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Author: Aidan Clark

Saratoga Springs High School Golf Poised for a Section 2 Clean Sweep 

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Sports.

Saratoga Springs Boys’ High School Golf Team Practicing at Saratoga National Ahead of Section 2 Individual Qualifiers (Aidan Clark)

Saratoga Springs High School Golf Team at the Section 2 Individual Qualifiers on October 14 (Courtesy of Coach Jake Zanetti)

The Saratoga Springs Boys’ High School Golf team has attained a perfect, 15-0 record in the regular season. The team is aiming to pull off a clean sweep of team achievements: a perfect regular season, Suburban Council Championship, and Section 2 Championship. 

In the seven seasons Coach Jake Zanetti has coached the team, they have never captured all three. 

In their final match against Shenendehowa on October 1, their winning streak was almost snapped. After all golfers had finished their game; it seemed Saratoga Springs lost by one point. 

On hole five, Wyatt Dolinsky’s ball was on the fringe. When he putted his ball, he inadvertently hit teammate Brady Greiner’s ball. When Dolinsky asked the coaches at the next hole if it was a penalty stroke, they told him it was.

However, a 45-minute conversation after the round, it was determined that if Dolinsky was on the green then it would have been a penalty, but because he was on the fringe, it was not. Therefore, the penalty was removed, and Saratoga retained their perfect season. 

The Section 2 team championship will be held on October 21 at the Fairways of Halfmoon. Saratoga has been runners up in the Section 2 Championship for the past three years.

Senior Cole Whitman has been on the team for all their runner-up finishes and is encouraging the team to stay focused. 

“I’ve been in this situation now many times, so the main idea is just to stay dialed in and be at the best of our game when it comes,” Whitman said.

In between the regular season and the Section 2 Championship, four of Saratoga Springs golfers qualified for the State Tournament for Section 2 in the Spring: Eliott Meyers, Michael Hakewill, and Matthew Nawrot, and Francisco Cupp who was the Section 2 Champion.

The state tournament will be held on June 6-7. at the Mill Creek Golf Course in Churchville, NY. 

Cupp, a sophomore, has been a section 2 star in his high school golf career so far, and took fourth place last year in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association boys golf championship. 

From an Email Chain Between Co-Worker and SPAC’s Amphitheater Stage: Maria Popova

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Entertainment.

Twenty years ago, while Maria Popova was working at an advertisement agency, she started sending weekly emails to her colleagues to elicit an intellectual spark. 

At the time, Popova had recently immigrated to America from Bulgaria to attend the University of Pennsylvania, while balancing four jobs to finance her education. 

The contents of the email compelled her co-workers to share the nuggets of insight they were receiving. This reaction repeated exponentially. So, charged with encouragement, Popova started a weekly publication, Brain Pickings, in 2006.  

Twenty years later, it remains a one-woman passion project to explore the complexity, and often duality of human consciousness. The only thing that has changed over its two-decade legacy is its name – now The Marginalian.

In 2012 the Library of Congress included The Maringalian in its permanent digital archive due to its cultural significance and historical importance. 

On October 23, twenty years to the day of when she emailed her advertisement colleagues, Popova is bringing her curiosity to Saratoga Performing Arts Center, along with friends she has made along the way. “Constellating Wonder: Maria Popova and Friends Celebrate 20 Years of The Marginalian” is an intersection of science, philosophy, and untapped wonder. 

The Marginalian, according to Popova, is not a source of salvation, but rather an embodiment of life’s anomalies. 

“I am one of them – a living question, ambiguous and unanswered, perhaps unanswerable,” Popova wrote. “We are always learning how to live. The Marginalian is just my record of that never-ending process.”

Attendees can expect Popova to read passages from the books that have most touched her over the years, each of which she will introduce with a reflection on its resonance to the eternal questions we live with: what do we make of our suffering, why did the world have to be beautiful, how do we see more clearly and love more purely.

