A trolley transports members of the Saratoga Springs baseball team from Congress Park to City Hall. Photo by Aidan Cahill.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — An unprecedented moment in Saratoga Springs history did not go unnoticed by city officials, who celebrated the dual state champion Saratoga Springs and Saratoga Central Catholic varsity baseball teams with a downtown parade last week.
The team’s players were ferried from Congress Park to City Hall via a police and fire-escorted pair of red trolleys. Once delivered to the steps of City Hall, the players and their coaches were honored with proclamations courtesy of Mayor John Safford. The date of the parade, June 25, was officially named both Saratoga Springs Central Catholic Varsity Baseball Day and Saratoga Springs High School Varsity Baseball Day.
In his proclamations, Mayor Safford said “we are all extremely proud of them, and we join with their fellow students, their teachers, and their coach in celebrating this great achievement,” adding, “may their legacy and spirit continue to serve as an inspiration for all of us.”
The Saratoga Central Catholic Saints won the Section 2 Class C Championship on June 14, defeating Deposit-Hancock 4 to 0. On the same day, the Saratoga Springs Blue Streaks capped off a 21-6 season by capturing the Section 2 Class AAA state championship, vanquishing Ketcham 8 to 5. It was the first time both teams had won state baseball titles.
A press release from the mayor’s office announcing the parade called the feat an “extraordinary achievement” and an “historic moment for our community.”
The championship Spa Catholic Saints team included the players:
Max Britten
Kihl Kelly
Pierce Byrne
Carson Moser
Luke Dejnozka
Jason Pescetti
Nacy Devincenzo
Ronan Rowe
Martin Elie
Brian Selig
Hunter Fales
Zach Streicher
Ryan Gillis
Tyler Weygand
And the Saratoga Springs Blue Streaks team consisted of:
Cover of the book “Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution” by Molly Beer, published on July 1 by W. W. Norton & Company.
Update: Due to a flood at the Northshire Bookstore, the event featuring author Molly Beer will now take place at Pitney Meadows Community Farm at 223 West Avenue in Saratoga Springs. The date and time of the event (Tuesday, July 8 at 6pm) remain the same.
SCHUYLERVILLE — In her 58 years of existence, Angelica Schuyler had one of her childhood homes in present-day Schuylerville incinerated by retreating British troops; maintained correspondence with American luminaries like Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson; eloped with a British-born businessman with a shady past; befriended Benjamin Franklin in Paris; attended the first inauguration of George Washington; was the namesake of a town in western New York; birthed eight children; and served as the inspiration for a Tony Award-winning performance in a hit Broadway musical.
Yet, despite such an accomplished and remarkable life, Angelica Schuyler has always been depicted as a supporting character in the stories of other people’s lives: her father, General Philip Schuyler; her brother-in-law Alexander Hamilton; and her husband, John Barker Church. A new biography, “Angelica: For Love and Country in a Time of Revolution” by Molly Beer, aims to cast this pivotal figure in a new light, one in which power is not just defined by battle victories and terms in elected office.
“[Historically], we think about power as being located in the men and women are connecting them, but now we talk more about soft power and social networks and connections and being locuses of power. Historically, she occupies this locus of power,” Beer told Saratoga TODAY. “A rubric for greatness is completely male specific, but when we talk about what power looks like now, she checks a lot of those boxes.”
Angelica’s power often lay in her extraordinary social and diplomatic skills, which allowed her to form connections with everyone from passionate patriots to loyal monarchists, from Americans to Brits to the French. Beer believes these talents may have arisen from Angelica’s outsider status as a Dutch New Yorker.
“From early childhood, she is seen as a foreigner,” Beer said. “She’s always navigating the Dutch-British divide and I think people who are used to crossing cultural lines get good at it.”
