Saratoga Living 2022 Holiday Issue by saratogalivingmagazine

Welcome Home to 637 North Broadway, Saratoga Springs Step into this 6 bedroom, 13 bathroom, 19,341 square foot home, beautifully appointed in downtown Saratoga Springs! This home has: • • • • • • • • • • • • •

2 Custom Clive Christian kitchens Elevator Indoor/outdoor radiant heat flooring, walkways & driveway Home theater designed by Theo Kalomirakis Personal fitness room with steam shower Bowling alley 23 Marble medallions inlaid in marble floors Fresco in foyer Sherle Wagner sinks Schonbek chandeliers Award-winning staircase by Herndon & Merry Manicured gardens & lawns Swimming pool with spa, waterfalls and pool house

teeF erauqS 143,91 | egaraG raC-5 | smoorhtaB 31 | smoordeB 6 | 000,009,71$ ta dereffO

olihP eigraM renwO/rekorB 7437.425.815 :c moc.PPKDA@eigraM :e

oicanoB .A eiluJ renwO/rekorB 0805.107.815 :c moc.oicanoB@eiluJ :e

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Julie A. Julie Bonacio A. Bonacio Broker/Owner Broker/Owner c: 518.701.5080 c: 518.701.5080 e: Julie@Bonacio.com e: Julie@Bonacio.com

Chef’sChef’s Kitchen Kitchen

Margie Margie Philo Philo Broker/Owner Broker/Owner c: 518.524.7347 c: 518.524.7347 e: Margie@ADKPP.com e: Margie@ADKPP.com

starting gate contents | holiday 2022

Saratoga Grazing Co’s Board Games BY N ATAL I E MOOR E PHOTO GR A P H Y BY EL I Z A B ET H H AY N ES

saratoga living’s

HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE 34 180 Years of the Inn at Saratoga BY K AR E N B J OR N L A N D

A Saratoga Story: The Birth of the Buffalo Bills BY DAN D E F ED ER I C I S

puppy love Saratogian Dan Graham, seen here with his rescue dog, Nikka, will raise money for Argyle’s Lucky Puppy Rescue at this year’s Capital Region Gives Back event on December 15. photograph by

FRANCESCO D’AMICO

Saratoga gives back

MEET OUR LOCAL HEROES: Dan Graham, Maggie Fronk, Annie Berdar, Nancy Underwood and Adam Israel p h o t o g r a p h y by

FRANCES CO D’A MICO & KONRAD ODHIA MBO

TRUST IS MORE THAN OUR NAME. IT'S OUR PROMISE. Ever since we first opened our doors in 1902, we have been committed to helping local families and businesses grow and prosper. They are more than simply our customers. They are also our neighbors, our friends…our community. We strongly believe that when we support our community — through shopping for holiday gifts locally, giving to area nonprofits, or even choosing to feed our families with produce grown nearby — we all win. Thank you for being a part of this robust community. This holiday season, we hope you’ll consider reinvesting in the people and businesses that make our community your home.

We wish you and your loved ones joy and peace through all this winter's festivities. Your friends at The Adirondack Trust Company

518-584-5844 Visit any of our convenient oﬃce locations AdirondackTrust.com

Member FDIC

starting gate

contents | holiday 2022

From the CEO

First turn 15 16 18 20 22

Chic Peek: Lifestyles of Saratoga Power Player: Robert Millis #tbt: Marylou Memories Giving: SIX Marketing Horse for the Course: Exterminator

off track

48 saratoga living’s VIP LOUNGE AT THE SARATOGA MOTORCAR AUCTION 50 saratoga living’s SINGLE IN SARATOGA 52 2 MORE SARATOGA EVENTS

Home stretch

55 Fashion: Frivolous Boutique 56 Food & Drink 56 open for biz: SPECKLED PIG 57 expansion pack: WHITMAN BREWING 58 back in action: ALATURCO GYRO 58 join the club: SARATOGA COFFEE TRADERS 60 new groove: SARATOGA’S BROADWAY DELI 61 making moves: UNIFIED BEERWORKS

62 Book Nook 64 Haute Property 71 Horseplay Crossword: Leaping Blizzards Overheard

saratoga living 72 Secret Society

After Hours

(55) DORI FITZPATRICK; (48) NATE SEITELMAN; (18) SARATOGA SPRINGS PUBLIC LIBRARY

Great personal success

has always been achieved through listening, collaboration and leadership.

We view your unique financial planning needs the same way.

Since 1990, Steven Bouchey has been advising clients and in 1995 formed Bouchey Financial Group. As an independent, SEC Registered Investment Advisor, Bouchey Financial Group acts as a fiduciary for our clients in order to limit any conflicts of interest. It is through our successful stewardship of our client’s financial situation that we are approaching $1 Billion in assets under management. $550 million Our team consists of 16 professionals, 4 CFP®s and 4 CPAs.

www.bouchey.com Offices in Historic Downtown Troy and Saratoga Springs — 518.720.3333 FEE-ONLY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Bouchey-SaratogaLiving-FullPg.indd

FINANCIAL PLANNING 1

PERSONAL CFO SERVICES 6/29/17 10:58 AM

Abby Tegnelia CEO CREATIVE DIRECTOR DIRECTOR OF CONTENT SENIOR DESIGNER SPORTS EDITOR SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHERS

ON THE COVER Saratoga Grazing

Co owner Erika Dibble, photographed by Elizabeth Haynes exclusively for saratoga living. Shot on location at the home of Steffen and Rotsalinh Hellert in Saratoga Springs.

FASHION EDITOR EDITOR AT LARGE EDITORIAL INTERN

Kathleen Gates Natalie Moore Linda Gates Brien Bouyea Francesco D’Amico Dori Fitzpatrick Heather Thompson Susan Gates Claire Burnett

WRITERS

Vanessa G. Ahern; Lisa Arcella; Karen Bjornland Chris Carola; Tony Case; Dan De Federicis; Jeff Dingler Christine Graf; Field Horne; Benjamin Lerner; Daniel Nester JPV Oliver, Gent; Tom Pedulla; Ray Rogers PHOTOGRAPHERS

Morgan Campbell; Samantha Decker; Elizabeth Haynes; Hannah Kuznia Dustin Lanterman; Rachel McNair; Konrad Odhiambo; Terri-Lynn Pellegri Susie Raisher; Alyssa Salerno; Nate Seitelman; Alex Zhang Annette Quarrier PUBLISHER

saratoga living is published six times a year by Empire Media Network, Inc. subscriptions: 1 year subscription: $39 2 year subscription: $59 (Nonrefundable)

CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER SALES DIRECTOR, CAPITAL REGION LIVING

Tara Buffa

ART DIRECTOR, MARKETING

Steve Teabout

SALES ASSISTANT

Tracy Momrow

SUBSCRIPTIONS MANAGER

saratoga living 6 Butler Place Saratoga Springs, NY 12866

Tina Galante

EVENTS/DISTRIBUTION ASSISTANT

Rachael Rieck Anthony Jones

Volume 24, No. 6 Holiday 2022 Copyright © 2022 Empire Media Network, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reprinted or otherwise reproduced without written permission from Empire Media Network, Inc. All editorial queries should be directed to editorial@saratogaliving.com; or sent to 6 Butler Place, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866. saratoga living assumes no responsibility for unsolicited submissions.

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Anthony R. Ianniello CHAIR

Abby Tegnelia PRESIDENT/CEO

Tina Galante CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

Happy Holidays F R O M O U R H O M E S TO YO U R S

FROM THE CEO

uring this summer’s whirlwind, “We’ll sleep in September” was everyone’s motivation to power through the fun and the thrills. As it turns out, a second wind was brewing for fall. saratoga living partnered with the Saratoga Automobile Museum for a weekend of fun, catering an all-day VIP Lounge with snacks and drinks—and a special lunch and high tea with Bocage Champagne Bar and Saratoga Tea & Honey—to add a dose of glam to the uber-exciting Motorcar Auction. Then there was the first Single in Saratoga mixer that the magazine threw at Bailey’s with Deep Eddy Vodka. It was expected to be a one-off, but attendees begged for more, so keep your eyes peeled for an invite to an ugly sweater version December 7. We’re also throwing our second annual Whiskey Tasting with First Full Spirits November 16. All of this was going off as Saratoga was alive with shows, activities, winetasting events and more. You name it, and Saratoga had it. Because as it turns out, our town is back in action and has no intention of slowing down. The event that is nearest and dearest to my own heart is saratoga living’s annual Gives Back event, thrown with our sister magazine CAPITAL REGION LIVING to honor 10 do-gooders from our region who did spectacular things for the community this year. Turn to page 74 to read their stories—and buy a ticket to our party honoring their work on December 15. It’ll be hard to decide, but your ticket purchase will contribute to one of their causes. As we stare down a (you guessed it) hectic holiday season, it feels absolutely magical that our treasured events are back in their full glory. Take care of yourselves as you enjoy the fun, and have the happiest of holidays.

ABBY TEGNELIA CEO @abbytegnelia

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fall fun (clockwise from left) Director of Content Natalie Moore and CEO Abby Tegnelia in saratoga living’s VIP Lounge at this year’s Motorcar Auction; Moore and Tegnelia with cover star Erika Dibble; Moore with saratoga living’s newest member, Anthony Jones, at the first Single in Saratoga event.

Turn to page 21 to learn how to enter your house’s light display in our NEW contest with Roohan Realty!

Plus, turn the page to start shopping local— post a photo of your finds with the hashtag #IBoughtLocal!

(with Moore) NATE SEITELMAN; (with Moore and Dibble) ELIZABETH HAYNES; (Moore and Jones) KONRAD ODHIAMBO

Full Steam Ahead

L E T YO U R H O L I DAYS S PA R K L E ! P L A N YO U R T R I P TO DAY !

EXPLORESTEUBEN.COM

Photo courtesy Lee Speary

S P ECIAL P R OMOTIONAL S ECTION

Shop Local

Illustration by

Betsy Olmsted

deJonghe Original Jewelry

When you need help picking out the perfect gift, turn to the experts at deJonghe Original Jewelry. Family owned by the deJonghe family since its inception in 1975, the downtown shop specializes in custom made jewelry of the highest quality. This holiday season, check out deJonghe’s new Graphite Collection—oxidized sterling silver and 22k yellow gold bracelets that are hand-forged in Saratoga Springs and come with or without star-set diamonds. 470 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS

518.587.6422

djoriginals.com

Saratoga + Wellness

Previously known as Saratoga CBD Wellness, Saratoga + Wellness offers more than just CBD—the boutique offers all the cannabinoids and plant adaptogens found in hemp cannabis including CBN, CBG, CBDA and more. The Saratoga + Wellness team believes in the power of plants to enhance the quality of our lives, and is ready to help you select the best products for your wellness journey. Stop by the Saratoga Marketplace store to shop regional and organic products or shop the store on-line, for curbside or local delivery in the city limits. 454 BROADWAY, SUITE 6, SARATOGA SPRINGS saratoga-wellness.com

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518.288.5001

Tailgate and Party This holiday season, shop local the Tailgate way, where the party starts in the store. Pick up a crazy gift you can’t find anywhere else, or one that celebrates Saratoga’s nightlife scene: Tailgate and Party has teamed up with the Spa City’s most iconic bars to create the TOGA Bar Bucket List T-shirt, the perfect 21st birthday gift, bachelor party attire or Christmas present. Follow Tailgate and Party on Instagram (@ tailgateandparty) and Facebook (facebook.com/ TailgateAndParty) for giftgiving, party-planning and fun-having inspiration! 33 PHILA ST., SARATOGA SPRINGS 518.886.9015 tailgateandparty.com

S P ECIAL P R OMOTIONAL S ECTION

Shop Local Saratoga Scrub Shop

Betsy Olmsted

Saratoga’s first and only medical apparel and accessory is now open! Located on Maple Avenue, the Scrub Shop carries scrubs in sizes XS-5X, as well as petite and tall, and also has a large men’s section. In addition to scrubs, the store carries medical equipment, shoes, jewelry and unique gifts, all at competitive prices. The Scrub Shop was created for healthcare workers, by healthcare workers. Stop by Wednesdays–Saturdays from 11am7pm and Sundays from noon-6pm.

Give a gift that’s also a whimsical work of art! Saratogabased artist Betsy Olmsted specializes in nature-inspired watercolor paintings that she prints on a variety of textiles, working with small manufacturers on the east coast and in India to produce products that support ethical practices and conserve our natural environment. Visit Betsy’s shop in the Saratoga Marketplace to shop a wide variety of gifts, from bunny rabbit tea towels and hedgehog pillows to colorful dresses, scarves and quilts.