“Maria Popova is one of the most extraordinary thinkers and cultural voices of our time, and her work has had a profound personal impact on how I see and think about the world,” said Elizabeth Sobol, Chief Executive Officer of Saratoga Performing Arts Center. “For years, Maria’s books and The Marginalian have led me into a new way of understanding the deep interconnectedness of art, science, literature, philosophy, and the natural world—and of approaching all of it with greater wonder and curiosity. Maria has inspired millions to think more deeply and expansively, and I am thrilled that SPAC will be the place where we celebrate her remarkable work and the twentieth anniversary of The Marginalian. This evening embodies so much of what we believe in at SPAC: the power of art to connect us, to expand our understanding of the world, and to remind us of the extraordinary miracle of being alive.”

The evening will feature live appearances across a constellation of friends, among them Krista Tippett, Marie Howe, Diane Ackerman, James Gleick, Debbie Millman, Sophie Blackall, Stephon Alexander, Natalie Batalha, Willow Defebaugh, Wendy MacNaughton, Zoë Keating, Joan as Police Woman, and The Young People’s Chorus of New York, alongside special contributions by Nick Cave, Natascha McElhone, and Paola Prestini.

Honoring the spirit by which The Marginalian has endured over the years, offered freely and supported by donations, tickets will be available on a pay-what-you-please basis, ranging from the event’s basic operating costs to higher levels of support. Complimentary tickets will also be available by request for those who need them.

For tickets, livestream access information, and additional details, visit spac.org. To view The Marginalian, visit themarginalian.org.

Saratoga County Looks Ahead to 250th Anniversary of America’s Turning Point

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Entertainment, Featured.

Revolutionary War Reenactors Commemorate Saratoga Siege Weekend Outside of County Offices in Ballston Spa (Aidan Clark)

As the nation’s Semiquincentennial celebrations are concluding, Saratoga County is looking ahead to 2027 for a year-long celebration of the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga. 

“This year’s been full of all sorts of ceremonies and fireworks displays across the nation as we honored the signing of the Declaration of Independence,” said Saratoga County Historian, Lauren Roberts. “But here in Saratoga, we like to say that the declaration was just the beginning. It would be another seven years of war before the Treaty of Paris was signed, and until the words on that document became a reality.”

As part of the lead up to 2027, legislation introduced by representative Eliese Stefanik to rename Saratoga National Historical Park to Saratoga National Battlefield Park has passed both chambers of Congress and is awaiting President Trump’s signature. 

This name change, proponents argue, better articulates the events which took place in autumn of 1777, and later became memorialized as the turning point of the American Revolution. 

“British General John Burgoyne’s objective was Albany, and he advanced all the way down from Canada and came so close, he could taste it,” said Roberts. “But what stood between his arm and his objective was Bemis Heights, an army of continental soldiers and militia that were fighting for something more than sixpence a day.”

To commemorate the quarter-millennia anniversary of the first surrender of a British army in history, Saratoga County is preparing for an influx of national and international visitors.

In 1927, for the 150th anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga, over 100,000 people gathered on the battlefield, perhaps the largest gathering in New York State until Woodstock. 

In 2027, in anticipation of increase in tourism, Saratoga 250 organizers are planning a larger and expanded Saratoga Siege Festival in 2027 which will include:

• Battle of Freeman’s Farm 250th Anniversary at Saratoga National Historical Park, September 18 & 19, 2027

• Battles of Saratoga 250th Commemoration; a two-day Battle Reenactment & Living History Event, October 9 & 10, 2027

• Turning Point Parade and Surrender Day Ceremony celebrating the 250th anniversary of General Burgoyne’s surrender to General Gates, October 17, 2027.

The expanded 2027 celebrations will provide opportunities to draw even greater attention to the historic communities, sites and stories associated with the Battles of Saratoga while strengthening the region’s position as a destination for history, heritage and cultural tourism.

For more information, visit www.saratoga250.com.

GlobalFoundries Plans Second Malta Chip Fab with Japanese Investment

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Business, Featured.

