James and Sons Tobacconists on Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — James & Sons Tobacconists, a cigar shop with a store on Broadway and a booth at the Saratoga Race Course, is adding a second location in Cape Coral, Florida.
The new, custom-built store in southwest Florida is set to include a spacious, walk-in humidor; a bar with beer, wine, and coffee; a lounge; and outdoor seating. The location is expected to open sometime early next year on NE Pine Island Road.
“This dream is only possible because of you, our loyal community,” James & Sons said in an Instagram announcement. “Thank you for your support, friendship, and love of the leaf. We can’t wait to welcome you to our new Florida home soon!”
Photo of new Death Wish Coffee CEO Steve Gardiner via his LinkedIn profile.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga-based Death Wish Coffee Co. has appointed a new CEO: Steve Gardiner. The company announced the hire last week.
Gardiner’s past experience includes stints as CEO of Nature’s Bakery, a healthy snacking brand, and various senior-level positions with PepsiCo.
“As an avid coffee drinker, I’ve been aware of this brand for a while and am excited to help bring this bold, smooth, and delicious coffee to even more households,” Gardiner wrote in a LinkedIn post. “Death Wish Coffee is already the #1 Organic and #1 Fair Trade Certified coffee brand in the country — and whether you’re looking for bagged coffee, pods, or ready-to-drink, we have the fuel you need to kickstart your day. Thanks to the Death Wish Coffee team for the warm welcome.”
Death Wish was founded by Mike Brown in 2012 and is headquartered at 260 Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs. The brand’s products are available in grocery stores across the country and online via Amazon.
Anthony Weaver speaks to a group of kids at a Saratoga Springs football camp in 2021. Photo via Saratoga Springs Pop Warner Football and Cheer.
The team fell in lopsided fashion to the Indianapolis Colts, 33 to 8, in week one. For Miami’s Head Coach Mike McDaniel, it was an especially brutal result. TV talking heads piled one criticism after another onto McDaniel, with one ESPN analyst mockingly calling him “McGenius guy” and “nerd boy.” If you believe the commentators (who, it should be pointed out, are often wrong), McDaniel’s days as coach of the Dolphins could be coming to an end.
Despite the turmoil, Saratoga Springs native and Miami Defensive Coordinator Anthony Weaver has largely escaped blame, for good reason. His efforts last season resulted in a top-10 defensive performance by the Dolphins, with the team ranked fourth in the league with 314.3 yards allowed per game.
Weaver’s biggest problem this season is a good one to have: Miami is overloaded with talented edge rushers, and the task has fallen upon Weaver to divide up their snaps.
“In a perfect world to me, if there was a 70-snap game, somebody leaves with 30-40, another person leaves with 30,” Weaver told reporters last week. “However that shakes out amongst the four, we’ll see.
“But my goal for that room is that whoever is on the field, that they’re playing full speed with no governor for every snap there on the field, and we should be able to attack offenses in waves.”
Weaver wants to bolster his team’s pass rush, which managed only 2.1 sacks per game last season after averaging 3.1 in 2023 and 2.6 in 2022. Luckily, Miami’s front office has seemed committed to spending what it needs to spend to boost those numbers.
“I think you can see by what these edge defenders are being paid nowadays; they’ve got to be disruptors and we’re looking for four quarters of disruptive football from that room,” said Weaver.
In the opening contest against the Colts, Miami managed just one sack and struggled to keep the Indianapolis offense at bay, allowing 418 total yards.
Commentators (be they on TV, the internet, or elsewhere) tend to overreact to small data samples. One game is not nearly enough for Weaver to prove he’s able to limit opponents’ yardage and orchestrate a more aggressive pass rush. But he’ll have his work cut out for him, especially during a season that could be filled with coaching upheaval.
The experience should be an interesting test for Weaver, who has been a head coaching candidate himself. Prior to being hired by Miami in 2024, he interviewed for vacant coaching positions with both the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears. Some of those who know Weaver best, such as his Saratoga Springs High School football coach Blaise Juliano, believe Weaver is not only destined to become a head coach one day, but would make a great one at that.
But no matter how high up the NFL ladder Weaver has climbed (or may still climb), he often makes time for his fellow Saratogians.
“When he comes back to Saratoga, he’ll go and visit his elementary teacher and see all of his friends,” Juliano told Saratoga TODAY last year.