426 MAPLE AVE., SARATOGA SPRINGS 518.450.1177 saratogascrubshop.com

454 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS betsyolmsted.com

The Savory Pantry Throwing a party? Going to a party? The Savory Pantry is Saratoga’s holiday celebration shop for all things food and drink. Browse an awesome collection of cocktail accoutrements, specialty foods from artisan producers, stylish homewares, cookbooks, bar books, and more. Stop into the Broadway shop, located just down the block from City Hall, to see what’s new. (Shipping is also available.) Think of The Savory Pantry for custom and corporate giving, and the store’s knowledgeable staff will handle your needs with care, style, and taste. 486 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS savorypantry.com

518.450.1130

Saratoga Candy Co. This year, Saratoga Candy Co., the Spa City’s longtime purveyor of all things sweet, is celebrating its 24th Christmas season. Stop by the store, located below Salt & Char on Broadway, to see the cutest nostalgic displays of candies you grew up with, and shop favorites like thin ribbon candy, gumdrops, chocolate Santas and, of course, the famous Peppermint Pig. Come be a kid again at Saratoga Candy Co. Online shipping and local delivery available. 353 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS 518.580.0499 saratogasweets.com

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S P ECIAL P R OMOTIONAL S ECTION

Shop Local Windy Hill CBD A trip to Windy Hill CBD in Greenwich is well worth it for the CBD oils, topicals, edibles and more owner Holly Harris sells there. But now those looking to enhance their overall wellbeing have just one more reason to make the 30-minute drive from Saratoga Springs: the Salt Booth. Unique to the area, Windy Hill’s Salt Booth is a small, single-person room, unlike other local salt caves where multiple people receive halotherapy at once. How does it work? “Salt particles are ground down into a very fine mist, and then you breathe it in” Harris says. “What happens is it reduces inflammation in your lungs.” The Salt Booth is especially beneficial for those with asthma, congestion and allergies, as well as those who haven’t been able to shake that post-COVID cough. It also helps address skin conditions such as psoriasis and eczema. “It’s like when you go to the ocean,” Harris says of that salty sea air. “You feel so much better after a week there.” Customers can book a 10- or 20-minute session ($25 and $35, respectively) in the Salt Booth online, or can opt for an unlimited month membership; for the best results, multiple sessions are recommended. “We do gift certificates, so this is the perfect holiday gift,” Harris says. “I’ve seen so many amazing results. It’s just unbelievable.” 518.232.6832

windyhillbotanicals.com

CREDIT

106 MAIN ST., GREENWICH

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S P ECIAL P R OMOTIONAL S ECTION

CREDIT

Shop Local

Impressions of Saratoga

The Dark Horse Mercantile

When you’re buying for a Saratoga-lover this holiday season, look no further than Impressions, the “Everything Saratoga” store. The Broadway gift shop has been named No. 1 in Saratoga souvenirs and gift shopping for good reason—shop in-store or online for everything from T-shirts, hats, mugs, magnets, toys and stickers as well as gourmet foods, decorative signs, handmade pottery and other wares by local artisans. Don’t know exactly what you’re looking for? Need some gifts for your business, group or club? The Impressions team is always happy to offer gift recommendations for everyone on your list!

Just up Broadway from Impressions, a second Saratoga-centric gift shop awaits. The Dark Horse Mercantile celebrates Saratoga’s history of Dark Horses overcoming the odds and never giving up. Featuring a carefully curated selection of gifts, memorabilia, garments and one of a kind vintage collectibles. Plus fun “Upset” The Mini Dark Horse Merchandise, a real live mini horse who has made a name for himself around town when he strolls Broadway, he even has his own children’s book. The Dark Horse also carries favorite brands including Barbour and Under Armour. See for yourself today.

368 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS impressionssaratoga.com

445 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS DarkHorseSaratoga.com

518.587.0666

518.587.0689

Union Hall Supply Co.

Lifestyles of Saratoga

Shop local this holiday season with Union Hall Supply Co! The Union Hall team is passionate about their exclusive brand collaborations with Upstate & Chill, Adirondack Field and Upstate of Mind. Unlike any other store on the block, the casual menswear store is chock-full of gifts for everyone in your life. For gift-giving inspiration and all your holiday needs, shop Union Hall.

Shop local this holiday season! Carrying everything from the finest cozy sweaters to thoughtfully curated gift sets and so much more, Lifestyles of Saratoga supports sustainable, local brands and remarkable designers. The staff is so passionate about the selections in the store, which are mindfully chosen just for you. From luxury to quality casual-wear, there is something for everyone! Join Lifestyles for their Give Back Gift Wrap Bar to benefit Gateway House of Peace an end-of-life care home.

437 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS unionhallsupplyco.com

436 BROADWAY, SARATOGA SPRINGS lifestylesofsaratoga.com

518.450.7025

518.584.4665

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{ first turn } CHIC PEEK

Through the Window

ifestyles of Saratoga owner Heidi Owen West doesn’t just see the massive windows on the front of her store as an opportunity to showcase the clothes she’s selling inside. She’s sees them as a blank canvas. “Our first jaw-dropping window for the holidays was when we took pine bough skirts, white shirts and red ribbons and lined them up in the window,” she says. “It was a stunner. People were stopping, small children were looking, and it just stopped people in their tracks. We said, ‘Wow, we really have something here.’” That display kicked off a decade of Owen West and her team trying to one-up themselves, both with intricate holiday displays and other themed window masterpieces throughout the year. One memorable winter display incorporated two horse women (paper maché horse heads made by local artist Catherine Wagner Minnery placed on mannequins) and a miniature ice skating scene within one of their skirts. Yeah, that intricate. This year’s display will be ready immediately following Black Friday, and while she can’t give away all the details, Owen West said not to expect the scene to stay within the confines of the window. “Our latest imaginative idea—we’ve done it a couple of times—is to bring the display through the glass and up outside the building,” she says. And the display at across-the-street sister shop Caroline + Main? “All I can say,” she teases, “is ‘disco balls.’”

west’s world “We do it because we see it as a gift to our community and downtown,” Heidi Owen West says about designing intricate window displays at her downtown stores.

—Natalie Moore

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{ first turn } grow big In the next three years, Robert Millis hopes to grow New Year’s Fest into an event that draws SPAC-level entertainment.

P OWER PL AYER

The Music Man

M U S IC PRO M OTER AND SARATOGIAN RO B E RT M I LLI S I S R E V I V I N G ( AN D RE V IS IN G) SARATOGA’ S NEW YEAR’S C E LE B R AT I O N WI T H O RIGIN A L ACTS, BOOZY BEVERAGES AN D, YE S, F I R E WO R KS. BY N ATA LIE M OORE n p h otograp h y by F R A N C E SC O D’A M I C O

hen Saratoga First Night was canceled in 2020, it was a blow to Saratoga’s morale but, given the pandemic, was to be expected. When it was canceled again in 2021, the future of the beloved annual New Year’s Eve arts event began to look bleak. Until Robert Millis stepped in. A born-and-raised Saratogian, Millis spent most of his business life in the

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tech world in New York City, Boston and Silicon Valley, before returning to the Spa City in the early 2000s. “They always say that your last job before retirement should be a passion business,” he says. “My passion is music.” So, about 10 years ago, Millis founded 398 Group, a consulting business that advises music venues and festivals from coast to coast. “My niche became fixing broken festivals,” he says. And, though the public may

not have known it, Saratoga First Night was broken. Millis got together with Commissioner of Accounts Dillon Moran, Discover Saratoga, the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce and the Saratoga City Center to propose a new plan: Drop the name First Night and reinvent Saratoga’s annual celebration as New Year’s Fest. “A lot of people don’t realize First Night is a franchise and you have to actually rent it each year,” Millis says. “There are also rules and regulations you’ve got to follow. And what we were trying to do didn’t comply with those regulations.” For one, the team wanted to turn the festival into a two-day celebration (the annual 5K will now run on New Year’s Day). Millis also wanted to shift the music programming from local cover bands to original, national acts (Toronto-based alt-country band Cowboy Junkies will headline this year’s festival). Finally—and this is a big one—they wanted to serve alcohol (it is New Year’s Eve, after all!) at the music venues, something that wasn’t possible under the First Night franchise. Now, downtown bars including Putnam Place and Ice House will be able to host New Year’s Fest performances, making the festival more walkable than ever before. But while there will definitely be some changes come December 31, one tradition will remain the same. “We had sponsors tell us, ‘We’ll come on board, but only if the fireworks are back in the mix,’” Millis says. “It surprised me just how important fireworks are in this community.” For a full lineup of New Year’s Fest acts, a programming schedule, and to purchase tickets, visit eventcreate. com/e/saratoga-new-year-fest.

Discover Forest Grove & Waite Meadows New single-family homes & twin homes

This amazing new-home community has something for everyone with homes ranging from luxury, twin homes to a variety of single-family homes, all located on heavily wooded lots. When completed, Forest Grove will oﬀer more than 300 homes and a breadth of amenities, such as a fully furnished clubhouse, a massive ﬁtness center, a beautiful outdoor pool, pickle-ball, and more.

Conveniently located just oﬀ of Route 146 in Clifton Park, Waite Meadows is an exclusive new 34- home community happily situated in the country. Located just a short drive from downtown and the Northway, Waite Meadow’s quiet, picturesque setting is minutes away from great shopping and dining.

Designed to encourage residents to get outdoors, Forest Grove features sidewalks, street lamps, a dog park and several miles of walking trails, some paved for strollers, bicycles and easy walking and others that are natural forest ﬂoors. Over 300 acres of open space, donated by Belmonte Builders to the Town of Wilton, makes these trails possible.

A welcoming boulevard and three large estate lots greet you as you enter Waite Meadows. Large lots, public water and sewer, extensive green space, a dedicated walking trail, street lights and access to the renown Shenendehowa school district make this beautiful community the perfect place to call home.

• Homes in all sizes with many options to choose from • Saratoga Springs address, low Wilton taxes • Saratoga Schools • Five minute drive to downtown Saratoga Springs • A beautiful community with amenities for all ages • Homes starting in the $500’s

• • • •

For more information, contact Sharon Byrne 518-527-4914 or sharon@belmontebuilders.com

Community walking trail & green space Shenendehowa Schools Great location, close to downtown Clifton Park Variety of ﬂoor plans in our Portfolio and Prestige series of homes • Homes starting in the $600’s For more information, contact Spencer Lewis 518-512-9646 or spencer@belmontebuilders.com

To learn more about Belmonte Builders’ Communities and Floor Plans, visit: www.belmontebuilders.com In neighborhoods with a Homeowner's Association, Homeowners will be subject to all HOA covenants and design guidelines and will be required to pay HOA dues. For complete details see your sales representative.

#TBT

Marylou Memories

n March 1985, I got it in my On the train from New York to head that the reigning queen Albany, I wondered, What could I have of Saratoga Springs society, been thinking? Apropos of nothing, Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt I concluded that Mrs. Whitney would “Marylou” Whitney, was about to be imperious and demanding and ruin my summer. I would feel her I was then PR wrath. I was, of mixing it up director for The course, completely, (from left) Marylou Whitney House of Seagram, stunningly wrong. and JPV Oliver, Gent test Ltd, the global After meeting her cocktail recipes at her New drinks company representatives in York City apartment in 1985; the invitation for Whitney’s headquartered in Saratoga, Marylou annual gala. Manhattan. That invited me the next month, I told my week to lunch at masters that if we the posh apartment sponsored Marylou’s annual gala, she and her then-husband, “Sonny,” we’d get a lot of publicity. My boss shared at 59th and 5th. The building’s provided a substantial budget. Off to extravagant lobby smelled of Stargazer Saratoga I went. Lilies and featured a private elevator

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that whooshed me up to the couple’s grand marble foyer, which a uniformed doorman called the “foy-YAY,” and where Mrs. Whitney greeted me warmly and insisted I call her Marylou. “Everybody does,” she said, smiling. We were to test cocktail recipes she’d created for the gala using Seagram products. She landed on “The Saratoga Sparkler,” which contained Great Western Champagne, simple syrup, three dashes of bitters and a cube of brown sugar. At some point, Sonny, in a tie and bespoke suit, descended the curved marble staircase and, like his wife, greeted me warmly. He was fixated on an accomplishment he was quite proud of: The National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. He was a founder, a major donor and the driving force behind it. I promised him I’d pop in some day and see the place. Marylou’s Saratoga soirée that year was just like every one she held—glittering and full of glorious people-watching. Through a happy turn of events, I’m now a member of the visitors staff at the racing museum. I sometimes wonder if Marylou and Sonny might find that mildly amusing. —JPV Oliver, Gent

(Marylou and Oliver) THE SARATOGA ROOM/SSPL; (invitation) PATRICIA MURRAY-MANN COLLECTION/SSPL

{ first turn }

13 All-new Songs That will Make your Christmas

Music & Lyrics By R. fells Foster

PARTY!

RockTheHousewithLove.com

{ first turn }

GIVING TREE

When Marketing Makes a Difference E VE RY Y E A R , SARATOGA-BASED SIX MAR KE T I N G H E LP S A N ON PR OFIT ORGANI ZATI ON MAKE ITS M A R K O N T H E DI GI TA L WOR LD THR OUGH ITS DO GOOD GRANT. n BY N ATA LI E M O O R E

e’d like to think all nonprofits have an equal chance of getting funding and being able to continue their noble work. But, like the for-profit world, nonprofits often compete for charitable dollars. This means that they haven’t been exempt from the shift to online marketing, but many have limited resources or small staffs that are too busy helping ready for battle “SIX provided Beyond My Battle with much needed support at a time we needed it most—when the organization was first starting out,” says BMB cofounder Martel Catalano.

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people to worry about learning how to place a Google ad. That’s where Saratoga-based SIX Marketing’s Do Good Grant comes in. Every December, SIX Marketing selects one nonprofit to receive a Google Ads grant and digital advertising services—a $200,000 value—over the course of the following year. Past grant recipients include Saratoga’s Beyond My Battle (BMB), Vermont-based Civilian Conservation Corps and, most recently, the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation. “For Beyond My Battle, we helped them apply for the Google grant and then built their ads account from the ground up, with campaigns to promote their events, support groups, blogs, eBook and toolkits,” says SIX Marketing’s Hope Relly-Cobb. “We helped them gain national brand awareness, millions of ad impressions and tens of thousands of clicks, with more than 75,000 visitors to their donations page alone.” The Do Good Grant made such an impact that BMB continued working with SIX, paying a small nonprofit retainer for the experts to continue to manage and optimize web ads. “SIX provided Beyond My Battle with much needed support at a time we needed it most—when the organization was first starting out,” says BMB cofounder Martel Catalano. “Their guidance around internet marketing was incredibly helpful and the team was a real pleasure.” Applications for the 2023 Do Good Grant are due by December 15, and the winner will be announced on SIX Marketing’s social media on Christmas day.

(Catalano) DORI FITZPATRICK

six sense “Everyone on the SIX team reviews the applications, learns more about the organizations, and then meets in December to discuss,” says Hope Relly-Cobb, seen here (second from left) with the SIX team. “The decision is always hard because all the nonprofits we hear from are so deserving.”

Home Holiday Lights Contest! November 20–December 18

Join saratoga living and Roohan Realty in spreading Holiday cheer with the first-ever Home Holiday Lights Contest! We’ll be sharing our region’s best and brightest holiday light displays on social media—follow either company for more details. (Your home can also be included on a Holiday Lights Tour Map you can download at roohanrealty.com!) Enter to win by tagging saratoga living and/or Roohan Realty, or by emailing editorial@saratogaliving.com. The winning home will receive a trophy and a fabulous professional photo shoot (including drone pics!) of their home. Voting begins December 19; the winner will be announced December 22.

