Photo of the second-floor restaurant space inside the Saratoga County Airport via Sunset at Saratoga.
BALLSTON SPA — The long-awaited restaurant located on the second floor of the $35.9 million Saratoga County Airport is finally set to open on May 1.
Discussions regarding an eatery at the airport stretch back to at least April 2025, when a public hearing was scheduled regarding a proposed lease agreement with Alexi’s at the Airport Inc.
The airport’s new kitchen and bar, Sunset at Saratoga, will offer breakfast, lunch, and dinner from 7:30 a.m. until 8:30 p.m., Monday through Sunday, according to a sign hanging inside the airport.
The restaurant will serve local social media star Pat Fleming’s signature “big black coffee,” as well as homemade Brooklyn bread from the Old World Gourmet Market.
The eatery also offered a special St. Patrick’s Day take-out menu with corned beef, shepherd’s pie, reuben, and Irish soda bread on March 17.
Last month, Sunset posted that it was hiring for all positions.
According to the Times Union, the airport restaurant will be run by Michael Speranza of Ballston Spa.
Saratoga Catholic baseball players Kihl Kelly, Jason Pescetti, and Martin Elie at a signing day ceremony held at the Saratoga Central Catholic School on March 16. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Three members of the 2025 state champion Saratoga Catholic baseball team participated in a signing day ceremony on Monday. Kihl Kelly (SUNY Brockport), Jason Pescetti (Alfred State University), and Martin Elie (SUNY Adirondack) will all continue their playing careers at the collegiate level.
Head Coach Alphonse Lambert said Kelly would likely end up in the top five of various school career records, such as hits and games played, before he graduates later this year. He also said that Kelly, typically an outfielder, would spend some innings on the mound this season.
Pescetti, despite being towards the bottom of the Saints’ lineup last year, finished with a batting average above .400 and racked up 38 hits and dozens of RBI. Lambert said Pescetti would move up in the order this season. “His production last year was key to our success,” the coach said. Pescetti is a first baseman who has been playing the sport since he was only 3.
Elie was a defensive specialist in 2025 but is expected to have more opportunities to thrive at the plate in 2026. “Baseball has been my sport since I was 5 years old,” Elie told Saratoga TODAY. “I fell in love with it when I was 12, but my uncle passed away during that season, so I keep playing baseball to keep him close, and I’ve found love for the sport again at the same time.”
“All three guys, they’re just excellent people,” Lambert said. “Good student-athletes, good examples of Spa Catholic.”
COLUMBUS, OHIO — Lucille Murphy, the treasurer for the Saratoga Springs City School District, won the “Arnold” Weightlifting Classic competition in a clean sweep of her age/weight class earlier this month in Ohio.
It was the first leg of the Triple Crown to determine the 2026 champion.
Murphy was successful in lifting 77 kilos in the snatch class and 97 kilos in the clean and jerk class. She also won the total weight lifted category.
Murphy is a Saratoga Springs graduate who lives in Niskayuna. Her next competition will be held in April in Salt Lake City.
Last year, Murphy was crowned a women’s weightlifting champion at the 2025 Masters National Championships in Atlanta, Georgia.
Murphy was previously district treasurer for the Galway Central School District. For 11 years, she was also a youth rowing coach for the Saratoga Rowing Association.
MILTON — From noon to 5 p.m. on Saturday, March 21, Sashies Dispensary will hold a one-year anniversary party under the big top.
Slated for the free event: live music by Ethan Edward, budtender Benji Hitrick, and DJ Sean Casey; free BBQ from Farm to Fire and wood-fired specialties from Three Vines Bistro; balloon displays by the Adirondack Balloon Company; surprise giveaways and roaming performers; and a host of vendors, including Jaunty, Gron, Heirloom, High Peaks, Slack Hollow Organics, Off Hours, Florist Farms, Revert New York, Golden Garden, and Nanticoke.
Located at 201 Northline Road (in the same building as the Havana Cigar Lounge), Sashies had its soft opening in early 2025. The dispensary is owned by Sachmarie Crowley, a United States Navy combat veteran with more than 20 years of healthcare experience.
MALTA — Podcast production company Bright Sighted Media has moved its studio from downtown Saratoga Springs to the Innovation Center at Saratoga in Malta.
“This all happened in a short amount of time and we are so grateful to everyone who helped us with the move,” Bright Sighted said in a social media post. “We’re looking forward to creating with the Innovation Center to continue helping creators and entrepreneurs do their thing.”