On Wednesday, October 14, GlobalFoundries announced plans to build a second manufacturing plant in Malta. Located next to the existing fab at the Luther Forest Technology Campus, the shovel-ready facility is expected to be completed in 2029. 

A 10-billion-dollar investment from Japan enabled by the Trump administration’s trade and investment agreement will accelerate construction of a new 300 millimeter semiconductor fab.

The project is expected to create about 27,000 construction and ecosystem jobs and more than 1,000 high-skilled manufacturing jobs. The new fab will add approximately 900,000 300-millimeter wafers of annual U.S. manufacturing capacity when fully operational. 

“This is a bold new initiative for semiconductor manufacturing, bringing together the United States and Japan with GF’s differentiated technology and decades of manufacturing expertise to accelerate trusted capacity in New York,” said Tim Breen, CEO of GlobalFoundries. 

An additional 10-billion-dollars was announced for a third semiconductor fab; however, a construction date was not announced. 

GlobalFoundries and the U.S. Department of Commerce agreed to reallocate almost 1 billion dollars in an existing CHIPS and Science Act award towards investments in silicon photonics. The award was originally appropriated for construction of a new fab. 

In a separate agreement, the U.S. Department of Commerce will receive four percent equity in GlobalFoundries. 

Alpine Ski Shop Celebrates 85 Years

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Business.

Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner Presenting Jack Hay with a letter from the Commissioner of the Historic Business Preservation Registry (Aidan Clark)

On Saturday, October 10, Alpine Sport Shop was inducted into the New York State Historic Business Preservation Registry (HBPR). Friends, family, members of the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce, and Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner gathered on Saturday morning to honor owners, Cathy and Jack Hay. 

The HBPR, established in 2020, highlights New York businesses that have been in operation for at least 50 years and have contributed to their community’s history.

In 1941, Alpine Sport Shop was established by Edwin Taylor Jr. Taylor and his wife Josephine, located on Spring Street near the original downtown Skidmore College campus. 

Cathy Hay’s parents, Thurlow and Dorothy Woodcock, purchased Alpine Sport Shop in 1966. In 1970, Skidmore College built their new campus on North Broadway. The same year, Thurlow Woodcock designed and built the chalet style building located at 321 Clinton Street, where the business remains today.

“I am so happy to be able to congratulate you on 85 years,” Saratoga Springs Mayor John Stafford told Jack and Cathy Hay. “Anyone who’s been in business knows how difficult it is to keep something like this, to keep it relevant, and keep it successful.”

The HBPR has over 300 businesses in its registry which can be viewed on an interactive map at parks.ny.gov/preservation/programs/business-registry.

Lucille Murphy Aims for a Triple Crown

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Featured, Sports.

Lucille and her Daughter Della at the New York State Weightlifting Championship (Courtesy of New York Weightlifting State Organization)

Lucille Murphy is on the hunt for the Triple Crown, but not the one that pops into most peoples’ heads who hail from the Spa City. Rather, it is the USA Weightlifting (USAW) Masters Triple Crown. Murphy, who currently serves as the treasurer for Saratoga Springs School District, started Olympic weightlifting in 2023. 

An athlete all her life, she played soccer and competed with the Saratoga Rowing Association in her youth. However, a dislocated disk from rowing in college sidelined her from athletics for a time.

“Then I met my now husband, and he started getting into CrossFit. He said, ‘you have to come try this crazy thing,’” Murphy recalled. “I really just liked the lifting. I said to my husband, ‘I kind of want to pursue this and see where it can take me.’”

So, Murphy joined Gryphon Strength Barbell and began specializing in Olympic lifts. 

Quickly, she realized she had the capacity to compete with the country’s best lifters. 

In her first year of competition, she finished 9th at a national competition. Then after a back injury which kept her out of competition in 2024, she returned in 2025 with a gold medal at the Master’s Nationals Championship. 

This year she has her sights set on a USAW Masters Tripple Crown, which requires her to win three national competitions in a calendar year – of which, she has already captured two. 

