Month: August 2021

Saratoga Casino Hotel will reopen its Vapor entertainment space on Thursday, Sept. 30, after being closed for nearly eighteen months during the COVID pandemic.

Vapor closed in March 2020 and although they could have reopened earlier this year, Saratoga Casino Hotel chose to keep the entertainment venue closed so it could renovate the space.

Vapor will reopen with a new look and new dance floor, and will continue to showcase live entertainment every weekend featuring top-performing local bands with no cover charge.

Special events including tributes and national acts will be scattered throughout the entertainment calendar. Shows originally scheduled for 2020, Material Girls and Michael Grandinetti, are now on sale for new fall dates. Material Girls—a tribute performance to Madonna, Cher, Lady Gaga and Adele—will appear on Oct. 8, and illusionist Michael Grandinetti is scheduled for Nov. 19. Tickets originally purchased for the 2020 dates will be honored. To purchase tickets, visit SaratogaCasino.com or Tix.com.

The Pines@SPAC, a $9.5 million renovation project at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, a world-class arts and culture destination located in Saratoga Spa State Park, was formally opened in late July.

The project improves visitor services and creates new four-season event space.

New York State provided $1.5 million in grants from Empire State Development and State Parks, awarded through the Governor’s Regional Economic Development Council initiative. The funding was secured in 2019 and demolition began in October of the same year, with the new facility planned to welcome audiences in June 2020. Additional support was provided by Live Nation.

When SPAC was forced to cancel its 2020 season as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the new spaces in the facility enabled the center to welcome the community to its campus in a safe, socially distanced way. From July to December, 10,000 people, 50 people at a time, came to SPAC for wellness, film, culinary and art-based events.

Saratoga Performing Arts Center President and CEO Elizabeth Sobol said, “Nowhere is SPAC’s transformation more dramatically evident than in the presence of our new Pines@SPAC facility. The project began with the intent to replace aging concessions and bathroom facilities, but quickly expanded its scope to align with our new mission.”

She said the new facilities opened up original site lines, restoring a beautiful park aesthetic to the campus and accommodate SPAC’s growing education program.

By Jill Nagy

Matchless Stove and Chimney of  Clifton Park plans to move to a new location, 1581 Route 9 in Halfmoon, a retail plaza they recently purchased.

The new venue, only two miles south of the company’s present home, will give the company more space, some rental income, and, possibly, a hedge against inflation, according to company owner Jeremiah Madden.

Madden found the new location almost by chance.

“I was actually driving down Route 9 and saw a sign in the window,” he recalled, “I pulled in one snowy day and had a feeling in my gut it was right.”

The building is now undergoing renovation down to the studs for a new showroom. It will also get a new road sign, landscaping, sidewalks, paint and new facing.

Madden is calling upon 25 years of remodeling experience to guide the project. Cooney Contracting is doing about 90 percent of the work, he estimated, but Madden is onsite and hands-on everyday. His wife, Sonya, who, he said, “has a keen eye for design and paint colors,” is contributing to the design aspects of the project.

The company will give up its rented space in Clifton Park but will keep its other location, in Glenmont, as a base of operations. They recently remodeled part of the showroom there as well as freshening up their offices.

By Susan Elise Campbell

Saratoga area mothers are getting fresh, natural baby food that is grown and prepared locally and sustainably, thanks to a company founded by a physician in the throes of the pandemic.

Dr. Jennifer Lefner is the dual board-certified neonatologist and pediatrician at Saratoga Hospital who started Seedlings to help solve two problems with one act of entrepreneurship.

For one, farmers were having to dump food despite increased demand for food assistance during the shutdown. The other was the apprehension and questions she knew working mothers would have about food transmission and safety.

“I live in farm country and having friends in the food industry, it was distressing to me,” said Lefner. “I thought, is there an outlet for the wasted food, and can I do something with it?”

While on maternity leave she had prepared baby food for her two children from her own kitchen.  Lefner said, “It seems like a good idea but making consistently fresh, nutritious food is a lot of work.”

Quality baby food starts with quality ingredients, and Lefner is collaborating with 9 Miles East Farm LLC in Northumberland. It also has a restaurant in Saratoga, and delivers ready-to-eat meals to clients around Saratoga, Albany, and as far as Boston and parts of Connecticut.

By Jennifer Farnsworth

Just as fans are back at Saratoga Race Course, fans of authentic Italian food are also back at the Dunning Street Station Bar and Grill in Malta.

After taking a break during the height of the coronavirus pandemic, the restaurant reopened late spring.

Owner Bob McKenna said the feedback from both the regular customers and new faces has been overwhelmingly positive.

“We want to be that local neighborhood bar and restaurant where everyone feels welcome when they walk through our doors. Everyone has been so supportive, and we really felt it from the community,” said McKenna.

McKenna said during the closure they decided to make some changes to the menu as well as some simple changes to the decor, like new table cloths. The menu is Italian casual fare.

Ed and Lisa Mitzen established The Business for Good Foundation, a nonprofit organization with a mission to build thriving communities by owning, accelerating, and assisting businesses in the greater Capital Region.

All profits from BFG Owned  businesses go directly to local, charitable causes.

Mitzen, a philanthropist and entrepreneur who successfully launched several independent, marketing agencies, including the healthcare agency Fingerpaint based in Saratoga Springs, and wife, Lisa Mitzen, a humanitarian with a strong background in mortgage lending, created Business for Good to give back to their community in an impactful and lasting way.

They hope the Business for Good Foundation will pioneer venture philanthropy in the Albany greater Capital Region.

Since the start of its official launch in October of 2020, BFG has donated $4.4 million in grants and resources across New York state.

Business for Good reimagines business as a seed for social change, with the power to change lives and shape communities. To fight the inequities of access to resources and support, Business for Good’s mission is to share resources, strategies and connections to help others build their dreams while giving back to their communities, said a statement released by the organization.

With a focus of healing the underserved and breaking cycles of food insecurity, housing instability and education inequity, BFG strives to open doors and opportunities where they haven’t been before.

By Susan Elise Campbell

Lyrical Ballad Bookstore, in the heart of Saratoga’s historic downtown, turns 50 this year with new ownership and the promise of keeping this used and rare book destination much the same as it was when John and Janice DeMarco founded it.

The transaction for the 7 Phila St. business was completed in June between Janice DeMarco and new co-owners Charlie Israel and Jason Zerrillo.

“Jan DeMarco was eager to keep the spirit of the shop alive,” said Israel. “She had worked in the store at 7 Phila Street for decades with her husband.”

Zerrillo had worked at Lyrical Ballad for 15 years when the opportunity came to join Israel as an equal partner in the business.

“Having Jay step in would help maintain the shop’s spirit,” said Israel. “He knows the place inside-out.”

Neither partner has owned a book store before. Israel is involved in historical preservation and his family has spent 40 years helping preserve the Franklin Square area, he said. 

“I worked in bookstores and also collected books since my late teens,” Zerrillo said. “When I moved to Saratoga to work for Borders, I of course discovered Lyrical Ballad and became friends with the DeMarcos. I used to spend my allowance there when I was a kid.”

The two became friends when they met eight years ago and discovered their mutual love of books and the legacy the DeMarcos built together.