All of this isn’t to suggest that Angelica was without flaws. Although historians and gossip-mongers have long speculated that her relationship with Hamilton may have been more than friendly, the true blemish on the eldest Schuyler sister’s legacy was her use of enslaved people, a sin from which Beer doesn’t shy away. Beer never found any evidence of Angelica speaking about the issue of slavery directly, and it’s hard to piece together what Angelica’s thoughts may have been. On the one hand, she was a client of the famous hairdresser Pierre Toussaint, a formerly enslaved Haitian-American. On the other hand, enslaved people worked at the Schuyler family farm that still stands in the Village of Schuylerville (then called Saratoga). This farm reminds visitors of early America’s inability to rid of itself of a practice that the French (with whom Angelica spent much time) found abhorrent.
Despite these grim reminders of past crimes, historic sites can also serve as inspiration. Beer grew up in Angelica, New York, the town named after the eldest Schuyler sister, and her school bus drove past Belvidere, a mansion built for Angelica and her husband, every day.
“I always knew that this is where this historic woman who had to do with the forming of the country had lived,” Beer said. “The effect for me was that even if you’re from this place and even if you’re a girl, you can matter in the world. If you read books and you study hard and you’re brave, you can go do stuff. For me, that was important. One of the reasons I wrote the book was because I thought that would be useful for other girls to know.”
Beer will discuss all things Angelica Schuyler at the Northshire Bookstore on Broadway in Saratoga Springs on Tuesday, July 8 at 6 p.m. For more information, visit www.northshire.com/event/northshire-saratoga-molly-beer-angelica-love-and-country-time-revolution.
The Schuyler Estate, where Angelica spent parts of her childhood, is open to visitors on Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/sara/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm.
Attendees of the 2025 Yaddo Summer Benefit gather under a tent on the nonprofit retreat’s lawn for dramatic letter readings and a musical performance by singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant. Photo courtesy of Yaddo.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Yaddo, the famed 400-acre artists’ retreat in Saratoga Springs, drew a crowd of more than 450 supporters and raised nearly a quarter of a million dollars at its annual summer benefit last Thursday night. Both the number of attendees and the fundraising total were all-time highs, the nonprofit said.
Guests were treated to a buffet of bites and mixed drinks prior to the event’s main act: a series of dramatic letter readings performed by actor Oliver Wadsworth, singer-songwriter Natalie Merchant, and Yaddo President Elaina Richardson; followed by an intimate performance at the piano by Merchant, who sang for the first time solo, her 2023 original song “Sister Tilly.” The letters were written either by or about some of the retreat’s most acclaimed artists-in-residence, such as Truman Capote, James Baldwin, Sylvia Plath, Leonard Bernstein, Langston Hughes, and many others.
This summer, Yaddo will be hosting a number of events, including Wine & Roses (offering live classical music paired with regional wines on July 17, July 31, and August 14), select Sunday yoga classes in the gardens through October, and a rare open house on September 27. The Yaddo Gardens will also be open to visitors until October 9. For tickets, event details, or to learn more, visit Yaddo.org.
Images provided by the Saratoga Springs History Museum.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A spinning roulette wheel. Doors slamming shut. A whiff of lavender perfume. Apparitions in the windows.
Over the years, there have been dozens of people who have reported seeing, hearing, and feeling the presence of otherworldly spirits in Saratoga’s Canfield Casino, which is now the site of the Saratoga Springs History Museum.
Saratoga TODAY collected just a few of these experiences, as relayed by the museum’s Executive Director James Parillo:
° Three people heard the chiming of crystals dangling from a lamp stationed in an empty room;
° the sound of what could be casino chips hitting the floor, heard “over and over again”;
° pounding on the side of an elevator that was once used inside the Adelphi Hotel;
° mediums communicating with unknown entities that smelled of perfume;
° people who feel pressure in their chest or have difficulty breathing when they reach the museum’s third floor;
° a woman who felt a room become ice cold before seeing the apparition of a man who descended a staircase;
° people in Congress Park who say they saw a woman in Victorian clothing looking out one of the casino’s windows;
° seven people who heard audio over a radio receiver of gamblers placing bets;
° three staff members who saw a “lady in a white dress,” believed to be the spirit of Reubena Walworth, a nurse who tended to Spanish-American War vets and later died of typhoid fever.