The company has produced a number of local podcasts, including “Destination Saratoga: All Access,” which premiered its second season in January and is hosted by Discover Saratoga’s MacKenzie Zarzycki; the recently-launched “Good Stuff,” hosted by Bright Sighted Founder Christine O’Donnell and guest hosted by Saratoga Arts’ Spencer Sherry; “The Other 3 Years,” hosted by Saratoga Olympic rower Kristi Wagner; “Afternoon Tea at Pantry Hill,” hosted by Saratogian Darien Rozell; and the real estate-focused “Selling Saratoga.”
The Innovation Center at Saratoga—a makerspace and community collaboration space designed to support inventors, creators, and innovators—opened in June of last year. The center is stocked with a variety of tools and equipment, including 3D printers; computer workstations with object modeling and graphic design; woodworking stations; digital photography software; embroidery and sewing machines; creative pods; and offices. It’s located at 16 Old Stonebreak Road.
A tree-tapping ceremony at Hop City Maple in Ballston Spa celebrated the beginning of New York’s maple season in 2024. Photo by Super Source Media for Saratoga TODAY.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — March is Maple Month in New York State, and the nation’s second-biggest maple producer is ready to party.
New York’s 2,000-plus maple sugar makers produced 829,000 gallons of the sticky substance in 2025, and the state has the largest resource of tappable maple trees in America.
To celebrate these sweet achievements, Maple Weekends will be held on March 21-22 and March 28-29.
“Maple Weekend is a tradition and celebration we all look forward to, especially after a snowy winter,” New York State Maple Producers Association Executive Director Helen Thomas said in a press release from the governor’s office. “For the 160 farms taking part in Maple Weekend, it’s an opportunity for them to open their doors and share the skill and passion behind what they do… Every participating farm offers an educational presentation or a demonstration, showing firsthand how maple syrup and maple products are made. For visitors, there’s nothing like tasting fresh maple syrup right from the source.”
Here’s a roundup of local maple-related events occurring this weekend and next.
• Hop City Maple in Ballston Spa is inviting people to experience the world of maple on both Maple Weekends. See the sap run down the tubing system to where the maple syrup comes out in the evaporator. Taste maple sap along with all the end products: maple syrup, candies, lollipops, maple fudge, and more. Pet the GOATs, taste maple, drink beer, and eat crepes. Dickinson Delight’s will be there serving their crepes and other food. Dancing Grain Brewery will be on site offering their farm craft brews, all New York grown and certified. Saratoga Wild Roots’ certified wild mushroom forager will be there as well.
• Twin Leaf Farms in Greenfield Center will host a special New York State Maple Weekend event on March 21 and 22. The family-friendly event will include a $5 pancake breakfast, guided farm tours, live maple-making demonstrations in the sugarhouse, local vendors, and live music. Guests can learn about the traditions and modern processes of maple sugar making, explore working farms, and taste maple products straight from the source.
• Sugar Oak Farms in Malta will be celebrating both Maple Weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. See firsthand how maple syrup is made, from tree to table. There will be fresh maple coffee, free samples of maple syrup, and all of the farm’s products will be available for purchase. At the sugar house, chat with “Sap Commander” Erich to hear more about the family operation. Events include: 12 p.m. tapping demonstration, 1 p.m. sawmill demonstration, and a 2 p.m. sugarbush walk.
• Maple Valley Farm in Corinth will feature live music by Keanen Stark and Orion Kribs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at its 30th annual Maple Open House, occurring both Maple Weekends from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Take part in maple tours and learn how the 6th generation farm makes maple syrup from tree to table. Visitors can also enjoy a pancake breakfast, featuring the farm’s pure maple syrup, as well as lunch items. Kids can enjoy pony rides, and there will be a variety of local vendors offering unique goods and treats.
• Taste NY at the Adirondacks Welcome Center in Queensbury will feature Maple Bingo and will offer weekly maple product sampling on Thursdays in March from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. They will also host an event, ‘From Sap to Syrup,’ on March 20 from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. The event will allow attendees to sample maple products, such as sap water, light syrup, dark syrup, maple sugar, and a hard maple cube, from local producers Wild Hogs Sugar Shack and Holly & Vine Farm & Winery. In addition, the Adirondacks Welcome Center will have educational and interactive displays, and samples of maple lattes and locally made maple hot cocoa, which will also be sold on site.
