ROUND LAKE — The Markets at Round Lake event will return Aug. 9 and 10, bringing food trucks, live music, artisans, and book vendors to the village.
The two-day festival will feature three musical acts each day, coffee, crepes, lemonade, wine, spirits, tamales, tacos, pie, empanadas, jewelry, pottery, furniture, photographs, candles, decor, artwork, and much more. Admission is free and the event will occur rain or shine at 49 Burlington Avenue.
The 2025 iteration of Markets at Round Lake is especially meaningful to its organizers, who are continuing the event in honor of Amy Leach, who passed away on Halloween (her favorite holiday) in 2024.
“Amy built and left us an amazing system for organizing this event, creating documents, systems, and connections that brought over 80 vendors and thousands of visitors to Round Lake each year,” Craig Maslowsky, chair of the 2025 Markets at Round Lake Planning Committee, told Saratoga TODAY. “After her passing, it was unclear whether the Markets could continue. But when a neighbor voiced concern at a village volunteer meeting that it might not happen, something beautiful unfolded: the community stepped up…We’re carrying it forward, not just for the event, but for Amy.”
For more information, visit www.marketsatroundlake.com.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Yaddo mansion contains many secrets within its parlors, hidden doors, and winding hallways.
There’s the ornate, regal-looking chair dubbed “Truman”, in honor of Truman Capote, who is said to have enjoyed sitting there many years ago, perhaps while writing to Patricia Highsmith to encourage her to apply to the famed artists’ retreat. (Highsmith would not only attend Yaddo, but also bequeath her entire estate and all future royalties to the organization.)
There’s the sled, carved sometime in the 1600s and gifted to Yaddo’s founders Spencer and Katrina Trask by Queen Marie of the Netherlands.
There’s the Latin inscription above the fireplace that, when translated, reads: “The flame unconquered by fire, Yaddo rises up again in peace.” An etching of a phoenix rising from the ashes is a nod to a fire that destroyed the first mansion on the property.
There’s a grandfather clock near the grand staircase that was permanently stopped by author Elizabeth Ames so that Yaddo artists in residence would be protected from the passage of time.
Around 1,400 people are expected to uncover these secrets and many more during tours offered on Sept. 27. It’s the first time since 2021 that the public can stroll through the retreat’s historic mansion and grounds via a guided tour, which will include stops in Spencer and Katrina’s bedrooms, various spaces across the mansion’s first and second floors, the West House, Greenhouse Studios, and the Saratoga Studio.
The timing is ideal, as Yaddo will get a bit messy this winter when it begins a construction project that will increase accessibility on the property via a permanent ramp and auto-operating door that leads into one of the mansion’s entrances. The artists’ retreat is also in the midst of a project that will allow the primary part of the mansion to go electric and eliminate the use of fossil fuels. The improvements should be ready in time for Yaddo’s upcoming 100th anniversary of artists first arriving on site, which occurred in 1926.
Tours will be offered on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 8:30 a.m., 11 a.m., 1:30 p.m., and 4 p.m., with each lasting about 90 minutes. Tours will run rain or shine, and tickets range from $75–$85 depending on the time selected. Yaddo merchandise will also be available, with a commemorative ornament and book available for pre-order online. A private VIP tour and cocktail reception will be held on Friday, Sept. 26 at 5 p.m. Tickets for this exclusive evening are $250. All proceeds from the tours directly support residencies for artists.
Yaddo is a nonprofit retreat in Saratoga Springs that has hosted thousands of artists that have collectively earned 83 Pulitzer Prizes, 1 Nobel Prize, 13 Academy Awards, 71 Emmy Awards, 34 MacArthur “Genius” Fellowships, 71 National Book Awards, 500+ Guggenheim Fellowships, and 16 Tony Awards. Some of its most famous residents include Truman Capote, James Baldwin, Leonard Bernstein, Saul Bellow, Patricia Highsmith, Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jonathan Ames, Noah Baumbach, Jonathan Franzen, Langston Hughes, David Foster Wallace, Mario Puzo, Flannery O’Connor, Dorothy Parker, and many others.
Black Roze delivers a devastating chop to Colin Delaney. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Amidst a water-skiing squirrel and a cage filled with capybaras, one could witness a man named Mikey smacking an evil camp counselor in the head with a cheese hat. “Cheese!” spectators yelled approvingly as Mikey, a real Muenster, beat his foe senseless.
The Dynasty, a professional wrestling promotion, put on its first show at the Saratoga County Fair last Wednesday night. Dubbed “Slamboree,” the event featured multiple title defenses and a couple surprise appearances from superstars with WWE name recognition.