“When I received the head football coach position at Saratoga, he was the first to text me and congratulate me,” current Saratoga varsity football coach Eric Hayden said. “Anthony is one of the nicest people you will ever meet. His athletic achievements are amazing, but his personality is what separates him.”
Perhaps one day it’ll be Hayden congratulating Weaver on a new coaching position. But until then, Weaver’s talents will be challenged by a whirlwind season in Miami.
Jackson Hornung celebrates after hitting a 98 mph, 354-foot homer for the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats on Aug. 31. Photo via the team.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — No player in the history of Skidmore College’s baseball program has gone further than Jackson Hornung.
In 2023, the former Thoroughbred became the first Skidmore athlete drafted by a professional team when he was selected in the 16th round (484th pick) of the MLB Draft by the Toronto Blue Jays. In retrospect, that pick might’ve been a steal for Toronto.
Hornung started at the bottom of the Blue Jays’ organization at Single-A Dunedin, where he struggled in 62 plate appearances, managing an OPS of just .442. But in 2024, his career took off with the High-A Vancouver Canadians. In 116 games, he rocketed his OPS to .715, smashing 6 homers and 25 doubles. He led the team in both hits (105) and multi-hit games (27). At the end of the season, the Skidmore ‘23 grad was named to the Northwest League All-Star Team. The performance kept him stationed in Vancouver, where he returned the following season with a vengeance.
In 2025, Hornung’s .855 OPS with the Canadians marked his best offensive output since college. He had a slash line of .308/.396/.459 with 3 homers in 44 games. The bigwigs in Toronto had seen enough and promptly promoted Hornung to the Double-A New Hampshire Fisher Cats.
Since joining the Cats in late June, Jackson has earned the team’s fifth-best OPS (.787), third-highest slugging percentage (.446), third-highest batting average (.269), and fifth-best on-base percentage (.341). In other words, he instantly became one of New Hampshire’s best players.
On Sept. 5, the Fisher Cats placed Hornung on the 7-day injured list. If he comes off it at the end of this week, he would likely be available for only two or three games before the regular season ends. With the Cats at the bottom of the Eastern League Standings, those final contests may be Hornung’s last chances for at-bats before 2026.
Hornung’s trajectory has been both a successful and intriguing one. One unanswered question is where he will fit onto a roster defensively. There’s little doubt he can hit, but Toronto seems unsure of which position to play him at. He was a first baseman and catcher in Dunedin; first baseman, catcher, and outfielder in Vancouver; and most recently, a first baseman and left fielder in New Hampshire. Using fielding percentage as a somewhat useful metric, Hornung appears to play best in the outfield. Interestingly, he hasn’t played catcher at all in 2025, despite that being listed as his official position on the Fisher Cats roster. A promotion to Triple-A is certainly a possibility in 2026, though it could be dependent upon how Hornung fits (or doesn’t fit) into the Buffalo Bisons lineup.
Back in Saratoga Springs, Hornung’s career has helped increase the quality of Skidmore baseball recruits, Thoroughbreds Head Coach Ron Plourde told Saratoga TODAY prior to the start of the 2024 season. Plourde also had this to say when Hornung was drafted in 2023: “We couldn’t be happier for Jackson, as this is an incredible accomplishment for him and our entire program… He’s done everything the right way and is in this position because of his abilities, work ethic and great attitude.”
With Skidmore, Hornung was an NCAA Division III All-American, and was twice named Liberty League Player of the Year. In 98 career games, he recorded a batting average of .430, with 22 homers, 106 RBI, and a .540 on-base percentage. In his senior year, he hit .424 with 12 dingers and 41 RBI, leading the Liberty League in slugging percentage and on-base percentage.
Despite losing their star player after the 2023 season (when they finished with a .600% 24-16 record), Skidmore has maintained comparable winning percentages for the last two years (.528 in ‘24 and .550 in ‘25). With a new turf baseball field currently being constructed on Daniels Road, the future is looking rosy for both the Skidmore baseball program and its brightest star.
Photo of the 795 N Broadway property in Saratoga Springs via Roohan Realty.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — An historic property at 795 North Broadway, known as the Red Stone Villa or Redstone, has been listed by Roohan Realty for just shy of $8 million.