{ first turn } HORSE FOR THE COURSE

Greater, Later HA LL O F FA MER E X TE R M IN ATOR WON FO U R CON S E CUTIVE SA RATO GA CUPS— STA RTIN G AT THE AG E OF 4. BY BRIE N BO U Y E A

rom its inaugural running in 1865 through its final edition in 1955, the Saratoga Cup was one of the most prestigious Thoroughbred races in America. During its celebrated history, the Spa fixture was won by 16 horses who went on to be immortalized in the Hall of Fame, including Triple Crown champions Gallant Fox and War Admiral. But when it comes to standouts in the Saratoga Cup specifically, the magnificent Exterminator stands alone. A chestnut gelding bred in Kentucky, Exterminator was one of the most accomplished and popular racehorses of his or any era, achieving star status when he won the 1918 Kentucky Derby at odds of 30-1. He had a slow

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mane man This image of Exterminator is by noted photographer C. C. Cook from the collection of the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame. Cook was known to send Christmas cards to friends and associates of famous horses of the era. Several of his “Christmas Cookies” will be on display at the National Museum of Racing throughout December.

start at Saratoga—he was winless in three starts as a 3-year-old, as well as in three starts as a 4-yearold, before finally breaking through with a sensational performance in the 1919 Saratoga Cup, equaling the stakes record of 2:58 for 1¾ miles in defeating the standout Purchase, who won eight stakes races that year. And that was only the beginning. Exterminator went on to win the Saratoga Cup in 1920, setting a course record in a 10-length romp over the filly Cleopatra, and was the lone horse entered in the 1921 Cup, making for an easy third victory in the race. His fourth

and final run in the Saratoga Cup, however, was a significant challenge for the veteran campaigner. As a 7-year-old, Exterminator was second choice at odds of 7-5 in the betting for the 1922 Cup behind 3-5 favorite Mad Hatter, the champion 3-year-old of 1921. Mad Hatter gave “Old Bones” Exterminator everything he could handle in a furious stretch duel before the elder statesman dug deep and prevailed by half a length, achieving what The New York Times called “a feat unique in American turf annals”— four consecutive Saratoga Cup titles. Exterminator retired following his 1924 season with 50 wins in 100 starts, and in 1957 was inducted into the Hall of Fame, right across the street from where he made horse racing history.

Home for Winter

Saratoga Signature’s enviable home décor collection boasts gorgeous gift ideas—for others and yourself. HETHER YOU’RE SHOPPING FOR THE PERFECT GIFT, OR LOOKING TO IMPROVE YOUR WINTER “RETREAT”

(your home!) in time for winter, Saratoga Signature is stocked and ready with an impeccable collection. “For our ‘gifty’ items, we carry a wide selection of home accents and décor items,” says owner Nancy Smith, who also offers gift cards. “Lawn jockeys and desk (mini) jockeys are always popular—they can be custom painted or pre-purchased for the recipient to design later in the year.” Shopping for yourself? Smith says that’s a good idea. “Spending so much time indoors during winter can make you feel down, especially if you aren't in love with your space. Adding a few fun toss pillows can have a huge effect. Or add a small spot table and a source of light—then all that's left is to snuggle up with one of our beautiful throw blankets.” If looking for a new statement piece, Smith is ready for that as well. “Our current obsession is the Kennebunkport sofa by Ambella,” she says. “It is absolutely stunning. We are also in love with recliners right now. We love to cozy up, especially in the winter, and we have some of the most comfortable recliners in stock and available today!” ■ 518.581.0023 | saratogasignature.com | 82 Church Street

AN 20 YEARS AND C MORE TH ELEBR CING I ATIN T C WN SARATOGA O T N A W O G R D P SPRIN S IN R A E G Y S ! 0 1

Alfred W. Hollis, D.D.S., PLLC PREVENTIVE AND RESTORATIVE DENTISTRY Your dental health matters to us. We are committed to providing exceptional, comprehensive dental care.

157 LAKE AVENUE SARATOGA SPRINGS

www.alfredhollisdds.com 518.584.1400 contact@alfredhollisdds.com

Saratoga Signature celebrated 30 years in business with a lawn jockey, which is a popular holiday gift.

cover story

Board Games S A R AT O G A G R A Z I N G C O ’ S

ERIKA DIBBLE

B Y N ATA L I E M O O R E p h o t o g r a p h y b y E L I Z A B E T H H AY N E S

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CREDIT

B E C A M E A B O N A F I D E I N S TA G R A M S TA R J U S T I N T I M E F O R H E R B U S I E S T S E A S O N : T H E H O L I D AY S .

CREDIT

theme spark “You can be creative with it,” Erika Dibble says of creating charcuterie boards. “For holidays you get to do fun little things. I love a good theme.”

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rose gold “The salami rose is a very controversial charcuterie trend,” Dibble says. Clearly, judging by this holiday board, she’s on the pro–meat flower side of the debate.

rika Dibble wasn’t the first to broadcast her grazing board creations on social media, and she won’t be the last. But in the wide world of charcuterie Instagram, the Saratogian may just be the meat-and-cheese influencer with the most personality—a fact that helped her @saratogagrazingco account crest 100K followers earlier this year. “I was just myself and very weird,” she says of her personality-driven reels. “And people were like ‘Yes, she’s like me. She’s weird, too.’” If you’ve been living under a block of Beaufort and aren’t up on the latest happenings in the coagulated milk-meets-social media scene, charcuterie boards have taken up residence in one quirky corner of Instagram and TikTok dedicated to those who find satisfaction in a perfectly plated parmesan or expertly carved wheel of brie—often carved into Christmas tree shapes and paired with all sorts of festival holiday goodies this time of year.

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And once your algorithm catches on to your double-tapping tendencies, get ready for more—much more. “The salami rose is a very controversial charcuterie trend,” she continues. And that’s not to mention the polarizing butter boards—a trend in which Dibble vows never to dabble—that involve dipping bread into copious amounts of butter and toppings spread on a wooden board. She does however venture into the realms of veggie-filled crudités boards, cookie-clad goodie boards and bread-heavy carb boards, as well as the hot chocolate boards that are extra hot this time of year. “During the holidays you’ll see people make charcuterie chalets”—gingerbread houselike structures made of charcuterie. “I call them meat huts.” While keeping up with a wildly successful Instagram account requires staying hip to all the trends and creating a steady stream of content to feed the insatiable social media beast, running a wildly successful grazing board business is no walk in the park, either. On the day before Thanksgiving 2021, Dibble singlehandedly constructed 43 boards, and counts a 12-foot grazing table among her most impressive feats. ”It was

style points “Culturally and historically, charcuterie is never out of style,” Saratoga Grazing Co owner Erika Dibble says. “But during the pandemic it became really popular.”

completely covered,” she says. “I did that by myself, because my mom was on vacation. How dare she. She is voluntold to help me. She doesn’t volunteer—she’s voluntold.” In her free time—you know, between making upwards of 50 boards a week, and more during the busy Halloween/ Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Year’s season—Dibble, a former teacher, is a mother of two and an instructor at Pure Barre. “I saw they were opening the studio and I just reached out and was like, ‘Hey, I’m not teaching anymore…Can I do this? Do you need teachers?’” she says. “’I have zero experience, but hire me.’ And they did.” That dive-in-and-learn-how-to-swim-later attitude extends to Dibble’s fall into the charcuterie world, too. Growing up on Long Island, food was the main attraction at holidays, with her family—Dad is from Switzerland, where “cheese is a big part of the culture”—often gathered around a fondue pot. It wasn’t until she had 10 years of teaching under her belt, and had landed in Saratoga vis-à-vis Florida, that she began toying with the idea of a charcuterie business. “I posted my logo on March 12,

2020, and on March 13, the world shut down,” she says. After that slight setback, Saratoga Grazing Co was up and running by Memorial Day Weekend 2020, and the rest is history. “The first year I got about 10,000 followers and I hit 20,000 right around my two-year anniversary,” she says. “And then over this summer it blew up. I gained 63,000 followers in 90 days.” And how? Consistency, posting a ton of Instagram reels, and being herself. A scroll through Dibble’s Instagram account reveals plenty of gorgeous grazing boards being assembled, with the occasional cameo by Dibble—dancing in the fall foods aisle of Trader Joe’s, dancing in front of grazing tables, making a late-night snack of popcorn and melted shredded cheese. In one reel that’s racked up a whopping 8.1 million views, Dibble, in front of an empty table, counts to four on her fingers at which point the video jumps to the table completely covered in charcuterie. “I can just be my weird, creative self,” she says. “It’s a nice outlet, especially when you’re home being a mom. Like, I can be the mom, and I can also own a business and be creative.”

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shopping

saratoga living’s

Holiday Gift Guide W E A S K E D F I V E I N S TAG R A M M E R S TO D R E A M U P T H E I R TO P G I F T I D E A S H E A D I N G I N TO T H I S H O L I DAY S E A S O N . F R O M T OY S F O R L I T T L E B OY S T O T H E C H I C E S T S A R AT O G A S W E AT E R O N T H E B L O C K , THESE ARE THEIR CHOICES.

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Live Holiday Wreath

starting at $65 Arcadian Revival There are always a few people we end up scrambling to find a holiday gift for. Bring the nostalgic, invigorating smell of pine to your friends or family with a wreath for their door or to use as a centerpiece. I’ll be taking a limited number of orders this holiday season (email bethany@ arcadianrevival.com), but you can also find gorgeous wreaths at Native Farm Flowers, Hewitt’s Garden Center or Sunnyside Gardens.

Custom Frame

Price varies Kettlewell and Edwards When it comes to design, especially for the home, there is nothing more important than making the space your own. Whether it’s surrounding a textile, old print or family photo, a custom frame is sure to be a successful gift. Kettlewell and Edwards is located right on Phila Street, and owners Chloe and Kate work across budgets and can help with design. I’m guessing they’re already busy, so pop in soon!

for the home

Bethany Khan @arcadianrevival

Expanding Universe: The Hubble Space Telescope

$40 Northshire Bookstore Few gifts can be more beautiful, touching and appropriate across a wide audience than books. Surrounding a home with books provides warmth and places value on edification. Anything you choose from Taschen Books is a win. Expanding Universe is a moving, artistic look into space that’s certainly a pleasing addition to any coffee table or book shelf.

Historic Union Avenue Porch Spindle Candlestick Holders

$38 for a set of two Waverly Square Antiques A little birdie told me that there are a few pairs of these candlesticks still available at Waverly Square Antiques in Ballston Spa. Candles and candlesticks instantly add holiday charm to any home and, who knows—maybe you’ll find a special gift for yourself while exploring Waverly Square’s maze of antique treasures!

Hand-painted Horse Bottle Opener

$18 Silverwood Home and Gallery This would not be a Saratoga gift guide without something equestrian included! I love to give gifts that meld home with food and wine, like this gorgeous, hand-painted, cast iron horse bottle opener. Pair it with a bottle of Old Tavern Farm’s Cabernet Sauvignon for the perfect hostess gift for any party.

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for him

Jack Carpenter @jacksoncarp/@twobuttonsdeep

Custom Pet Portrait

$120-$220 FEATHERED ANTLER I started commissioning custom pet paintings for the people in my life with animals, and they have never failed to bring a big smile. All it takes is one picture of a pet, and Feathered Antler’s Gretchen Tisch will create an incredible painting that will live forever in your loved one’s gallery.

Stewart’s Shops Gift Card

Dinner and a Show

Price varies Dinner and a show is a classic gift that often gets overlooked, but it’s hands down one of the best gifts you can give. Not only is it a great gift in the moment, but it also gives you and the recipient something to look forward to for the weeks or months leading up to the event. Some of my most memorable shows have been at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall, the Palace Theatre, The Egg and Proctors Theatre, all of which have tons of great restaurants nearby.

Any amount You really can’t go wrong picking up a Stewart’s gift card for anybody that lives in the great upstate. If someone doesn’t appreciate a Stewart’s gift card, you probably don’t want them in your life.

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Decorative Pennant

Price varies Oxford Pennant I was sold on Buffalo-based Oxford Pennant after a visit to their HQ last winter. They produce everything in house and offer a wide range of inspirational, quirky and decorative pennants to hang in your home, office or at an event. I have a large “You’ll Think of Something” pennant that hangs in my living room… it was helpful to channel that message while making this list.

Printed Photos

$18 per roll McGreevey ProLab & ProPress There’s something special about pictures taken on a disposable camera: Maybe it’s the film effect, maybe it’s the nostalgia, or maybe it’s that you forget what’s on the film by the time you remember to develop it. For a unique gift, pick up a disposable camera and capture a special event or trip with a friend of family member. Afterward, get the film developed at McGreevey in downtown Albany and gift the photos (yes, real photographs!) to your loved one.

for her

Ashlee Rose Hartley @ashleerosehartley

Poppy & Pout Lip Scrub $15 Caroline + Main Kill the stocking stuffer game this Christmas with an exfoliating lip scrub by Poppy & Pout. The product is 100 percent natural and comes in many varieties, such as pomegranate peach, island coconut, marshmallow creme and pink grapefruit. Now to decide which one to buy…

Local Tea Sampler and Local Honey

$56 Saratoga Tea & Honey When shopping at Saratoga Tea & Honey, it’s hard not to go home with both tea and honey! Not sure what to get? Go with a tea sampler (there are three varieties—Fruit & Floral, Herbal and World of Tea) paired with 100 percent raw local honey, which was made within 30 miles of Amsterdam right here in the Capital Region.

Saratoga Sweater

Caddis Readers

$95-$115 Lifestyles of Saratoga The silver lining to having bad eyesight? You have one more way to accessorize! Pick up a pair of Caddis reading glasses for your farsighted friend or family member; they come in a variety of styles and colors to fit any fashionista’s aesthetic.

$132 Pink Paddock This sweater is one of Pink Paddock’s most popular items year round, but it’s an especially great purchase heading into the holiday season. The lady in your life will love repping Saratoga Springs in style and comfort all winter long.