The five-match card kicked into gear with fan-favorite Mikey “the Gouda Guy” Cheese successfully defending his “Cheddar-weight” championship against Coach Kyle, a summer camp counselor with a bad attitude. Later, Eden Grey defeated Tiffany Avatar to become the new #1 contender for the women’s title. Then, Doink the Clown showed up for a surprise tag team match involving a referee (the Doink gimmick was prominent in WWE in the 90s and has subsequently been used in an unofficial capacity on the indie circuit).
Last but not least, heavyweight champ Black Roze retained his title against Colin Delaney, who is best known for his stints with WWE, ECW, and AEW. The Roze vs. Delaney bout included outside interference by Sgt. Fury, thus setting up a potential main event between Fury and Roze at Dynasty’s “Light Up the Sky” on Aug. 16 in Schenectady.
“On behalf of the entire Dynasty family, thank you [Saratoga County Fair] for your unparalleled hospitality and accommodations,” the promotion said in a social media post. “This was our first event with you and we’re all collectively planning ways to make it bigger and better next time!”
Thousands gather on the SPAC lawn for the second night of Phish’s three-night run. Photo by Jonathon Norcross.
Phish 2025 summer tour poster via Live Nation.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Phish played three shows at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) last weekend, packing tens of thousands of spectators into the usually serene Spa State Park. According to Setlist.FM, a database that has catalogued nearly one million live shows, Phish has now played at SPAC 27 times, making them one of the most popular bands in the venue’s storied history.
The Vermont-based quartet made headlines when, on Sunday, they used “Tweezer Reprise” as a jumping-off point for a series of jams. Their setlists also included time-tested favorites, such as “Bathtub Gin,” “Birds of a Feather,” “Chalk Dust Torture,” “Run like an Antelope,” “Wading in the Velvet Sea,” “Down with Disease,” “Reba,” and “Tweezer.” Covers included “Loving Cup” by the Rolling Stones, “Rock & Roll” by the Velvet Underground, and “Boogie on Reggae Woman” by Stevie Wonder.
Some oddities and rarities during the three-night run: “Tweezer” was played as an encore for the first time; “N.I.B.” by Black Sabbath was teased several times in recognition of Ozzy Osbourne’s recent passing; and “Happy Birthday” was teased during “No Men in No Men’s Land”.
“Sharing in the Groove” cover image and author photo of Mike Ayers provided by the St. Martin’s Publishing Group.
“I’d seen hundreds of concerts [at SPAC]. And here I am on that stage for the first time, which was my dream when I was 16…I mean, I saw everybody there. And that was my dream to play on stage one day, and here I am playing on that stage with one of my idols. We did ‘That’s It for the Other One,’ which the Dead hadn’t played in years. Had my career gone no further than that day, I would have been fine. My dreams were realized.”
-Vinnie Amico, drummer for the jam band Moe, on performing alongside surviving members of the Grateful Dead at SPAC on July 6, 1997. [This quote appears in the book “Sharing in the Groove” by Mike Ayers].
SARATOGA SPRINGS — It wasn’t necessary to ask Mike Ayers, the author of a new book on ‘90s jam bands, just what exactly he was doing in Saratoga Springs last weekend.
Phish performed its 27th show at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) last Sunday, concluding their three-night stay in a city that continues to hold a special place in jam band history. Last weekend, the Dave Matthews Band played their 50th concert at SPAC. Last summer, rising jam band Goose played two headlining shows at the venue six years after being an opening act at Putnam Place. Also, that summer, Blues Traveler played at Belmont on Broadway, a free concert downtown. At the end of the year, up-and-coming jam group Dogs in a Pile played four straight shows at Putnam Place to celebrate New Year’s Eve. In 1985, the Grateful Dead famously drew the largest-ever SPAC crowd of more than 40,000 Deadheads. It was one of many times that various iterations of the Dead (both before and after Jerry Garcia’s death) took the SPAC stage.
The list of jam bands—ranging from obscure acts to all-time greats—that have played in Saratoga is an almost impossibly long one. But why does the Spa City hold such a prominent place in jam band lore? Saratoga TODAY spoke with Ayers—whose oral history book “Sharing in the Groove” chronicles the explosion of jam bands like Phish, Dave Matthews, and Blues Traveler—to help unravel this mystery.
“There’s definitely lineage around certain areas,” Ayers said. “Up here, near Woodstock, it has this aura that is left over from the 60s that probably just continues to permeate in ways.”
Ayers compared the Upstate jam scene with others that have sprung up around the country, in places like Georgia (where the Allman Brothers and Widespread Panic were based) and Colorado (home of the long-running Telluride Bluegrass Festival).