The Romanesque home, influenced by the Queen Anne style, is 9,000 square feet with 7 bedrooms, 9 full bathrooms, and 5 half-bathrooms set on 0.69 acres of land.
According to a 44-page report prepared by the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation in 2017, the Red Stone Villa was built in 1886 by well-known local architect S. Gifford Slocum for Eli Clinton Clark, a financier and owner of a successful lumber business. In 1908, Clark and his wife defaulted on a payment on a $16,000 mortgage. The home was ordered to be sold at public auction to cover the default. In 1911, it was purchased for $18,615 by a Ballston Spa resident. Two years later, Clark died “practically a poor man” in Galveston, Texas.
Subsequent residents and owners included:
• Frank Nolan, the son of two-term Albany Mayor and one-term U.S. Congressman Michael N. Nolan. Frank was, at one time, both president of the Albany-based Beverwyck Brewery and a prominent race horse owner. A Times Union article from 1917 described Frank as “one of the country’s best known turfmen.”
• Mollie Wilmot, a socialite and one-time neighbor to President John F. Kennedy who, according to a New York Times obituary, “rose to celebrity in 1984 when a tanker ran aground at her Palm Beach, Florida mansion.” Wilmot was a frequent Saratoga Race Course attendee who donated to the racing and dance museums in Saratoga Springs.
The Red Stone Villa was also featured in the Preservation Foundation’s 2025 Historic Homes Tour.
An early morning view of the Doubleday Diner in Ballston Spa, which officially opened on Sept. 6. Photo via the company’s Facebook page.
BALLSTON SPA — The diner formerly known as Route 50 has officially opened under new ownership with a new name: Doubleday.
The business revamped its interior and exterior ahead of a Sept. 6 grand opening. The menu includes plenty of diner staples, such as omelets, pancakes, waffles, soups, salads, sandwiches, burgers, and wraps. The restaurant is open seven days a week, from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Doubleday gets its name from its address (2002 Doubleday Ave. in Ballston Spa), which in turn is named after Abner Doubleday, a Union major general in the Civil War whose purported birthplace in Ballston Spa still stands and is now the home of the Real McCoy Beer Co.
The restaurant formerly known as the Route 50 Diner faced a number of issues under its previous owners, including a temporary closure following a health inspection on May 30, 2024 that revealed an apparent, ongoing pest control issue. The diner was also temporarily closed in 2023 by the New York State Department of Taxation and Finance due to alleged unpaid taxes.
BALLSTON SPA — New businesses, especially ones that require renovations of existing structures, tend to have their planned openings delayed more often than not. But the folks at Speckled Pig Brewing in Ballston Spa have bucked the trend with plans to have their new, next-door distillery serving drinks in time for a Sept. 20 Oktoberfest block party.
The occasion marks the three-year anniversary of the popular downtown brewery. Among the many activities during Oktoberfest will be free commemorative mugs for the first 150 attendees, a stein-holding competition, a dunk tank, live music, tea cup pigs, yard games, Bavarian pretzels, and pizza specials.
The new distillery, called The Still at Speckled Pig, is housed in the former home of Jim’s Garage. It will feature a modern design, outdoor patio with fire pits, and an interior glass wall revealing liquor-makers and bottlers at work. Oktoberfest revelers are invited to stop by for some craft cocktails and a sneak peek of the distillery.
The entrance to the SPAC School of the Arts, located behind the former Museum of Dance on South Broadway.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — For now, a row of ukuleles remain unplucked. A dance studio stands empty. A piano’s keys sit still and quiet.
The SPAC School of the Arts fall semester begins in less than two weeks, and when it launches on Sept. 15, a building located behind the former Museum of Dance on South Broadway will become filled with sounds, movements, and performances.
The school is playing host to a range of classes that will wrap up on Nov. 21. Included in this year’s offerings: youth and adult ukulele for players of varying experience; improv for youths; acting for teens; adult ballet and contemporary dance; adult jazz; private piano lessons; and much more.
One class that the school’s Vice President of Education Dennis Moench and Director of Learning and Engagement Jess Bien are most excited about is “Playing Shakespeare,” a new offering taught by Skidmore College faculty member Dennis Schebetta.
