to be around people and have some activity and life.” I kidded him and said, “Well, if you can take me to water, I’ll move,” meaning the ocean. He came home one day and said, “How about Saratoga Springs?” And I just looked at him and said, “OK.” We live on Saratoga Lake, so we have the best of both worlds.

We Just Met A Girl Named Maria

How long have you worn your signature hairstyle? My hairstyle is just something I did that made me feel good and yet was back and out of the way for serving. I’ve probably done it for 15 years.

B E H O L D, SCALLIONS’ LIVING LEGEND, MA R IA DAV IER O. BY W ILL LEV ITH p hoto grap hy by D ORI FITZPATR IC K excl usively f o r saratoga living

f you can believe it, I only first ate at Scallions this past spring. Throughout my childhood in Saratoga Springs, it was a fixture on Broadway. Now at its perch on Lake Avenue, Scallions has become a go-to spot for the healthy, light-dining crowd—and we here at saratoga living can’t get enough of it. We wanted to honor one of our favorite Saratogians in this “Best Of Everything” issue—and we chose Scallions’ own Maria Daviero, who’s waited on many of us, and just

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Who’s been your all-time favorite celebrity encounter at Scallions? I just met two members of the Dave Matthews Band, and if you were to ask me my passions in life, first of all, my family, and secondly, Dave Matthews Band. I waited on saxophonist Jeff Coffin, and then drummer Carter Beauford also came in, and they were kind and caring.

T H E H E A RT O F S A R ATO G A S P R I N G S 466 BROADWAY

SARATOGA SPRINGS

Do you have a mantra you live by? “No regrets.” That means the world to me. I don’t want to look back and wish I’d done it or said it. What’s the single best thing about living in Saratoga? The people. I really mean that. People in Saratoga are kind and caring, and I see that all over this beautiful city.

464 Broadway Saratoga Springs New York