Hoka Clifton 8

$140 iRun Local Whether you’re buying for a seasoned runner or someone just getting into the sport (like me!) you can’t go wrong with a new pair of Hokas. The Clifton 8 is best for everyday running and walking, and comes in all sorts of eye-catching colors.

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for the kids

Brittany Wilson-DeMarco @brittwd

Babiator Sunglasses

$24-$40 Lex & Cleo Babiators are an adorable accessory for children that not only dresses up their look but protects their eyes, too. These stylish sunglasses for children ages 0-2, 3-5, and 6+ offer 100 percent UVB & UVA protection, while simultaneously being super cute. And if your kid is anything like mine, he or she will absolutely love wearing them.

Lucky’s Adventure in Saratoga

$17.99 Northshire Bookstore Lucky’s Adventure in Saratoga is the first of a three-book series featuring Lucky the dog by local author Elizabeth Macy. Lucky’s adventures take her to some awesome spots around town, including the old Lake Local, a special spot near and dear to my family’s hearts. We absolutely love reading this book to our son.

Loog Mini Guitar

Museum Membership

$100 for one adult and one child Children's Museum of Saratoga Nothing screams entertainment in the wintertime like the Children’s Museum at Saratoga. This interactive museum offers yearly membership passes for families, so the kids can enjoy the fun as often as they’d like.

Starting at $89 Lex & Cleo The Loog Mini Guitar is a real guitar for children ages 3 and up. For all the future musicians out there, this is the perfect gift. To say our toddler is obsessed is an absolute understatement: He loves to put on performances for us! Bonus points for this toy being aesthetically pleasing for all the moms who want their kids’ toys to match the rest of the house.

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Green Sprouts Stacking Cups

$5.99 Play Hollow I stumbled upon this adorable children’s store in Ballston Spa on a whim, and wanted to purchase something to support a local business. I never dreamed that the few dollars I spent on colorful stacking cups would give me hours of my time back! My baby was mesmerized by these simple stacking cups, and would play with them nonstop for huge stretches of time. An absolute win.

Doily Serving Tray

for the foodie

Erika Dibble @saratogagrazingco

$60 Beekman 1802 Buying a gift for a foodie who loves to entertain? This stoneware serving tray, designed by Jasmine Crowe and available at Beekman 1802 in Sharon Springs, will be the perfect addition to his or her home entertaining collection. Each of these sleek trays has a unique design and is an absolutely stunning piece.

The Saratoga Basket Cheese Club Membership

Starting at $70/box for a 3-month membership The Cheese Lover Shop Why not give your favorite foodie the gift that keeps on giving? With a cheese subscription from The Cheese Lover Shop (cheeselovershop.com), the charcuterie connoisseur in your life will have endless opportunities to sample cheeses, charcuterie and expertly paired accouterments monthly. What could be better than that?

Half Baked Harvest Every Day: Recipes for Balanced, Flexible, Feel-Good Meals

$25 Northshire Bookstore This cookbook by Tieghan Gerard has it all—delicious comfort foods, creative cocktails and gorgeous photography. Her unique take on classic dishes is sure to inspire any foodie.

$87 Saratoga Tea and Honey Chilly winter temperatures definitely call for a gift to warm the body and soul, and this box does just that! Filled with local honey, Spa City Earl Tea, Saratoga Chocolate’s Genmai Cha dark chocolate bar, honey candy, a honey dipper and a tea infuser, the Saratoga Basket is winter-gift perfection.

Wine Tasting/Food Pairing

Starting at $200 (plus product) The Saratoga Sommelier This experience gift is the perfect way to give the foodie in your life a memorable experience and an opportunity to learn about complementary wine and food pairings. The Saratoga Sommelier’s (saratogasommelier.com) tasting is totally customizable and can be as fancy or as laid back as you’d like.

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anniversary

Inn Old with the

C H E E R S T H E H O L I DAY S E A S O N W I T H A C O C K TA I L F R O M T H E 1 9 2 0 S — A N D N E A R LY 1 8 0 Y E A R S O F I N N AT S A R AT O G A H I S T O R Y.

By Karen Bjornland ⁄

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ROB SPRING

decked out The Inn at Saratoga’s front porch, Side Room and Victorian Ballroom are always dressed up in traditional style for the holidays.

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its holiday finest, it seemed as good a time as any to celebrate the rich history of this downtown jewel. If only its walls could talk—for perspective, the hotel predates the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. When it first swung open its doors in 1847 (there are no known records of how the building had been used since being built in 1843), as a boarding house for ailing visitors hoping for a mineral water cure, there was no Saratoga Race Course, Adelphi Hotel or Canfield Casino. When Bob Israel, a man with a passion for restoring Saratoga’s historic buildings, bought the hotel in 2003, it was the Coachman Motor Inn. Since then, he and his daughter, Liz, the hotel’s owner/operator, have passionately worked their time-traveling magic. israel light Owners Bob Israel and daughter Liz, in the inn's Side Room parlor, love their hotel's historic charm. In its past, the hotel catered to Cuban vacationers in the 1800s, and for nearly 50 years in the 20th century, it served Jewish guests from New York City as the Hotel Brenner.

DORI FITZPATRICK; (opposite) ROB SPRING

f you’re an old soul or history buff who dreams of turning back the clock to escape to another century, walking through the doors of The Inn at Saratoga is about as close as you can get. As the cold winds blow down Broadway, the cheery hotel with its toast- and pumpkin-colored exterior welcomes guests into its Side Room, a former lobby that’s been carefully curated to whisk you back more than 150 years. There’s a glowing fireplace, chandeliers, an oh-so-elegant red velvet banquette, antique furniture and china, and a 1912 Steinway. In the morning, overnight guests enjoy a breakfast buffet in this exquisite Victorian parlor; in the evening, it’s a restaurant that’s open to the public. Cocktails anyone? Bee’s Knees and Aviation, gin concoctions that were all the rage in the Roaring Twenties, are crafted in the hotel’s intimate Tavern. The Inn at Saratoga, the oldest continuously operating lodging in town, will be 180 years old next year. On the cusp of this milestone birthday, while the cherished inn is decked out in

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inn style (from top) Guests enjoying the inn’s Side Room; a guest room; pre-holiday party prep in the Ballroom; (opposite, clockwise from top left) the view of Broadway from the inn's Tavern; the renovated Side Room; fireplace seating in the Side Room; beer taps in the Tavern.

“I love what we did in that room,” Liz says. The Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation applauded their efforts too, honoring the Inn with an award in 2016. The inn sparkles with holiday parties this time of year, and if Bob’s around he’s known to happily regale his guests with a story or two about the historic inn’s past. “Dorothea Brownell and her sister were local historians and characters, and they knew a lot of the famous musicians that came through here,” begins one favorite about the Brownell Cottege, now an annex behind the hotel where guests warm up with gas-powered Franklin stoves right in their rooms. “They had one party to commemorate an orchid that blossomed once a year. It would come out and then it would die. And they’d have a big party with musicians there. Utah Phillips actually sang a story about the parties.” And the renovations continue. During the winter and spring, the hotel will be updating its 42 rooms and suites, including the Brownell Cottage, where the aforementioned Dorothea and sis lived. Downstairs, the vintage vibe pops up again in the Tavern, which is often alive with the sound of local musicians who love to play in the storied bar. And many signature cocktails are, of course, served in antique glassware. Even in the restaurant, there’s a retro touch, and that’s Hannah’s Beef Brisket, which, no matter the season, is the most popular entrée. “That’s my grandmother’s recipe,” Liz says of the slowroasted meat bathed in a wine-and-tomato sauce. “It’s a comfort food, a great dish to eat when you are sitting in that cozy room by the fire.”

ROB SPRING

Both overnight guests and the locals who drop in for drinks or dinner relish the atmosphere— and many tell the inevitable ghost stories that surround a building that’s staring down two centuries’ worth of guests. “They love the feeling that they’ve been transported to a bygone era,” says Liz. Alas, her brother, Adam, assures that there are no ghosts—a ghost-hunter once checked. The renovation of the Side Room was the daughter-dad duo’s labor of love. “We wanted it to be a real historic building, not a modernized historic building,” Liz says. “Places like that are slowing slipping away, and we don’t want to ever let that happen. We really wanted to bring it back to its original glory.” Without photos of the original lobby, Bob and Liz researched the hotel’s history, consulted experts on turn-of-the-century décor, and then let their imaginations take flight. “We looked at pictures of historic hotels and parlors, sitting rooms and reading rooms,” Liz says. Layers of wallpaper were scraped off, and the room was painted a deep, rich terracotta. And Bob was finally able to use the walnut paneling he salvaged as a teenager from a shuttered men’s club in Newburgh, where he grew up. “We pulled up the carpet and discovered three inches of cement on top of the original hardwood floors,” says Liz. “We jackhammered out the cement. Because of the weight of it, the floors were bowed. So we had to jack up the floor from the basement. And we refinished those floors.” Charming pieces of antique furniture were purchased at auctions, including from the Grand Union Hotel and United States Hotel, two epic lodgings from Saratoga’s past. (In fact, the owner of the building when it was the Everett House during the post-Civil War boom was the brother-in-law of the owner of the United States Hotel.) One particularly grand find: a rack near the bar that was once used for men to hang their top hats before entering the Grand Union’s ballroom.

GIVE THE GIFT OF BEAUTY AND WELLNESS

Easy To Give, Perfect To Receive Stop in the spa or visit our website for holiday packages and gift card offerings!

FACIAL TREATMENTS MEDICAL SPA MASSAGE THERAPY HAIR SPA NAIL SALON MAKEUP ARTISTRY RELAXATION LOUNGE STEAM ROOM AND SAUNA

Specialty holiday gifts and pre-made baskets available for everyone on your list!

legend

THROW YOUR HANDS UP

H E R E ’ S S O M E T H I N G T O “ S H O U T ” A B O U T: D U R I N G T H I S M O S T S U C C E S S F U L B U F FA L O B I L L S R U N I N D E C A D E S , W E L O O K B A C K AT T H E T E A M F O U N D E R ’ S S P E C I A L C O N N E C T I O N T O S A R AT O G A — WHERE THE FRANCHISE WAS CONCEIVED.

lmost a century ago, at South the day he died, but he would make history partner up Buffalo Bills Florida’s beautiful Hialeah Park as a visionary in a different sport: football. founder Ralph Wilson’s Native Race Track, a child by the name The starts of Wilson’s horse racing hobby Partner won in Saratoga in 1970 of Ralph fell in love with the and career success ran parallel. On his before becoming an impressive sport of Thoroughbred racing. way to making a fortune in the insurance, broodmare; (opposite) “He’s trucking, media and construction industries, He was a wide-eyed, pint-sized just like one of us,” former quarterback Jim Kelly has said of he bought his first horse in 1950: a 2-year guest of a family friend, but Wilson, who owned the Bills from this was no fleeting childhood old colt by Shawnee, for $7,000. “He was 1960 until his death in 2014. hobby—in the summer of 1940, limping walking back to my barn and he he drove from his Virginia never started,” an older and wiser Wilson college to Saratoga Springs for the first time, to told the Daily Racing Form decades later. “What a beginning!” watch Whirlaway win the 1940 Hopeful Stakes. Not that this discouraged him too much: In 2000, it was It would not be his last trip to the Spa City; in fact, Saratoga reported that he hadn’t, 50 years later, missed a year at The Race Course would be the very spot where the now-legendary Spa since. Indeed, the Michigan native’s fortunes quickly Ralph Cookerly Wilson, Jr. forged his path toward becoming a changed. The key turning point for his endeavors came in New York icon. He was a bona fide horse racing super-fan until 1960 with the $20,000 purchase of the filly Dinner Partner at

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(Opposite page) COURTESY BUFFALO BILLS

BY DAN DE FEDERICIS

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that year’s Saratoga yearling sale. She had modest success in 29 starts as a race mare, but she was an all-star broodmare: She was the dam of four stakes winners and, through her daughter Native Partner, is the ancestress of champions in North America, Europe, Japan and India. Around the same time Wilson started experiencing success as a horse owner, he also became a minority owner of the NFL’s Detroit Lions and began to dream of having his own team. “Minority owner” was simply not what this ambitious—and increasingly wealthy man—wanted. Destiny struck in the summer of 1959—right here in the Spa City. “I was at Saratoga for the races,” he told an interviewer in 1991. “I came upon this notice in The New York Times. It said somebody named Lamar Hunt from Dallas was going to start a new football league. This man Hunt was upset because the NFL wouldn’t give him a franchise. So he was looking for prospective investors and team owners for his league.” Wilson knew how hard it was to get a team in the NFL. “So I called up this guy Hunt,” he said. “I had no idea who Hunt was, but he told me to get to Dallas right away because

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two other guys who wanted to put a team in Miami were en route to see him.” Perhaps using his horse racing experiences, Wilson fled Saratoga immediately and won the race to Dallas. He secured the franchise originally planned for Miami in the new American Football League (AFL). But he soon faced an insurmountable challenge: Miami didn't have a place for his team to play. “They wouldn’t rent me the Orange Bowl,” he said during the same interview. “I owned a home in Miami Beach, for gosh sakes.” Competition ensued: Wilson ended up with five cities vying for his new team. He selected the Western New York city on the shores of Lake Erie on the advice of a friend, who assured him that there was significant football interest in Buffalo. Wilson announced his pick in a telegram to Hunt with the now-famous words, “Count me in with Buffalo.” Flash forward 63 years, after both good times (the Bills made it to the Super Bowl a record-breaking four years in a row in the 1990s) and bad (they lost all four, three of them embarrassingly—then suffered one of the longest playoff droughts in NFL history), and the team is again in its glory. Led

FRANCESCO D’AMICO

fan base Wilson’s widow, Mary, still tends to their box in the front row of the track's Clubhouse; (opposite, from top) the stadium in 2014, the year Wilson died. The next year, the Ralph Wilson Stadium was renamed Highmark Stadium due to a lucrative naming rights deal (but is still nicknamed “The Ralph”); the Bills’ original team logo.