In March she won the VIRUS Weightlifting Seres 1 in Columbus, Ohio, by lifting a total of 174 kg, a New York State Record. Then in April she defended her title at the Masters National Championship in Salt Lake City. 

Murphy has been aiming for the USAW Masters Triple Crown since its inception in 2023. This year she has her best shot yet, possibly due in part to her daughter Della joining her as a fellow competitor.

“My daughter was always wondering how she would stack up against Emily (a youth lifter with Gryphon Strength Barbell). She had seen Emily at meets before and I said, ‘it’s time you prove it to yourself, do the work and see how you land,’” Murphy told her daughter. 

On September 26, 2026, Lucille and Della traveled to Binghamton for the New York State Weightlifting Championship. Lucille won the NYS Championship for her division, lifting a 70kg snatch and 91kg clean and jerk.  

Della, in her second lifting meet, was the state runner up in her division. Additionally, she was awarded the youth award for the best female lifter in her division. 

For the mother-daughter team, their next competition will be The VIRUS Weightlifting Finals in Pleasanton, California in December – the final leg of the Triple Crown for Lucille.

In the meantime, the Saratoga Springs Treasurer is known to train in the high school weight room, often engaging in friendly competition with the football team to push each other to new heights. The team will be sure to cheer her on in December. 

Ghastly Ghouls Flocked to Spook Out Cancer in the State Park

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Sports.

Olivia Mannion and her Family (Courtesy of Morgan Campbell)

On Sunday, October 4, the second annual Spook Out Cancer 5k raised $20,000 dollars for the American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network (ACS CAN). The race attracted a swarm of runners sporting their spookiest attire in the Saratoga State Park on a crisp autumn morning. 

Organized by stage four cancer survivor, Olivia Mannion, she says the money supports cancer advocacy.

“I started volunteering for ACS CAN a year after I reached remission in 2023,” said Mannion. “I realized how important it is to advance policies that can make a true impact for thousands or millions of patients. So, I just wanted to do my part so that we can ensure equal access and quality of care for all people.”

In September, Mannion, along with 700 other advocates from across the country traveled to the nation’s capital to lobby Congress for the advancement of nonpartisan policies to secure equal opportunities to prevent, detect, and treat cancer. 

Mannion is currently in her fourth year of remission, and over the two Spook out Cancer events, has raised almost 40 thousand dollars for cancer activism. 


All photos courtesy of Morgan Campbell

Saratoga Voices Choir Prepares for Upcoming Concert: “One Land, Many Voices”

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Entertainment, Featured.

Saratoga Voices Rehearsing for their Upcoming Concert, “One Land, Many Voices” at Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School (Aidan Clark)

For the past month, choristers of Saratoga Voices have convened in the music room of Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake High School on Wednesday nights for rehearsal.

Their next concert, “One Land, Many Voices,” will be held at the Universal Preservation Hall on Sunday, October 25, at 3 p.m. Artistic Director, Noah Palmer, has formed a diverse program of music representative of our nation’s unique history.

“We were looking for repertoire that would cover the beautiful tapestry of styles, historical periods and cultural areas representing the different peoples that are part of the American musical tapestry,” said Palmer.

For the past four years Palmer has been leading the choir in a new direction as the artistic director of Saratoga Voices. As he was beginning his tenure, the choir voted to change their name from The Burnt Hills Oratorio Society; Palmer cites a multitude of reasons for the name change.

“First of all, The Burnt Hills Oratorio Society is a quite long and burdensome name that is difficult to pronounce and remember,” said Palmer. Another reason “is that Saratoga is our home and that’s the big urban center we want to be connected to.”

But besides the logistical rationale, the change represents a wider scope for the choir. 

“Choral music in American has exploded in an amazing way in the last few decades, and a lot of what’s being written is secular music,” said Palmer. “So, part of the idea is expanding our identity beyond just the major large scale religious or sacred music.” 

However, the change does not represent a complete departure from traditional Christian Hymns, rather a choice to encompass contemporary choral compositions.

Take for example, “Ambe” by Andrew Balfour, who is of Cree descent which is sung in his native tongue.