“It’s probably a case of you have these longstanding scenes and then you have young people coming up in them, taking influence from the past but putting their spin on it, whatever that may be,” Ayers said.
Young people, typically college kids, are a key ingredient in fostering a successful jam band scene. Many of the bands covered in Ayers’ book sprung up around college towns (such as Athens, Charlottesville, and Burlington) that had plenty of bars, fraternities, and other venues that could host and/or subsidize live music. And as the ‘90s progressed, college kids increasingly had access to internet connections, allowing them to network with other jam band fans. This gave rise to a fan base that was enthusiastic about sharing music with like-minded people. Ayers was one of those fans, mailing tapes to strangers across the country “all the time.”
But the jam band scene isn’t always so harmonious. In the ‘90s, following the death of guitarist Jerry Garcia and the official end of the Grateful Dead (though the surviving members would subsequently play together many times), some Deadheads didn’t enjoy the new crop of emerging jam bands—especially Phish—and seemed to resent Phish’s status as the jam scene’s new torchbearers. That dynamic is repeating itself today as some Phish fans resist the rising popularity of Goose. Ayers, however, (like most jam band fans, probably) doesn’t partake in these internal squabbles.
“I’m definitely more of an omnivore; I like a lot of things,” Ayers said. “But in the ‘90s with this jam culture movement, I remember if you were an indie kid or a punk rock kid, you did not want to listen to the jam stuff and vice versa. It was very divided. It was almost like a record store where here’s the punk section, here’s the rock section, here’s the classics.”
The divisiveness, however, is probably more of a vocal minority than an accurate representation of the entire scene. And despite some bad vibes, jam bands have continued to flourish well past the ‘90s glory days.
“It seems pretty healthy now, like it was in the ‘90s,” said Ayers. “You have multiple acts selling out arenas or large theaters. Goose, Billy Strings; those are prime examples. Phish is still doing it. Dave [Matthews] is still doing it. [Widespread] Panic does pretty sizable theaters still…It’s probably a bit of a perfect storm where you have a younger crowd that is super interested and you have an older crowd that can get away a little bit easier. There’s new acts, there’s old acts; there’s lots of stuff to check out.”
To see evidence of how the jam scene is still truckin’, simply stop by a Phish or Dave Matthews show at SPAC, and good luck finding a decent spot on the lawn if you don’t show up early enough.
“It’s not shocking that [these bands] are still going, it’s shocking that they’re still putting 25,000 people in Saratoga Springs for three straight nights,” Ayers said. “It’s great to see. So many people are still into it, especially here.”
“Sharing in the Groove” was released on July 22 and is currently available at booksellers nationwide.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Legendary comedian and sitcom star Jerry Seinfeld visited Saratoga Springs for the first time last week, performing a set of all-new material at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC).
The eponymous “Seinfeld” creator made a perhaps obligatory joke about horse racing before delving into a series of observations and commentaries on contemporary life. At one point, a heckler attempted to derail the set, but the audience was firmly on Jerry’s side.
Seinfeld’s latest cinematic project, “Unfrosted,” is currently available to stream on Netflix. The comedy chronicles the largely fictional origin story of Pop-Tarts.
Following his July 24 SPAC show, Seinfeld is scheduled to make three appearances in the New England area from Aug. 7 to 9.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The BurgerFi location in downtown Saratoga Springs will apparently be reopening soon, according to a notice posted to the restaurant’s storefront.
“Yes, we’re reopening soon,” the notice stated. “Your favorite burgers are coming back.”
The notice also included a QR code for those interested in employment opportunities.
The BurgerFi at 460 Broadway was “permanently” closed on Dec. 1, 2024 after a decade in business. BurgerFi International Inc. had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy several months prior to the closure.
Photos of Joe Gold, James Redick, Brad Curtis, and Matt Sgambati via the Amsterdam Mohawks.
AMSTERDAM — As the Amsterdam Mohawks near the end of their regular season, Saratoga County natives Joe Gold, James Redick, Brad Curtis, and Matt Sgambati have thrived in their mound appearances for the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League’s reigning champions.
Gold, a Ballston Spa native and Boston College sophomore, has allowed only 2 earned runs in 6 innings, while striking out a whopping 10 batters.
Redick, of Clifton Park and Fordham, has been a near-constant presence on the mound for Amsterdam, leading the team with 30.2 innings pitched. He’s allowed only 8 runs for an ERA of 2.35 while whiffing 33 hitters.
Curtis, a Clifton Park native committed to Siena, has an ERA of 3.60 across 10 innings. At the plate, he’s garnered a slash line of .226/.316/.355, and smashed a game-tying solo homer on July 11.