by superstar quarterback Josh Allen, New York State’s only true team—cheered on by a staunch Bills Mafia fan base and its ridiculously catchy “Shout” fight song that’s a customized version of the 1950s classic—is, at press time, the preseason favorite to win that Lombardi Trophy at last. Wilson isn’t alive to see it, having died in 2014 as the reigning sole owner of the Bills and the last original owner of the eight AFL teams to hold onto his team. They had been nicknamed the “Foolish Club” for daring to go against the mighty NFL (which eventually conceded the new league’s success and merged with it). At 90 years old, the friendly, cardigan-wearing owner known for his integrity became the oldest inductee in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He was 95 when he died. Throughout his decades with the almighty Buffalo Bills, even as Wilson’s star rose as the team’s infamous owner, his Augusts continued to belong to Saratoga, where he raced his many horses. During the 1950s and ’60s, he and his family often rented “cottages” on North Broadway, most notably the Grande residence at 658 North Broadway and the Wilson House (no relation) of Skidmore College. Wilson had three daughters from his first marriage: Christy, Edith (“Dee Dee”) and Linda, who was pro football’s first female scout and then a VP with the Bills franchise until her passing in 2009. “Oh, Saratoga was great fun!” Christy tells saratoga living. “Sometimes we went to the track early in the morning, and we went to the races every day.” The family was even written up in a society column at least once: “The usual quiet and darkness of North Broadway was broken Tuesday night as the home at 720 lit up for the Ralph C. Wilson bash,” read a 1969 article in The Saratogian, which also noted the party’s not one but two orchestras for dancing, and that

the three sisters wore “silk jersey long gowns. All were different and colorful.” More recently, Wilson and his wife, Mary, whom he married in 1999 after 10 years together, prefered staying at the Gideon Putnam and dining at The Wishing Well. “Oh, Ralph enjoyed Saratoga very much,” Mary, tells saratoga living. “He really enjoyed the people that worked [at the track], but also the attendees who were fun personalities, with clever names.” Jeff Littman, Wilson’s longtime vice president and chief financial officer for his horse breeding and racing (oh, and the Bills), concurs: “Ralph loved colorful characters. He really liked the ones with a strong intellect who could converse interestingly about sports, but also give him a good laugh.” Mary maintains their box at the track to this day, and loves sharing her memories of her and her husband’s trips here. One favorite stars the owners of PJ’s BAR-B-QSA, PJ and Carolyn Davis, who hail from suburban Buffalo. The couple have been Bills season ticket– holders since the O.J. Simpson era, and in the 1990s, a good portion of the PJ’s parking lot had signs indicating “Bills fan parking only.” (PJ’s still has plenty of Bills signs, jerseys and other items, and is packed during Bills games). The Wilsons heard about the restaurant and stopped in to meet the superfans. Upon sitting down to eat, Mary asked the server, “Would you kindly ask the owner to come out here to speak with Ralph Wilson?” The server returned shortly afterwards and advised Mary that the owner would not come out as he believed her message was a practical joke. After some prodding, PJ and Carolyn rushed out to meet their team’s owner and his wife. They remained close after that, with PJ even DJing at a tennis tournament the Wilsons organized in Florida. “Ralph didn’t think of himself above anyone, and he didn’t try to impress anybody,” Mary says. “He was just a normal person who loved horse racing and loved Saratoga.” So, Saratogians, our neighbors in Western New York might worship the great Ralph Wilson, but here on the eastern side of the state, fans should rightfully feel a significant connection to the team and its founding owner. Go Bills! Saratoga Springs—the city where you were conceived—is rooting for you.

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438 broadway saratoga springs ny 518.450.7350

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CAROLINE MAIN G I F T S

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SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION

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518.587.7120 phinneydesign.com

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off track SA R ATO GA’S H OT T E ST T I C KE TS

sl’s VIP Lounge

Chocolate tarts by Bocage

Bocage’s Zac Denham served Old Fashioneds

saratoga living’s

VIP Lounge at the Saratoga Motorcar Auction SEPTEMBER 2 4 & 2 5 • SA R ATO GA CASI N O H OT E L photography by N AT E SE I T E LM A N

Lounge guests read sl and other magazines

n the last weekend of September, saratoga living teamed up with the Saratoga Automobile Museum to host an exclusive VIP Lounge at the museum’s annual two-day Saratoga Motorcar Auction. The lounge was a place where bidders, consignors, the museum’s Silver Arrow members and other car enthusiasts could gather for a drink and bite to eat in clear view of all the fast-paced auction action. Both Saturday and Sunday mornings began with light snacks, Stewart’s Shops coffee, hot and iced tea from Saratoga Tea & Honey, and prosecco and mimosas by Mionetto. Complexions Spa for Beauty & Wellness set up shop in a corner of the lounge, and offered hair and makeup touch-ups all day. Around 11:30am, Bocage Champagne Bar rolled out tea sandwiches, dainty chocolate sweets, Graham Beck Rosé and Old Fashioneds made with Misunderstood Whiskey, while a bucket of ice-cold beer from DeCrescente Distributing needed to be replenished regularly. Next came still wines from Freixenet and a mid-afternoon charcuterie spread by The Charcutebrie. And fall-themed floral arrangements by Samantha Nass brought it all together.

Anna Pinchuk getting complimentary hair styling from Michael Davis at the Complexions beauty pop-up.

Kids loved relaxing in the lounge

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Joyce and Garry White

Kimberly and Leigh McConchie

Tammy DiCara and Desiree Farley

Christian Clark and Dave Collins

Mionetto poured Prosecco all day long

Alan Rosenblum and Bob Bailey

Guests also left with goody bags!

off track SA R ATO GA’S H OT T E ST T I C KE TS

saratoga living’s

Single in Saratoga

O C TO B E R 12 • B A I LE Y’S p h oto g r aph y by KO N R A D O DH I A M B O

aratoga living has teamed up with Bailey’s and Deep Eddy Vodka to create a new brand of mixer. The first-ever Single in Saratoga party kicked off this fall, with some 50 local singles, wingmen and wingwomen coming out for an evening of beer pong, Saratoga Photobooth photo ops, games and Deep Eddy drinks. Let it be known: They requested more events like this in Saratoga. So, save the date, singles! Our next singles night at Bailey’s will be Wednesday, December 7. Yes, ugly sweaters will be involved, and yes, we will get the local single men up and out of the house someway, somehow.

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H a t t i e ’ s R e s t a u ra n t

L E T US C AT ER YO U R HO L IDAY PAR T Y! H a t t i e ’ s R e s t a u ra n t Serving Southern and Louisiana cuisine since 1938!

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off track SA RATOGA’S HOT T EST T ICKETS

Homes for Orphaned Pets Exist’s HOPE Gala OCTOBER 6 • SARATOGA NATIONAL photography by JILL PERKINS

Adirondack Trust Company Community Fund's An Evening of Autumn of Giving OCTOBER 19 • LONGFELLOWS

p h otog r ap h y by ARTHU R G O N I CK

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M AY N O T KN OW

YO U S G IN H T

We’ll be celebrating our 25th anniversary in 2023!

2 Our magazines are free to pick up at grocery stores, shops and restaurants across the Capital Region, but you can also have them delivered to your doorstep. We mail issues to Saratoga fans across the country.

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4 5

We adhere to strict journalism standards. This means that we vigorously fact-check, mark all paid-for content, and cover anything that is newsworthy—whether or not the subject is an advertiser. We try to replenish our distribution points as fast as we can, but we are also proud of our 100% pick-up rate, because we feel it is a result of those standards.

When you don’t have your latest issue in front of you, a digital copy lives on saratogaliving.com.

Unlike other local publications, we have no “pay wall” that requires you to pay to read anything on our website.

To help offset those costs, we launched an insider-y, hyper-local newsletter called Saratoga Living After Hours (SLAH), featuring all-original content. Like our print magazine and website, it is FREE, (see page 72 to sign up!) but there is also a paid option that is only $50/year (or $5/month) that gets you an extra story every single week—and the joy of supporting local journalism.

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We believe that Saratoga deserves to be celebrated at the highest level, and thus our page count has not gone down—even though our paper, printing and distribution costs have gone up significantly.

Our revenue comes solely from advertising (thank you, advertisers!), the events we host throughout the year (come party with us!) and our online auctions. (Subscription charges cover postage only.)

After COVID, we are down to two full-time employees on the editorial side, and one full-time employee on the art side—plus our freelance sl design team who spend a lot of late nights with us around deadline time.

We LOVE producing saratoga living!

Let Us Make Your

HOLIDAYS EASIER!

GIFT CARDS They’ll Actually Use!

And All Your Favorite

Fresh and Local

HOLIDAY FLAVORS

home stretch: fashion

|| food & drink || book nook || haute property

A Toast to Timelessness F R I VO LO U S B O U T I Q U E GIVES C LASSI C A N E W M E A N I N G T H I S N E W YE A R’S E V E . ph oto g r aph y by DO R I F I T ZPAT R I C K this december 31, Saratoga will ring in a new year with a new (two-day) festival—so why not celebrate with a new look (or two!)? Frivolous Boutique, which reopened following construction at 385 Broadway earlier this year, has everything you need for a glam night out. For a bold, head-turning-yet-classic look with just the right amount of glam, go with this faux leather red dress paired with a boxy, bedazzled purse. For a subtler yet still-super-sexy look, there’s yet another faux leather dress look—this one in off-white and accented with, yes, feathers. Channel that Roaring Twenties energy all the way into 2023—the pop of hot pink on the heel will just add fuel to your fire. —Heather Thompson

@heathermariethompson

RED FAUX LEATHER DRESS | $74 BLING PURSE | $49.50 HOOP EARRINGS | $18 MODEL’S OWN SHOES

WHITE FAUX LEATHER FEATHER DRESS | $114 GOLD CLUTCH | $88 DANGLE EARRINGS | $18 MODEL’S OWN SHOES

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Pig Out beer, pizza, pretzels. That simple equation is the recipe for success at Speckled Pig, a new brewery located 10 minutes from Saratoga in downtown Ballston Spa. “We were told ‘You’re crazy to try to take on food, too,’” says co-owner Larry Hyde. “We’re like, ‘No, we’re going to keep it simple and just have really good wood-fired pizza’”— and massive soft pretzels served with beer cheese or mustard. On the pizza menu: The Figgy Piggy (figs, mozzarella, prosciutto, arugula and balsamic drizzle), Shroomin’ (ricotta sauce, cremini mushrooms, caramelized onions and truffle oil drizzle), The Brando (soppressata, sausage, pepperoni and hot honey) and five more four-cut pies. The beer list includes the uber-popular Pine-Hopple Crush NEIPA, a Mexican ale called The Gringo, and a Triple Chocolate Stout brewed in collaboration with nearby Coffee Planet, plus seasonal suds like fall’s Scotties Pumpkin Ale and Sweater Weather Oktoberfest. Speckled Pig officially opened September 23 to much fanfare. “It’s really going well so far,” Hyde says. “Anything new is going to do really well; it’s now just a matter of consistently putting out good beer and food to get people to come back.”

OPEN FOR BIZ

go pig or go home Speckled Pig’s wood-fired pizza can be made vegan or gluten free, upon request.

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Remodeling your home? Your window replacement project is an opportunity to reimagine your space. Marvin offers thoughtfully designed styles and options, as well as the highest standards in energy efficiency.

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this fall, saratoga beerlovers got yet another venue in which to enjoy PACK an ice-cold IPA. Whitman Brewing, which already had an impressive lowerlevel taproom, recently opened its brandnew beer hall, located on the second floor next to Walt Café and accessible via the iconic Saratogian entrance on the corner of Maple and Lake avenues. “The beer hall, along with our corner entrance, gives our building a more open feel,” says Whitman brewer Nick Meyer. “We plan on hosting music events starting in November and have some other things in the works to make the space more fun.” That space is made up of one large room with long, high-top tables and stools, rustic wooden accents and a huge bar, and greatly expands Whitman’s previous seating capacity. “It’s meant to be a much more relaxed, communal vibe,” Meyer says. “We wanted to focus on creating a space where people feel like they can just come in and grab a beer at any time of the day.”

898 New Loudon Rd, Latham, NY | 518-313-1229

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Golden Year JOIN THE

new digs Alaturco was located next to Dunkin’ just north of downtown Ballston Spa from 2014 until it closed its brick and mortar during the pandemic. It reopened downtown October 18.

Gyro Complex

it’s easy to spot a Saratoga Coffee Traders regular—he or she is usually sipping out of a reusable mug, which gets customers $1.50 coffees and $3 lattes every time they order. If you see someone grasping an elusive Golden Mug, however, make way: He or she is one of the few, the proud, the most devout of Coffee Traders customers. Those looking to join the exclusive club of Golden Mug keepers can purchase a 2023 mug at the Broadway shop now. The mugs are a steep $325 or $275 for a renewal but, depending on how frequently you find yourself at Coffee Traders, this is one investment piece that can be oh so worth it—flash a Golden Mug at the counter for free (yes, free) coffee and $1 lattes all year long.

CLUB

BACK IN ACTION

when ballston spa restaurant Alaturco Mediterranean Grill closed two years ago during the pandemic, the authentic Mediterranean/Turkish food it served didn’t completely vanish from Capital Region plates. “I’ve been selling food at farmers’ markets for a long time,” says owner Nurgul Ziya, who runs Alaturco with her husband, Chef Rauf. “Upon the high demand of our customers, we decided to open Alaturco Gyro.” The new location is right in downtown Ballston Spa, in the building that was previously home to Bunrise Burgers & More, and features a limited menu of gyros, platters, salads and appetizers. It opened October 18, and has already seen many customers from the old restaurant stop by for their Alaturco favorites. “I’ve realized that being admired, in demand and missed is more valuable than making money,” Ziya says. “The support and kind words of our guests are worth more than a million dollars.”

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mug club Saratoga Coffee Traders’ Golden Mug gets coffee-drinkers free coffee throughout 2023.

White Christmas, or Rosé?

Pour a glass of wine and crack open your laptop—shopping Purdy’s online makes planning your holiday party almost too easy.