“The thing that we love about this class is that it’s Shakespeare, but it’s also very low-stakes and it’s very accessible,” Bien said. “There’s a lot of improv incorporated into it and it represents what we do and what we aim to do, because it’s just about the process of creating and coming together with others. It’s not product based. There’s no formal performance at the end of it, but it’s a space for people to just come together and play.”
The casual but creative attitude of the Shakespeare class provides a microcosm of many of the school’s programs. The key is to allow people of all ages and abilities to meet in-person, explore an activity or interest, and walk away from the experience feeling like they enjoyed themselves. There’s little pressure to nail a particular line, or perfectly perform a certain dance maneuver. Rather, enjoyment, creativity, and improved mental health are the end goals.
“What we would really like to do is be part of this national conversation that is really gaining a lot of interest in the effect of the arts on people’s wellbeing and how it is essential, necessary, and not just something that only a privileged number of people can be a part of,” Moench said.
A collection of ukuleles, ready for plucking. The SPAC School of the Arts will be hosting five different ukulele classes during the fall semester. Photos by Jonathon Norcross.
The SPAC School of the Arts has partnered with Skidmore College for a course that invites adults over the age of 55 to take a creative movement class alongside the college’s dance students. The goal is to promote healing and wellbeing via the connections made between participants. A researcher at Skidmore intends to collect data from the class to see what the impact of such an experience might be.
“We’re really researching a lot of current studies that are out there,” Moench said. “The World Health Organization, for example, just came out with one about isolation and its effect on health and wellness, and we’re looking at a number of different data points, including social connectedness. We’re actually measuring working memory as well in the adults and in the students to see if there’s any significant impact on that and their overall sense of wellbeing.”
In other words, not only can a SPAC School of the Arts student learn more about Shakespeare or dance or music, but they may also be able to boost their mental health. The growing field of neuroaesthetics, which studies the psychological impact of art and music, is steadily providing more evidence that the creation and appreciation of art could be more of a necessity than a hobby. Some have even considered art as a tool needed for the survival of myriad cultures throughout history. It’s an ambitious field of study, and it’s one that has found a warm and welcoming home at the SPAC School of the Arts.
Those interested in enrolling in a class can do so online. Adult ballet is an especially popular course that may fill up by the time this story is published. But there are plenty of other offerings, many of which are favorites of the local community. To learn more or to register for a class, visit spac.org/school-of-the-arts.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Frank Spotnitz—a TV writer/producer with credits that include “The X-Files,” “The Man in the High Castle,” and “Medici”—will be at the X-Files Museum in Saratoga Springs on Sunday, Sept. 21 for a meet and greet. The event will run from 1 to 5 p.m., with $40 tickets available at the door.
Some of Spotnitz’s notable “X-Files” writing credits include the episodes “Memento Mori,” “Millenium,” and the two-part “Dreamland.” In total, Spotnitz contributed to nearly 70 episodes of the hit series. He also helped author both “X-Files” films, released in 1998 and 2008, respectively.
Beyond his work on “X-Files,” Spotnitz created, executive produced, and wrote multiple episodes of “The Man in the High Castle,” an Amazon Prime Video series that garnered critical acclaim and won two Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards. When the pilot episode premiered in 2015, it became one of the most-watched original series debuts in Amazon’s history.
Spotnitz also created the Netflix historical drama series “Medici,” which chronicled the rise of the Medici political dynasty during the Italian Renaissance, and CW’s “Leonardo,” about the life of da Vinci.
The X-Files Museum (technically named The X-Files Preservation Collection) remains the world’s only museum dedicated to the 90s sci-fi/horror show, which has developed a cult following after its initial, wildly successful run on the FOX network.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — After a water leak in an upstairs apartment on July 4 caused significant damage to the Northshire Bookstore on Broadway, the business has fully reopened as of Labor Day.
“Gratitude is on our minds at Northshire as we turn the page on a challenging summer – it is such a relief that our Saratoga Springs store has fully reopened at last,” Northshire said in its newsletter.
After suffering extensive damage, the bookstore moved its July events to the Saratoga Springs Public Library. The business was unable to open its main retail floor until July 31. The children’s floor was then partially reopened on Aug. 13.
“This summer, we have even more reason than usual to be grateful for your unwavering support,” Northshire added in its statement. “From the words of encouragement on your online orders to the two youngsters who held a lemonade stand in our honor – every kind gesture moved us deeply.”