Sgambati hasn’t pitched much but held his opponents to only 1 earned run in 3.2 innings of work, while striking out 6.
The four ballplayers will have just a handful of opportunities to add to their summer highlights, as the Mohawks are scheduled to conclude their regular season on July 29.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Dave Matthews Band has played a whopping 212 shows in New York, starting with their first in-state performance in July of 1992. Of those concerts, 50 have now been played at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center, starting with the jam band’s Spa City premiere on Sept. 3,1994 and continuing with shows 49 and 50 last weekend.
To celebrate the milestone, Matthews debuted a new original song, “Take All Day,” during his July 19 encore. The delicate ballad, which Matthews performed solo, was met with a rousing ovation from a crowd that filled nearly every inch of available lawn space.
Dedicated DMB fans might’ve also noted a couple other rarities: “The Best of What’s Around” closed out a set for the first time since 1993, and “The Stone” was played during an encore for the first time in over a decade. Matthews also tossed a variety of favorites (“What Would You Say,” “The Space Between,” “Idea of You,” “Cornbread,” “Tripping Billies,” “Everyday,” and “Jimi Thing”) and covers (Led Zeppelin’s “Fool in the Rain,” David Bowie’s “Let’s Dance,” and Cameo’s “Word Up!”) into his two Saratoga setlists.
The singer-songwriter, who is often vocal about his political beliefs, made a thinly-veiled jab at ICE arrests during his Friday show, before hoisting up signs that read “Stop Killing Children” and “Stop the Genocide” as the audience shuffled its way toward the exits.
The Dave Matthews Band is one of SPAC’s most popular acts, having played at the venue nearly every year since ‘94. Perhaps not to be outdone, Phish (who have taken the SPAC stage 24 times) will add three more shows to the record books this weekend.
Photo of author Mai Corland and cover art of “Three Shattered Souls” provided by Entangled Publishing/Red Tower Books.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — If you’ve ever visited the Saratoga Springs Public Library in search of the latest popular fiction title, don’t be surprised if the author of the book you’re borrowing is in line behind you.
“I love the library here in Saratoga,” said Mai Corland, a New York Times bestselling author and Saratoga resident. “From when my kids were very little, we would go to the library. During COVID, it was integral and it remains integral in our lives.”
Corland just released “Three Shattered Souls” earlier this month. It’s the final installment of her romantasy trilogy, “The Broken Blades,” which is primarily set in the fictional land of Yusan, but was written right here in the Spa City.
In an interview with Saratoga TODAY, Corland gushed about the city’s many literary institutions and events, from the Yaddo artists’ retreat to the Saratoga Book Festival to the Northshire Bookstore.
“There is a long history, especially in Saratoga, of supporting the arts,” Corland said. “For a small town, there is a great arts influence…It’s not as cookie-cutter as other places tend to be.”
The home of health, history, and horses served as inspiration for some of Corland’s prior work, especially the young adult novel “Everyone Hates Kelsie Miller,” which takes place partly in Saratoga and includes references to the horse racing industry. Another YA title, “Emma and the Love Spell” is set in a fictional town with a distinct Upstate New York feel. (Both books were released under the name Meredith Ireland.)
“The Broken Blades” trilogy, however, takes inspiration from Korean history and mythology. Corland was born in Seoul, adopted, and then moved with her new family to New York City, where she was raised. Sometime around the 9/11 terrorist attacks, her family decided to relocate. Corland’s sister was interested in Skidmore College, prompting her parents to make the move upstate when they fell in love with Saratoga. At age 22, when Corland was about to leave New York to attend law school in Miami, her life took an unexpected turn when she met her future husband here in New York. In other words, the author of romantic stories had her own life profoundly shaped by romance.
Of course, romance is only part of the romantasy genre. The “Broken Blades” trilogy opens with five deceptive assassins competing (and, at times, collaborating) to kill the king of Yusan. The final installment in the series, released on July 15, contains dark subject matter, such as death, violence, and genocide. These elements were influenced, in part, by real historic occurrences, such as the Jeju uprising/massacre, which caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people. The adult subject matter could appeal to fans of “A Song of Ice and Fire,” the fantasy series by George R.R. Martin that was adapted for television as “Game of Thrones.” But Corland’s incorporation of Korean history, as well as her feminist perspective, puts a distinct spin on familiar fantasy themes.
“Three Shattered Souls,” which Kirkus Reviews called “a compelling and skillfully written end to a thrilling fantasy series,” is now available via online and brick-and-mortar booksellers nationwide.