HOPPING THE ENDLESS AISLES OF PURDY’S DISCOUNT WINE & LIQUOR IS SO FUN that

Purdy's online includes an app and website that make holiday party planning a whole lot easier.

its online component (which launched this past spring) might have gone unnoticed by some of the store’s staunchest fans. But now’s the time to check out the new website and app, as planning a spectacular holiday party just got a whole lot easier. “The website is simple and to the point, with a couple of fun features such as drink recipes by occasion,” says the store’s marketing and operations manager, Jaclyn Shyptycki. “Whether you are looking for the perfect seasonal cocktail or one to make just for fun, you will find something. It will even direct you to

the ingredients you need.” After picking out your favorite bottles—or shopping by recipe, holiday or food pairings—Purdy’s online now offers same-day delivery Tuesday through Saturday and same-day pick-up every day. Soon, Saratoga’s largest liquor store will expand its website offerings to include delivery and staff picks curated by its impressive crew of seven wine and spirit specialists. “We always,” Shyptycki says, “try to go above and beyond for our customers.” ■ 518.584.5400 | www.purdyswine.com

1. 2. 518.584.5400

www.purdyswine.com

info@purdyswine.com

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NEW GROOVE

The Late Shift arcade fire Saratoga’s Broadway Deli transforms into a late-night arcade from 8pm-midnight on Saturdays.

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if you’re hungry in Saratoga at, say, 11pm, historically, you haven’t had many options other than pizza. But thanks to Saratoga’s Broadway Deli’s newly expanded Saturday night hours, come the weekend, you could be snacking on a madeto-order Reuben in between turns on a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game. “We were tired of going out to the same bars, doing the same thing, and eating the same late-night food that’s been available for decades,” says Saratoga’s Broadway Deli owner Daniel Chessare. His solution? Deli After Dark, four hours of arcade game and deli food fun, every Saturday from 8pm-midnight. “Between 8 and 10 it’s mostly take-out and delivery,” Chessare says. “Then between 10 and 12 we start getting waiters and cooks looking to unwind and have a bite to eat before hitting the bars.” Deli After Dark features a limited food menu (club sandwiches, BLTs, chicken Caesar salads, etc.) and expanded beer, seltzer and cider menu. And where do the arcade games come in? “I love video games,” Chessare says. “Saratoga used to have a little arcade on Broadway and a pool hall where Putnam Place is now. There used to be things to do in town other than get drunk. Not so much anymore.” But thanks to a handful of arcade cabinets—Simpson’s, Street Fighter, Terminator 2 and Marvel vs Capcom 2—plus a pair of video game consoles, night owls now have another option. “We turn down the house lights, turn up the colored lights and crank the music,” Chessare says. “It’s a good time.”

chili power Michele Hunter uses a lot of dried chilis in her flavorful dishes at Unified Beerworks.

Hunter’s New Home

one look at the Unified Beerworks menu, and you know the Malta brewery’s chef isn’t just your average brewery chef. The talented woman behind the poblano pepper relish and caramelized grilled pineapple is Michele Hunter, formerly of downtown Saratoga hotspot Hamlet & Ghost (and the 2020 winner of TV’s Chopped), who oversaw the launch of Unified’s food service this past spring. “We wanted a menu that was flavorful but not too heavy,” says Hunter, who worked as a Unified “beertender” prior to launching the kitchen. “Most brewery menus are full of fried foods and very carb heavy.” So, instead of your traditional basket of fries or a cheeseburger, Hunter went the Mexican-inspired route and made many of the dishes available gluten free, vegetarian or vegan upon request. “The food menu has crowd-pleasers like chips and queso, and a whole shabang burrito,” she says. “And there are some more complex options, such as the sweet potato taco with corn nuts and salsa macha, as well as a slow roast pork sandwich with pickled red onions and salsa verde.” A cold beer and a burrito made by a world-class chef? Count us in.

MAKING MOVES

Exqui s i t e e ve r yday and f e s t i ve g i f t s 61 LAWRENCE STREET, SARATOGA SPRINGS, NY | 518.886.9461

Historic Photographs of Saratoga Springs The George S. Bolster Collection

Thousands of historic images of Saratoga Springs are available for purchase Custom sizes and finishes available Fast turnaround on special orders

The Canfield Casino in Congress Park www.saratogahistory.org 518.584.6920

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Pic tu re Bo ok

Th at ’ s N ot Da s h e r, Th at ’ s My D o g ! By Adalyn & McKenna Vidoni

Need a funny Christmas story to tell around the tree? Grab a copy of That’s Not Dasher, That’s My Dog!, the hilarious Christmas tale that everyone in your family will love. The premise: During a Christmas Eve snowstorm, Santa mixes up one of his reindeer with a 100-pound Saint Bernadoodle and, as expected, hilarity ensues. Authors Adalyn and McKenna Vidoni (ages 11 and 9, respectively) expertly weave a tale that teaches the importance of family traditions and even includes a “reindeer food” recipe. Myste ry

De at h o n Lo cat io n By David K. Wilson

If you can’t wait to curl up with a thrilling mystery on a cold winter's day, look no further than David K. Wilson’s gripping new mystery novel, Death on Location. Popular fictional detective Sam Lawson returns in this suspensefilled and often hilarious page-turning read. Lawson is a former cop turned private detective who’s as good at finding trouble as he is at solving

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book nook

|| haute property

bureaucratic injustice? Well, SideKicked Volume 1, a graphic novel mini-series written by local author WH E T H E R YO U ’R E Russell Brettholtz (and brought GIF T SH O P P I N G F O R YO U R SE LF to life by two brilliant artists), is O R T H E B O O KWO R M I N YO U R the book for you. The story L I FE , YO U CA N ’T GO WR O N G WI T H follows superhero sidekicks who grow tired of being T H E SE F O U R LO CA L R E A DS. disrespected by the heroes they’re overshadowed by. To everyone’s surprise, they (gasp) go on strike! Buy now so you’re all caught up before Volume 2 is released early next year—or join its Kickstarter, where certain BY C LA I R E B U R N E T T donation levels will get you all but the very last chapter right now.

Your Holiday Book List

P oet ry

crimes. Although the book takes place in East Texas where Wilson grew up, the scenes are heavily inspired by Upstate New York and the Saratoga area, where he now resides. With colorful characters, witty dialogue and enough plot twists to keep you on the edge of your seat, it’s the perfect choice for any thrill-loving reader. G rap h i c N ovel

S id e- kicked By Russell Brettholtz et al. Job got you down? Wish you had super powers to fight the system of

Ha r sh R e alm: My 1 9 9 0 s By Daniel Nester

Harsh Realm, a collection of poems by College of Saint Rose professor Daniel Nester, is a step back in time to the complex era that was the 1990s. Nester, a seasoned author with work spanning from prose and essays to journalism and books, writes about his young adulthood trying to make his way as a writer in New York City, in the process transporting his audience back to a time of grunge, Yellow Pages, the AIDS epidemic and (remember these?) fax machines.

Villa Italia’s Secret Weapon

An eight-year veteran of the beloved bakery, Sharmila Ramsundar always serves Schenectady with a smile.

F YOU’VE PICKED UP AN ITALIAN PASTRY OR SPECIALTY CAKE from Schenectady bakery Villa Italia in

began working at Villa Italia, a pastry and cake shop that’s been a Schenectady staple for more than 50 years, in August of 2014. Since then, she has fully devoted herself to the fine art of serving sweets the last eight years, chances are you’ve come into contact to both Electric City residents with Sharmila Ramsundar, and visitors from far and wide. the affable sales clerk “Sharmila is a true asset to our known and loved by Villa Italia company,” Macejka says. “She regulars and first-timers alike. shows up for every shift with a “Sharmila has an amazing smile and a positive attitude. Her rapport with our customers and positivity is contagious.” her coworkers,” says General For your daily dose of SharmilaManager Tricia Macejka. “She induced positivity (and, of course, goes above and beyond for a to-die-for cinnamon rugolah each and every customer or cupcake), head to the 226 and makes everyone feel Broadway shop Wednesday– welcomed.” “Sharmila makes everyone feel welcomed,” says Villa Italia Saturday before 2pm. ■ Born in Guyana, Ramsundar GM Tricia Macejka. “It doesn’t matter if it’s one of our ‘regulars’ moved to Schenectady with 518.355.1144 who comes in five days a week or a customer who is coming www.villaitaliabakery.com her daughter in 2013. She in for the first time.”

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haute property

Have It Both Ways

C OMPROMISING PRIVACY F O R P R OXI M I T Y TO SA R ATO GA? T H E R E ’S N O N E ED WI TH TH IS MODERN-FA R M H O U SE M A N SI O N BY T R OJA N SKI B U I LDE R S. BY JE FF DI NGL ER n p h otograph y by DAV I D A N D FA R R A H DO B B I N S o f I N -H O U S E MED IA

wilton wonder Located on 14.64 acres and clocking in at 6,844 square feet, this spacious modern masterpiece is just minutes from downtown Saratoga Springs.

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the dream of living in a mansion in the woods while still within Saratoga Springs city limits isn’t just a fantasy. For a cool $3.5 million, it could be a reality. “What’s not to love about this home?” says Rebekah O’Neil, the Howard Hanna real estate agent for 21 Rose Terrace, a modern farmhouse-style dream home located just beyond Wilton Mall. Custom designed by Saratoga-based Trojanski Builders, the three-story home (ready for winter with amenities such as radiant heat) has five bedrooms, six-and-a-half bathrooms and recently went on the market. “In addition to the indoor

heated lap pool, I love the outdoor entertainment area for spring and summer, and the basement for fall and winter entertainment,” O’Neil says. “This house was made for hosting events and entertaining small or large crowds.” Entertainment indeed: The basement boasts its own bar and wine room, a private gym (where visitors will find that aforementioned saltwater lap pool), plus a golf simulator. Coffered ceilings and built-in shelving and cabinets highlight the sprawling open-concept living space that is the main floor, which also has a stunning stone-lined fireplace in a cabin-inspired lounge area. All interior

design—from paint colors and window treatments to furniture and décor—was handled by Devonshire Home Designs out of Long Island. Then there’s the outside. From the mansion’s in-ground, lighted pool and hot tub to the mini-playground for the kids and a super-spacious patio featuring a fire pit, outdoor fireplace and outdoor kitchen with a built-in grill, this house is practically begging its future owner to host

parties and get-togethers. And with a 14.64-acre lot, the property is private and woodsy (no need for an elaborate, relaxing water feature; there’s an actual stream) while still only minutes from downtown Saratoga. “This home sits on the largest lot in the neighborhood,” says O’Neil. “They combined two of the larger lots to make one that is almost completely private from neighbors. It’s the best of both worlds!”

around the house Built in 2016, this Trojanski Builders home features (clockwise, from top left) an outdoor pool, playground and kitchen; a wine room; a fitness center; a golf simulator; a cabin-inspired lounge area; and an oversized kitchen island.

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PUTNAM PLACE features a full-blown live music experience, complete with a raised stage, state-of-the-art sound and light and the largest LED videoRace wallSeason in the 2020 region. Photos fromsystems Capital Region Gives Back & Saratoga PUTNAM PLACE is also the perfect spot with everything you need to host your event or private party. We work with local businesses to create a well-rounded exciting event and can accommodate up to 500 people! HOLIDAY PARTIES | BIRTHDAY PARTIES | BABY SHOWERS | WEDDING RECEPTION AFTER-PARTIES | BACHELORETTE PARTIES | PRIVATE PARTIES | FUNDRAISERS | OFFICE MEETINGS/PARTIES

Call us for details! 518-886-9585

Visit www.putnamplace.com for additional information on upcoming live shows and events.

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION

osteria danny

un by chef Danny Petrosino and his wife, Patti, osteria danny specializes in Italian-American cuisine with an emphasis on simplicity and creative development. As such, the menu is updated frequently to encompass new culinary concepts and locally sourced ingredients whenever they are available. Although the menu is continuously evolving via Danny’s creative will, the original recipes remain a pivotal influence on the dishes that osteria danny produces. Open 4-9pm SundayThursday; 4-10pm Friday and Saturday. 26 HENRY ST, SARATOGA SPRINGS osteriadanny.com 518.423.7022

Dunning Street Station

Henry Street Taproom

ood food, lots of beer and an atmosphere that’s the perfect mix of relaxed, cozy and chic? That’s what you can expect at Henry Street Taproom, which has been serving local craft beers and ciders, classic cocktails and locally sourced, made-fromscratch food since 2012. Ten years in, Henry Street is still a go-to spot for locals who never tire of cozying up to the fire on the coldest of Saratoga days. Open 4-10pm TuesdayFriday; 2-10pm Saturday; 2-9pm Sunday. 86 HENRY ST, SARATOGA SPRINGS henrystreettaproom.com 518.886.8938

The Hideaway

ocated less than 10 minutes from downtown Saratoga Springs just off Exit 13S, Dunning Street Station is known for its laidback environment and frontof-mind customer service. Chef Bruce Jacobson, formerly of sister restaurant Lake Ridge has curated an impressive menu, featuring many Italian-inspired classics with a twist, which are available for dine-in or takeout. (Gift certificates also make a great holiday gift!) Add in plenty of parking, ample space at the bar and a daily happy hour from 3-6pm, and Dunning Street Station is a winning option for a night out. Open 3-9pm Tuesday-Saturday.

t may be called “The Hideaway,” but it’s no secret that Saratoga Lake Golf Club’s onsite restaurant is one of the best places to enjoy drinks or dinner all year long. Whether you’re looking to enjoy a light snack and a cocktail or a full-fledged feast (try the surf & turf or jalapeño popper chicken), The Hideaway has you covered. And NFL is on screen every Sunday of the season! Follow the restaurant on Facebook for up-to-date info on food and drink specials, special events and more. Open 11am-9pm Monday-Friday; 9am-9pm Saturday and Sunday.