The song requires the choir to work through technical aspects of singing in a foreign language through speaking the words phonetically and deciphering where to put emphasis.  

Palmer described the melody of “Ambe” as if you were constantly tripping over yourself, and as expected there were a few missteps. 

However, mistakes can yield gold, and with assistance from a lead piano maintaining the melody and rhythm, the group was able to find it. 

As a passive bystander in the rehearsal, it was clear why the choristers decided to forgo their free time to become a part of the whole.

When each voice of a different range and capacity finds its place in harmony, it is truly angelic.

The baritones lay the melody like a steam train fighting inertia to gain momentum. 

The altos and tenors, like yin and yang, meld together to fill space between the firing pistons. 

Finally, the sopranos complete the harmony, creating a swelling ethereal strain.

Then the bass drops away, releasing the tension, like a feather falling without a breeze. 

Evidently, this feeling is contagious.

Two years ago, Saratoga Voices began requiring an audition to join their choir. Peculiarly for the uninitiated, since requiring an audition, the choir saw an increase in membership. However, Palmer says it reinforces their credibility.

“Singers want to see a certain level of standard, and there’s a lot of choirs in this area to choose from,” said Palmer. “One of the things that especially younger singers want to see is they want to know that there’s a certain level of quality that the choir is going to bring and that they’re personally expected to bring.”

The choir will hold auditions for the 2026-27 season on Wednesday, October 14. Tickets to the “One Land, Many Voices” concert are $40.25 or $28.75 for seniors. For more information on joining Saratoga voices or to purchase tickets for their upcoming concert, go to saratogavoices.org.

New Mural on Beekman Street

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Entertainment.

Mural Located at 70 Beekman Street, Saratoga Springs (Aidan Clark)

A new mural on 70 Beekman Street has been completed by local artist, Juliana Haliti.

The project is part of Cultivating Havens for the Arts through Regional Murals (CHARM), a statewide creative placemaking initiative of Governor Kathy Hochul administered by the New York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA). 

“Having grown up near Saratoga, and now living close to and working on Broadway, I am so honored to be able to create this mural here. Especially in the iconic Beekman Street Arts district, which has and continues to cultivate a beautiful community for local artists,” said Haliti. “My practice focuses on the relationships between people, history of the land, and ecology, so to be able to create a piece that allows me to honor my own relationship with these things is incredible.”

430 Broadway Hits Market for 14.9 Million

Written by Aidan Clark on . Posted in Business.

Photo of 430-436 Broadway in June of 1920
(Courtesy of the Hall of History Foundation and the Saratoga Room in the Saratoga Springs Public Library)
Current Photo of 430-436 Broadway (Aidan Clark)

An anchor of the downtown Saratoga streetscape, 430-436 Broadway, is for sale for $14.9 million dollars. The three-story mixed-use building stands on the corner of Broadway and Caroline Street. 

Built in the 1860s, the building has had just two owners over its lifespan, first by the Putnam family. Then in 1923, the grandfather of the current managing partner, Bill Walbridge, purchased the building, beginning 103 years of family ownership.

Currently the building holds five businesses— Lifestyles, Esperanto, the Merc, the Vault, and Tin and Lint. The former is the longest continuously operated bar in the city of Saratoga – since the 1970s.

The bustling downtown scene of today is in part, due to the civic work of Bill’s father.

In the 1970s, downtown faced a vacancy rate approaching 50 percent. Community leaders responded by investing in streetscape improvements and creating a grant program that encouraged owners to reinvest in and preserve their buildings.

Those efforts helped spark the revitalization that transformed Saratoga Springs from a primarily seasonal destination into the vibrant, year-round city it is today. 

Now with unprecedented investment into the Spa City’s downtown district, The Walbridges have decided it is time to list the property for sale.

According to Roohan Realty, brokers of the building, the sale represents more than a change in ownership— it is an opportunity to pass a piece of Saratoga’s history to the next generation of community leaders who will help shape the future of downtown, just as generations before them did.