West Ave Pizza owner Mario Cardenas listens to Saratoga Springs Mayor John Safford read a proclamation celebrating the pizzeria’s five-year anniversary. Photo by Aidan Cahill.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs Mayor John Safford officially proclaimed March 10 (stylized as Mar10 or “Mario”) to be West Ave Pizza Day in a small ceremony held at the pizzeria on Tuesday afternoon.
Safford read from a proclamation written in honor of the pizza shop’s owner, Mario Cardenas.
“West Avenue Pizza has achieved tremendous popularity in our city and across our region, offering its enthusiastic customers a menu that now includes pizza, chicken, Guatemalan dishes, and other specialties,” the mayor said. “It is just as well known for its charitable and philanthropic efforts and support of many organizations in our community. It’s a great example of a local pizzeria and restaurant gaining wide exposure and a wide following through dedication and initiative.”
West Ave Pizza has been owned and operated by Cardenas and his family since June 2021.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — There is an air of mystery to creating a successful podcast. The conversations and content have to be interesting, of course. But the hosts also need a special rapport, an “it” factor, a je ne sais quoi (if you will) to keep their listeners engaged.
Former WTEN/News10 ABC anchor Noel McLaren and restaurateur Zac Denhan (co-owner of Standard Fare and Bocage Champagne Bar) had been friends for a year or two before they launched the “Off Track Saratoga Podcast” earlier this month.
McLaren has a boatload of experience being on camera and mic’d up. Denham is a self-described “recovering musical theater performer.” United, the two easily weave their way through conversations that can begin with a debate over the spelling and pronunciation of “kerfuffle” to a sincere chat about the realities of doing business in the Spa City.
“I think Zac and I are used to, in our lives, having some kind of script or some kind of, at least, an outline for how things are going to go,” McLaren told Saratoga TODAY. “We’ve found that what works best for us is to literally just go off on tangents, and we talk about things that are going on and each other, and that’s how we get our best material.”
The “Off Track” hosts exhibit a gift for gab that is hard to replicate. The conversations are meant to feel inviting and casual, as if you, the listener, have just stumbled across two friends conversing over cocktails and pulled up a chair to join them. That friendly vibe is partly achieved by producing episodes outside of a formal studio space. (One day, Saratogians might even spot an episode of “Off Track” being recorded on a front porch on Broadway.)
The podcast’s informal aura was matched on its first episode by guest Daniel Chessare, the owner of Saratoga’s Broadway Deli and Bibulous. Chessare unexpectedly found himself at the center of town gossip recently after a public exchange on Facebook with Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus. In between some censored vocabulary, Chessare, Denham, and McLaren discussed everything from dealing with tourists to the impact of the Saratoga Race Course to Spa City “propaganda” (Chessare’s term).
“As soon as everything went down with Dan and the County Chamber, we were like, ‘Let’s jump in on this and get it while it’s relevant,’” Denham said.
“The second I saw people caring about something in the community, sirens went off, light bulbs went off, and I said, ‘Well, we’ve got to talk about this,’” McLaren said. “Everything we talk about on our show is going to be newsworthy. It’s going to be stuff that is impacting people in our area, and that was something that is impacting people.”
Although the second episode’s guest was Trinity Mouzon (whose family owned the Mouzon House restaurant), the pod won’t only feature local business owners. One future guest, for example, was a contestant on “America’s Next Top Model.” Potential future or dream guests could include Saratoga socialite Michele Riggi (“Where did she go?” wondered McLaren), Opera Saratoga’s Mary Birnbaum, and track WAGs (the wives and girlfriends of horse trainers). But some episodes won’t have any guests at all, and, ultimately, the hosts hope that their podcast becomes part of the community, which means incorporating the voices and ideas of their listeners.
“As long as people tune in and stay engaged, I’m willing to be engaged as well,” Denham said. “I would love to see [the podcast] reach as far and wide as it can. We want to keep this podcast rooted in Saratoga, but we definitely are talking about things that are culturally relevant.”
“I feel like something that got exhausting as a journalist to hear was, ‘Oh, the media just spins things’ and ‘The big bad media’ and ‘Big bad journalists,’” McLaren said. “I feel like my gift as a reporter has always been [that] I’m approachable. I want this to feel like a table that everybody can pull a chair up to… If I successfully create something that everybody feels like they can come to and have fun with and enjoy, and I’m also informing them and giving them information about the community, then I have succeeded in continuing the important work of reporting.”