2853 STATE HWY 9, MALTA dunningstreetstation.com 518.587.2000

3 5 GR ACE MOORE RD , SAR ATOG A SPRINGS hideawaysaratoga.com 518 . 3 06. 19 00

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Lake Ridge

ucked away in the village of Round Lake, just off Exit 11 of the Northway, Lake Ridge is only 15 minutes from both Saratoga Springs and Albany. Enjoy a full seafood, steak or pasta dinner in one of the “Best Of 2022”-winning restaurant’s three dining rooms, savor a snack from its expanded small plates menu, or skip food altogether and stop in for a martini or specialty cocktail at the breathtaking mahogany bar. Gift certificates are also available. Open 4-8:45pm Tuesday-Saturday.

35 BURLINGTON AVE, ROUND LAKE, lake-ridge.com 518.899.6000

Prime at Saratoga National

hen it comes to the holiday season, Prime at Saratoga National, the Spa City’s premier steakhouse located on a gorgeous 18-hole golf course, has you covered. Stop by the restaurant on a hill to pick up a gift card (they make excellent stocking stuffers!) and stay for lunch, dinner, happy hour or Sunday brunch. Prime is also available for all your winter private event needs, from corporate or holiday parties to the elegant winter wedding of your dreams. Open for lunch & dinner Wednesday-Sunday; 10:00am–2:00pm Sunday Brunch. 458 UNION AVE, SARATOGA SPRINGS, primeatsaratoganational.com 518.583.4653

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION

Rivers Casino & Resort

ivers Casino & Resort, located in the heart of downtown Schenectady, offers a multitude of restaurants that appeal to a wide variety of taste buds. Rivers Casino is the Capital Region’s ultimate entertainment destination, filled with action-packed gaming opportunities and diverse dining options. There is something for everyone! Rivers Entertainment features some of the best events in the Capital Region, with live entertainment, concerts, dining experiences and so much more! Check in throughout the season on RiversCasino.com/Schenectady to see events as they’re added. FOOTBALL BEER SPECIALS Rivers Casino & Resort has you covered this football season with its Football Beer Specials. If you’re looking Restaurants open 7 days a week.

for the best specials every Saturday, Sunday, Monday and Thursday, they have you covered. Van Slyck’s, Dukes and The Landing Hotel Bar offer $4 Bud Light, Michelob Ultra and Stella Artois cans as well as draft beers. THANKSGIVING DINNER AT DUKES Treat yourself and your family to a specialty three-course dinner at Dukes Chophouse this Thanksgiving! Whether you have a small or large family, visit Dukes Chophouse for a highend dining experience from 2PM-8PM on Thanksgiving Day. Guests can enjoy slow-roasted turkey breast, sausage stuffing, Dauphiné potatoes, glazed carrots and much more! Rivers Casino & Resort offers options that everyone can enjoy, all just steps away from the Casino Floor and The Landing Hotel. Raise the stakes and treat yourself to a winning experience at Rivers Casino & Resort.

1 R USH ST, SCH E NE CTADY

rive rsca sin o. com

518 . 579 .8800

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seasonal cocktail corner

SPECIAL PROMOTIONAL SECTION

Holiday Cheer

The Company Man Warm your belly this holiday season with this Roe & Co concoction, mixed with Applejack, lemon, maple, Allspice and hard cider.

36 5 B ROA DWAY, SA R ATO G A S P R I N G S 5 18 . 35 0 .7 9 4 5 M o r r i sse ysL o unge . c o m .

Cowboy Cocoa This Santa-worthy treat starts with warmed milk and chocolate sauce spiked with Woodenville Bourbon, and then topped with cream and a cocoa dusting.

8 C A RO L I N E ST, SA R ATO G A S P R I NGS 5 18 .7 9 1. 6 19 9 si p sar at o ga. c om

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{ horseplay } Leaping Blizzards!

“I like their pizza but I hate their guts.” –CANTINA

DOWN 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.

12. 13. 18. 22. 26. 27. 29.

Gnats and rats Witch trials locale Declares, formally Bundy and Lasso “Chandelier” singer Common pond fish Places to stay Pal, in Perth Artist Dalí, to friends 13-digit numbers The “biggest little city in the world” Again Go by Church seating Anderson Cooper’s network (abbr.) Heart test, for short Mexican stew Bouncer’s requests, for short

25 30

26 31

–MILLION DOLLAR BEACH

51 56

45. ___-Wan Kenobi 47. CO airport 50. Nickname for many a ginger 51. Broccoli ___ 54. High-ranking ancient Celt 55. Vandalized, with a food product 56. Cluttered 57. Weakens, as power 58. SpaceX’s Musk 59. Shark Tank’sGreiner 61. Fuzzy winter boot brand

62. Oft-tripled word used to describe something boring 64. ___ and willing 66. Bambi’s mom, for one 68. ___ Miss (southern college nickname) 69. Vehicle with sliding doors ANSWERS ON saratogaliving.com SEARCH: CROSSWORD

overheard “Stop trying to make Clifton Park happen.”

31. Polarizing medical advisor Anthony 32. Mean (to) 33. College sports org. 34. Criminal group 35. NY org. that monitors the sale of alcohol 36. Garbanzo, for one 37. Mexican vacation destination, familiarly 38. Raise money by way of many donors 41. Famous Korean septet

19 21

53. Genetic inits. 54. Rep.’s counterpart 57. Subject of many a philosophical debate 60. Nickname 63. Flat boat 65. Audibly 67. Insects living in a bit of winter apparel 70. Erotic film, slangily 71. Fancy fundraiser 72. Isn’t truthful 73. Disparaging, as comments 74. Clifton Park sch. 75. Saratoga’s ___ F’s Seafood

BY N ATA L I E M O O R E ACROSS 1. Test for a high school jr. 5. Milk type 9. Word after ratchet or watch 14. Roof part 15. Downstate school 16. Albany’s MVP, for one 17. Coat on a toboggan 19. They’re found on a gym floor 20. Curt 21. “Yeah, I’ll be there in a ___” 23. Highs’ counterpart 24. Texting abbr. 25. World Wide ___ 28. Zero 30. Important snow sport discoveries 36. Mass email option, for short 39. Mom’s mom, maybe 40. Home of LA 41. Animal with eight species alive today 42. What a tire makes in mud 43. Mom’s mom, maybe 44. Board game with a buzzer 46. “Hot or ___?” (Dunkin' drive-thru question) 48. Hang down 49. Decision made regarding winter precipitation 52. No Time to ___

“If I wasn’t so busy drinking and sleeping with strangers I would have been in ultimate frisbee club.”

“What’s 20 percent of not an idiot?” –DOWNTOWN SARATOGA

–SAMARITAN HOSPITAL

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color correct (clockwise, from top right) Natalie Moore at a House of Colour consultation; sipping tea in the Complexions relaxation room; a decorative duck for sale at Samantha Nass Floral Design; Moore at the opening of Whitman Brewing’s new beer hall.

Secret Society SLAH EXPLORES TH E H I DDEN GEM S OF TH E SPA CI TY.

when i showed up early to an interview at Complexions Spa for Beauty & Wellness this fall, I was given a grand tour of the spa, a two-level oasis I’d never stepped foot in before. My tour guide showed me all the different treatment rooms, pausing at a room with a bathtub. “This is our best-kept secret,” she said. For just $39, customers receive a hydrotherapy soak, complete with their choice of custom essential oil blend, and then get

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to hang out at the spa for—get this—as long as they want, taking advantage of Complexions’ rain shower, indoor/ outdoor relaxation areas, sauna and steam room. “I give this as a gift all the time,” my tour guide said. “People say, ‘Why are you giving me a bath?’ And I’m like, ‘It’s not just a bath.’” That experience, and specifically the incredibly delicious organic hot tea that I sipped on while waiting in the relaxation room (a special

blend available only at Complexions), got me thinking—what other secrets are Saratogians sitting on? It seems everywhere I go, I uncover one. At Samantha Nass Floral Design’s elegant Lawrence Street shop, I discovered the perfect gift for the Saratogian who has everything—the most adorable kneehigh wooden ducks, an homage to the residents of Congress Park, each with their own personality and nametag. (One was named Natalie, so I may be biased.) In my email inbox, I found a note from a contributing writer about her friend’s love affair with the to-diefor Compton’s mac ’n’ cheese of years past (if you have any information on the long-lost recipe, please come forward). And at saratoga living’s Cocktails & Clairvoyance event earlier this year, I met Amy Latta, an independent House of Colour consultant, who has since taught me (and countless others) the true power of a colorful wardrobe that complements your skin tone. You can read about those Saratoga secrets and more on Saratoga Living After Hours (scan the QR code below), a newsletter from the saratoga living team that celebrated its one-year anniversary this November 2. As we enter our second full year of SLAH, we hope to hear more from you—the readers and subjects of so many of our stories. So reach out to us! We’re just an email away. We love our city and the people in it. And that’s no secret.

–Natalie Moore Secret Sharer editorial@saratogaliving.com

4th Annual Capital Region Gives Back Thursday, December 15, 6pm Putnam Place, downtown Saratoga Springs Scan the QR code below to purchase tickets!

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At checkout, choose which of the 10 causes you’d like to support with 50 percent of your ticket price.

☛

TURN THE PAGE TO READ UP ON OUR 10 HONOREES—AND THE NONPROFITS AND MOVEMENTS THEY ARE REPRESENTING.

Dan Graham

Su p p ort er Lu c k y P u p py Res cue

Saratoga W

Gives Back FI V E O U TSTA N DI N G DO -G O O DE RS TAPPE D INTO SA R ATO GA ’S FA MOUSLY GI V I NG S PIRIT IN AN EXTRA-SPECIAL WAY THIS YEAR. WE’LL BE TOASTING T H E M D EC E MBER 15 —AN D RAI S ING M ONEY FOR T H E CAU S E S CLOSEST TO THEIR HE ARTS .

Here are their stories. Scan for party info

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hen Dan Graham fostered a rescue Pitbull in April 2020, he made it less than a day before he gave in and adopted her. “After having her for about 14 hours, the rescue called to tell me that dogs were being adopted very fast and if I was interested in her I needed to speak up,” he says. “I hung up the phone, looked at her face and said, ‘Well, that was quick. Welcome home, pup.’” Graham adopted Nikka through New York City’s Rescue Dogs Rock, but wanted to get involved with a more local rescue. He heard about Argyle’s Lucky Puppy Rescue, which was hosting a “Pups & Pints” event at Common Roots Brewing. “I went up there, introduced myself and offered to help them raise money,” he says. “And they looked at me like, sure.” But Graham was a man of his word, and has since hosted fundraisers including a Pups & Pints event at Frog Alley and an outdoor volleyball tournament at East Side Rec. “Two or three dogs got adopted because of the events I ran,” he says. “It’s really, really fulfilling.” But while seeing puppies get adopted is what warms the heart, Graham says funding is just as important. It takes money to maintain Lucky Puppy’s two pristine farms— one in Florida and one in Washington County—and more money to transport the dogs on school buses from Florida to Argyle two to three times a month. Speaking of the Florida farm, it takes in a lot of pregnant dogs, and therefore the Argyle adoption center has a lot of puppies available (hence the name Lucky Puppy). “Some people think that they’re going to get this old, beat-up dog when they adopt,” Graham says. “There are dogs that are absolutely amazing that are puppies.”

to the rescue “The Lucky Puppy farm in Argyle is so well done,” says Dan Graham, seen here with his rescue dog, Nikka. “You can tell they want these dogs to be in a clean, beautiful environment.” p h o t o g r a p h by

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hope springs eternal Every spring, Maggie Fronk thinks of the survivor who told her, ‘After winter’s cold and grey, the warm sun comes out one day—that's what it felt like when I came to you.’ p h o t o g r a p h by

F r a n c e s co D’ A m ico

Maggie Fronk Ex ec u tiv e Dir ec tor We lls pr in g

t’s a special kind of person who dedicates their entire working life to helping others—and Wellspring’s Maggie Fronk is one of those people. This year marks her milestone

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20th year as the nonprofit’s executive director; she previously worked in the realms of AIDS, mental illness and homelessness. During her two decades at Wellspring, an unparalleled domestic violence and sexual assault services resource for Saratoga County, Fronk saw it through the Me Too movement and says the community is now more

willing to talk about these issues. “We’re starting to see some social change,” she says. “Me Too brought awareness, which helped us redefine the people we’ve seen be victimized, because what we saw in Me Too were some very powerful, well-known, articulate women who said, ‘This happened to me.’” Wellspring mans a 24/7 crisis service hotline and offers essentials such as emergency shelter and accompaniment to police stations, but stresses that survivors who need help even past the crisis point should call them anytime. In addition to counseling, Wellspring keeps its “Well Shop” stocked with items such as American Girl dolls and diapers, and has a crucial rent subsidies housing program to help survivors move on to a home without violence. “We have bars you can put on your windows if you’re worried your abuser could be trying to break in,” Fronk says. “And last year we gave domestic violence survivors 15,000 pounds of food. They’d moved beyond the abuse but were struggling financially.” Under Fronk’s innovative leadership, Wellspring also offers a host of new programs to educate community members of all ages about how to better combat and prevent domestic violence and abuse, including Men With Wellspring (just what it sounds like), Raising the Bar that meets with bartenders, and a student athlete program that’s about “coaching boys into men and athletes into leaders” (just to name a few). “I’d like to see the social change,” Fronk says. “We need to become very attuned to our social norms and challenge them. We’re all learning.”

bare necessity BARE Blends owner Annie Berdar is passionate about making healthy food accessible to everyone. p h o t o g r a p h by

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Annie Berdar

su p p o r te r S o u th E n d C h i l d r en ’ s Ca f é

hile BARE Blends cofounder Annie Berdar serves smoothies and salads to working professionals, on-the-go moms and fitness buffs by day, outside of her work at the Capital Region–based franchise, she has her sights set on providing healthy food to other populations. “Back at the beginning of Covid, I learned that most kids rely on the school system for lunches,” says the Saratogian. “I was thinking of ways

that I could fill that gap and I came across the café.” Located, yes, just south of downtown Albany, the South End Children’s Café helps address food insecurity by offering an after-school program where kids can get help with homework, participate in enrichment classes and get a healthy dinner. During the pandemic, Berdar and her BARE Blends staff brought smoothies to the café, and BARE has continued donating food whenever possible. “We brought a couple of exotic fruits and they loved learning about them and tasting them,” Berdar says of the Children’s Café kids. “When we told them how beneficial fruits

and veggies were for them, their eyes just lit up. They were like ‘Wow, I had no idea.’ And kids at that age are so impressionable; when you tell them something like that, that’s something that could stick with them for life.” Working with the South End Children’s Café inspired Berdar to do more to promote healthy eating habits in the Capital Region: She designed and is in the process of installing interactive Learning Paths with signage about fruits and vegetables in parks around the region, and regularly donates to Albany’s Free Food Fridge. “Food is something we all share and celebrate with,” she says. “It’s something everyone deserves access to.”

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back to basics BEST’s Nancy Underwood works seven days a week during track season to care for the race course’s backstretch workers: “They love being here in Saratoga. We create a community. They know they come to us if they’re sick, or sad.” p h o t o g r a p h by

F r a n c e s co D’ A m i co

Nancy Underwood Pr o g r am Direc tor BE ST Sar ato ga

hen Saratoga’s track meet ran a spectator-less season in 2020, Nancy Underwood’s work at the Backstretch Employee Service Team (BEST) of Saratoga barely slowed down. After all, with the horses still running, the legion of backstretch workers who tend to the Thoroughbreds needed care as well. This year, with Saratoga Race Course back in full swing? Underwood and team toiled day and night, seven days a week, to ensure that all workers not only got the healthcare they needed but also felt

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part of a tight-knit community. “Wednesday nights we do Bingo with 300 backstretch workers, and we do Sunday night dinners,” says Underwood, BEST’s Saratoga program director. “It’s how we touch them on a personal level to make sure they know us and will come to us when they need something.” Those needs run the gamut. The majority of the backstretch workers hail from Spanish-speaking areas, often countries where treating an ailment means simply popping into a pharmacy. Given the US’s confusing healthcare web, BEST operates a unique clinic that assists with everything from injuries to diabetes. If they have to travel for an appointment, the nonprofit secures transportation

and a translator. “One 18-year-old had never been to a doctor and came in with an untreated eye infection that had left him blind in one eye,” Underwood says. “He was a kid from the mountains of Guatemala and was terrified. They fit him with a prosthetic.” Horse training goes well until November, and BEST works fulltime until the very last horse and worker leaves. “We offer the most comprehensive services across the country,” she says. “But when they leave us, how do we prepare them? We make sure that prescriptions are set up for refills, role play asking for things they need. We push at the end of the season so when people come back in April, it’s not a crisis situation.”

card stock In addition to helping Ukrainian refugees during two trips to Poland, Adam Israel hand-delivered hundreds of cards with cash so people could buy basic things like car seats and phone chargers. p h o t o g r a p h by

F r a n ce s co D’A m ico

Adam Israel Co- fo u n d e r L et te rs o f Ho p e for Uk r a i n e

hen millions of Ukrainian refugees, after running for their lives, found themselves tragically homeless in countries not their own, Adam Israel knew he had to help—and fast. Within weeks of Russia’s initial invasion of the country early this year, Israel was on a flight to neighboring Poland, carrying cards and cash. In those early days, blurred by fear of the unknown, the hundreds of donated cards Israel passed out at the Ukraine/ Poland border delivered messages of hope (hence the initiative’s name

“Letters of Hope for Ukraine”)— plus $20 cash. Israel and his wife, Kasia, had years prior organized boxes of supplies to be sent to the (twice) hurricane-ravaged island of St. Thomas. In 2022, cash was more practical: People can donate in seconds via Venmo, and the cash proved the quickest way for refugees to be able to buy exactly what they needed (aided by a favorable exchange rate), after a quick stop at a money exchange. “My wife is Polish, and we lived there during Covid,” Israel says. “We own a cabin and car there, close to the border, and her brother is there. We had to help.” Kasia stayed in Saratoga with the couple’s two children, and Israel met hundreds of refugees, passing out his cards and money, wishing people

well. On a return trip, he helped drive refugees out of Ukraine and into Poland, with Kasia often on the phone, calming them in Polish. (Each trip took three to six hours.) Now back in Saratoga, there are displaced Ukrainians, living in churches or donated apartments, who need food and a place to live. “One mom fled with her 4-year-old son as bombs were exploding, and now the kid won’t leave the house without his snow suit on, even during the summer,” Israel says. “A mom and daughter’s home blew up with them in it, and Mom lost an eye. These people fled in terror and now need counseling and healthcare—they have socialized healthcare there, so no one has insurance. And they simply have nowhere to go.”

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capital region

Gives Back W E ' R E H O N O R I N G F I V E C A P I TA L R E G I O N R E S I D E N T S W H O , S I M P LY P U T, A R E M A K I N G U P S TAT E N E W YO R K—A N D T H E WO R L D —A B E T T E R P L AC E AT O U R A N N U A L F U N D R A I S I N G EVENT ON DECEMBER 15.

Here are their stories. Scan for party info

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Shaun Evans

Sen i or Vi c e P resident of Edu cat i on Ai n sley ’ s An g el s

hen Shaun Evans found out that his son, Shamus, had Cerebral Palsy, he took the news in stride. Literally. Evans began pushing Shamus in a jogging chair while training for a marathon, and by the time Shamus was 7, the duo ran their first ultra-marathon together, covering 45 miles in six hours to win the race. Afterward, Shamus asked how far he and his dad could run if they ran that far every single day of his summer vacation. “Just as an exercise in mathematics, I helped him multiply it out,” Evans says. They discovered they could run 3,000 miles—about the width of the country. Shamus’ response? “Oh, we’ve got to do that.” Evans figured Shamus would forget about the idea, but he didn’t. “The night before Thanksgiving, I went to talk to him in bed,” Evans says. “He said, ‘Dad, when we run across America, can we give chairs to kids like me so they can feel what it’s like to go fast?’ So I stepped out of his room with a tear in my eye and a lump in my throat and said to my wife, ‘We’ve really got to try to make this happen.’” A year and a half later, in 2015, it happened. Evans and Shamus teamed up with Ainsley’s Angels, an organization that promotes inclusivity by providing families with adaptive equipment, to run 3,205 miles from Seattle to New York City in 60 days and to donate 35 chairs to kids with disabilities along the way. Now, the Evans family hosts an annual Ainsley’s Angels 5K in Galway, where runners can sign up as pushers and be paired with riders who can’t run the race themselves. And Evans just released Better Together, a memoir about his and Shamus’ journey. “His whole entire life,” Evans says, “whatever Shamus wants to do, we’ll figure out a way to make it happen.”

in the running “The mission of Ainsley’s Angels goes beyond the running chair,” says Shaun Evans, seen here with his son, Shamus. “It’s to promote inclusive communities and get kids involved, whether it be in athletics, dances, parties or games.” p h o t o g r a p h by

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yule’s ride Jeff Yule makes sure families dealing with health crises have financial help for costs beyond medical bills. He can empathize after having two critically ill babies and losing the second’s twin seven months into his wife’s pregnancy. p h o t o g r a p h by

Ko n r a d o dh i a m b o

Jeff Yule Ex ec u tiv e Dir ec tor Bu ildin g o n Love

eff Yule’s first experience in the world of helping families care for sick kids was as a parent of a sick kid. “Our son Patrick was born with an Apgar of 1 at Saratoga Hospital,” Yule says. “I almost lost both my wife and son during the delivery.” The couple stayed at Albany’s Ronald McDonald House while Patrick was in the NICU, and found themselves back there two years later when their daughter was born two months prematurely. After that, Yule joined the Ronald McDonald

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House Charities (RMHC) of the Capital Region’s board, and eventually became the organization’s executive director. It was at RMHC that Yule met Jerry and Diane Abdelnour, who were very active volunteers with the organization. The Abdelnours eventually formed their own charity called Building on Love, which provides direct financial support to families dealing with a long-term illness, whether it’s a child or parent who’s sick, by way of rent, mortgage or car payments, or gas cards. “At first we didn’t want to hand out gift cards,” says Yule, who’s served as Building on Love’s executive director for three years. “And now [given this past year’s inflated gas prices], families

are putting gas on their credit cards, so the gas is going to cost exponentially more because they don’t have the wherewithal to pay off their credit cards. It’s a devastating thing.” And this isn’t just a few gas tank fill-ups we’re talking. A child’s cancer treatment isn’t always local, usually takes years, and often requires a parent has to stop working— and therefore stop earning an income— to get through it. Currently, Building on Love, which is still a fairly new charity with limited resources, can provide up to $5,000 per family through its family grant program. “I dream that someday we can do $10,000,” Yule says. “Or someday, if you’re in the hospital for six months, we’ve got your mortgage covered.”

Starletta Smith Ex ec u tiv e Dir ec tor Y WCA o f the G r e at er Cap ital Reg ion

tarletta Smith brings a level of empathy and compassion to her role as executive director of the YWCA of the Greater Capital Region that is simply unparalleled. She found the organization via a community college internship and hasn’t looked back since—she was hired the next year, and took the helm 11 years later. But her unique perspective comes from her life before all of that. By the time Smith graduated high school, she had two sons and a physically abusive husband twice her age. After having her older son at just 14 (she herself still loved Mickey Mouse), she eventually found the alternative high school she graduated from—her teachers would meet her at her job, since her husband didn’t want her in school—and she got help securing a safe apartment away from her abuser. She hadn’t known those types of services existed. So now she gives back by spreading the word, while fighting racism and promoting the importance of therapy. “My passion comes from having been a teenage mom and a survivor of domestic violence,” Smith says. “I was too embarrassed to say that I needed help. My pride wouldn’t let me, and that kept me in a shell, suffering for longer. I understand what it’s like to feel alone and hopeless and want to now uplift women and give others hope.” Smith’s branch of the YWCA is the area’s largest provider of supportive housing for single homeless women and homeless mothers. It also runs a food pantry, and has mental health services, career counseling, addiction treatment—everything it can to make institutional change benefitting women of color. Nationwide, the YWCA, over its 150-year span, has helped more than 2 million women.

“That’s a testament to how strong we are collectively,” Smith says. “We must eliminate racism and empower women—we can’t do either without the other. No human being is disposable. So we have to stop looking at what divides us and bring people together for the greater community.”

mother’s love YWCA’s Starletta Smith credits her two sons for helping her break the cycle of “poverty and teenage parenthood—it was 15 years before I was doing it for myself. Now I work to give others hope.” p h o t o g r a p h by

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sound of music The arts are a way to feel less alone in a post-pandemic world, says Anna Kuwabara: “Music connects to your heart and soul, and connects you to others who are having the same experience.” p h o t o g r a p h by

Ko n r a d o dh ia m bo

Anna Kuwabara Ex ec u tiv e Dir ec tor Alban y Sy m ph on y Or c h est r a

or the everyday Capital Regionite, COVID seems like a nightmare that has come and mostly gone. But for Albany Symphony Orchestra’s executive director, Anna Kuwabara, recovering from its aftermath is still very much on the forefront, as the arts struggle to secure the sponsorships needed in a belt-tightening, post-pandemic world. But there is an enchanting, driving silver lining: the music. “The world needs more touches of magic, and music is something that connects to your heart and

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soul,” Kuwabara says. “Some people are still scared to leave their homes or maybe still feel uncomfortable around groups of people. There has to be a reason to take that step out to go and see other people—that’s what the arts can offer.” Kuwabara has been in the orchestra world for more than three decades and was drawn to Albany’s symphony (and its renowned music director David Allen Miller) because of its long history of throwing itself behind new music. When the performing arts industry as a whole started to focus on increasing diversity, Albany was ahead of the game. “We’re doing a lot of work on diversity, equity and inclusion now,” she says, pointing at a goose bump-

inducing opening night piece by Black composer Joel Thompson, which ended with (almost all of) the musicians standing up and singing to represent the unity and vulnerability needed in the world right now. “And after three decades of David and the orchestra’s commitment to new music, it feels like a natural extension of our work to find and amplify voices of all kinds.” Since COVID, the symphony has suffered a 25 percent drop in donations, which not only go to funding the concerts, but also its educational programs that ensure the local arts community is fostered in the next generation. “People,” Kuwabara says, “should have access to what makes life rich and beautiful.”

a husband’s love Mike McNary lost his wife to Huntington’s five years ago, and now his 28-year-old daughter has begun experiencing symptoms of the disease. p h o t o g r a p h by

F r a n c e s co D’ A m ico

Mike McNary Boar d M e m be r Huntington’s Disease Society of America, Albany Chapter

n 1996, Mike and Teresa McNary, a young and healthy couple with two children, got a call that would change their lives forever. Teresa’s estranged father, whom she hadn’t seen in 25 years, had died of a disease called Huntington’s. “We started researching what it is,” Mike says, “and said, ‘Oh, crap. This is not good.’” Huntington’s is an incurable, heredity brain disease that causes a deterioration in a person’s physical, mental and emotional abilities. Symptoms, which have been

described as having ALS, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s simultaneously, typically begin between the ages of 30 and 50 and worsen over the course of 10 to 25 years until, ultimately, the person dies. If a parent has it, there’s a 50/50 chance his or her child will have it. Teresa got tested, and she had it. “In 2001, some things started happening to her personality,” Mike says. “She got in some arguments at work and got fired. One of the biggest symptoms was her inability to understand what is right and wrong. Rules didn’t apply to her. We had to take her license away. It was like living with an ornery Alzheimer’s patient that still has the ability to fight and be really tough to deal with because they’re young.”

Caring for Teresa eventually became too much for Mike, and she moved to a Huntington’s-specific nursing home in Lee, MA in 2013. (Most regular nursing homes don’t accept Huntington’s patients because they’re too difficult to care for.) After four and a half years, she passed away, but the nightmare the McNary family had lived through wasn’t over: Both of Mike and Teresa’s children got tested and are positive for the Huntington’s gene. For the last 10 years or so, Mike has done the only thing he can do: serve on the board of the Huntington’s Disease Society of America’s Albany Chapter. “The mission, obviously, is just like the mission for cancer societies,” he says of the organization. “Find the cure.”

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