The first two episodes of the “Off Track Saratoga Podcast” are currently available on Spotify and Apple.
New Saratoga Film Forum logo provided by Spencer Sherry.
Photo of Saratoga Arts’ newly renovated theater via the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga Film Forum is being revived and will return to Saratoga Arts on April 9.
This means that for the first time since the early days of the pandemic, locals will be able to munch popcorn and gaze at independent films here in the Spa City. They’ll do it inside a newly-renovated theater replete with an updated projector and sound system. They might even, to paraphrase Nicole Kidman’s famous AMC ad, witness dazzling images on a silver screen with sound they can feel.
Every Thursday night for at least 12 weeks, an independent film will be screened inside Saratoga Arts’ 110-seat theater. One of the first films will be A24’s “Sorry, Baby,” the Sundance-premiering, Golden Globe-nominated tale of a reclusive college professor that was helmed by, written by, and stars Eva Victor.
“I heard stories about the [Saratoga Film Forum] and people were kind of clamoring for it,” said Spencer Sherry, who works at Saratoga Arts, runs the Saratoga Film Showcase, and presides over the 518 Film Network. “Ever since working [at Saratoga Arts], I’d get questions about it all the time, then decided to figure out how to get it back up and running with a structure that works and makes sense.”
The first iteration of the Saratoga Film Forum began in 1993, when an alliance of Saratogians decided their hometown needed a theater that would screen harder-to-find indie flicks not already viewable at multiplexes. Today, with Hollywood forever altered by the rise of streaming services, enticing moviegoers to actually leave their homes can be a tall order. But the success of the recent Saratoga Film Showcase (also held at Saratoga Arts) proved there’s an appetite for both independent films and locally produced work.
One unique way the revamped Film Forum will hope to sell tickets is by collaborating with Joseph Masher, the CEO of Scene One Entertainment, which owns the movie theater inside the Wilton Mall. Sherry described Masher as a “friend” who has been “really, really good to the local film scene.” Scene One will be a promotional partner with the Film Forum, Sherry said. The two cinemas will advertise each other’s screenings, and at each Film Forum event, two free tickets to Scene One will be raffled off. The partnership works, in part, because the two theaters will screen different types of films.
“We both agree that we have kind of different audiences between the mall and downtown,” Sherry said. “So, if there’s any way that we can help each other get each other’s audiences to maybe favor Scene One over AMC, make that little extra trek and support someone local instead of a giant chain, then [I’d] just love to help any way I can.”
In addition to Sherry and Masher, some of the other local film fans working behind the scenes to resurrect the Forum include Amy Godine, who served on the Forum’s board from 1993 to 2016; Field Horne, an acting director/curator for the Saratoga County History Center; Amy Bloom, executive director of Saratoga Arts; and Susan Bokan, who made a sizeable donation.
“The support seemed to really be there, and we had a team of people that were saying, ‘We’ll form a programming committee. We will volunteer on the day. We’ll do the popcorn.’ So, it felt like we had enough support to give it a swing,” Sherry said.
With a team and theater in place, expect to see an array of narrative films, foreign flicks, documentaries, and perhaps locally made shorts. The Film Forum will also aim to book in-person appearances, from either people who worked on the films being screened, or from experts and academics who can speak about the topic of a documentary being screened.
Those interested in the Film Forum’s offerings can purchase a $100 membership pass that’ll be good for the first 12 films/weeks of programming. Individual tickets for each screening will be $10 apiece. For these tickets and future film announcements, keep an eye on the Saratoga Arts website and Facebook page.
“I think that this is a huge step in service of bringing back a film culture here, making this a really great place to live and to see independent stuff,” Sherry said.
Photo of the 2025 Saratoga Springs High School football team at the JMA Wireless Dome in Syracuse via the Saratoga Springs City School District.
VERONA — The New York State High School Football Coaches Association presented Saratoga Springs’ Eric Hayden with its Section 2 Class AA Coach of the Year award at a banquet last Friday. The event was held at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Oneida County.
“This does not happen without my assistant coaches,” Hayden said in a social media post. “I’m lucky to be in a school district that supports our football program. Thank you to all the great players I’ve had the pleasure to coach as you made this award come true. Special thanks to my wife Danielle for being the rock at home and supporting me in my coaching journey.”
In 2025, Hayden’s varsity football squad competed in a state championship game for only the second time in program history. The Blue Streaks finished the season 11-3, their best record in years.
Hayden joined Saratoga as its new head coach in 2023.