Whether one finds these stories to be convincing evidence or not, there’s no denying that Canfield has become a hot spot for ghost investigators and paranormal enthusiasts. In 2010, the “Ghost Hunters” TV series on the Syfy network featured the Canfield Casino in one of its episodes, helping to popularize the site’s status as a haunted locale. Nowadays, Parillo said he gets biweekly requests from YouTubers hoping to film inside the museum.
In an effort to satiate the public’s curiosity, the museum has announced the return of its popular “Ghost Tours of the Canfield Casino,” running from July 2 through August 29, every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.
This season’s tours will aim to “immerse guests in Saratoga’s spectral history with new stories, local legends, and chilling accounts of real paranormal encounters,” the museum said in a press release. Participants will be guided through the “opulent yet eerie” halls of the casino, hearing tales of mysterious events, often from people who have experienced them firsthand.
“It’s important to us that whoever is telling the stories has experienced something,” Parillo said.
The tours are for visitors ages 10 and up. Advance reservations are strongly encouraged. For tickets and more information, visit www.saratogahistory.org/ghost-tours-summer-2025.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Grasso’s Italian Ice is officially back in business this summer, despite the company’s signature 1954 International Harvester truck still undergoing repairs.
Grasso’s announced on Monday that it would partner with the folks at Olde Saratoga Miniature Golf and Rustic Pizza to sell Italian ice at their location at 556 Maple Ave in Saratoga Springs beginning Wednesday, July 2. “Old-school” flavors like lemon, cherry, root beer, and black raspberry will be available.
Last year, Grasso’s launched a GoFundMe campaign to raise money to fix its aging truck. The company said it didn’t quite raise enough and that repairs are still ongoing. The truck is expected to hit the streets next year.
“To everyone who donated to our GoFundMe: thank you from the bottom of my heart,” the company said on its Facebook page. “You helped keep this tradition alive.”
As previously reported by Saratoga TODAY, the Grasso family traces its Italian ice origins back to the 1920’s, when Ralph Grasso emigrated from his native Tufino, Italy and settled in Brooklyn with his brother, landing in Saratoga Springs a few years later. Grasso worked in the construction and masonry trades and began making lemon ice, which he sold on his off-days and weekends as a side business.
Two airplanes inside the airport’s new 20,000-square-foot hangar. Photo by Aidan Cahill.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Saratoga County Airport unveiled its new terminal building and hangar during a ribbon cutting ceremony last Thursday, marking the completion of a $35.9 million construction project that began last year.
“I can’t tell you how excited I am to be here on behalf of Governor Kathy Hochul as we celebrate this incredible milestone today,” said New York State Department of Transportation (DOT) Commissioner Marie Therese Dominguez. “It is truly, truly breathtaking,” Dominguez said of the terminal’s interior space.
Although the airport does not host commercial flights, the facility features spaces and amenities open to the public, including a conference room, outdoor patio, and upstairs restaurant that provides views of the runway.
“This space is for everyone to enjoy, especially people who live and work here in Saratoga,” Dominguez said.
To fund the project, the county was awarded $27 million by the state, with an additional $2 million coming via federal funds. The remaining balance of the $35.9 million budget (the price tag was initially quoted at $35.2 million in 2024) was provided by Saratoga County.
“Data from the state DOT indicates that Saratoga County Airport alone, before all this transformation, generated over $9.7 million in local economic activity,” Dominguez said. “But, with this transformation, we anticipate that this investment will yield even greater returns moving forward.”
According to Dominguez, the construction project generated 390 local jobs.
The new terminal building includes several waiting areas, rental car facilities, and office space. The entrance/lobby area is adorned with artwork depicting mountains and horses, as well as posters promoting the Saratoga Battlefield’s augmented reality feature. The hangar includes 20,000 square-feet of space and has solar panels on its roof to help reduce the airport’s carbon footprint.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Jackson Hornung, a Skidmore College baseball alum, was promoted on Tuesday to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, the Double-A affiliate of the Toronto Blue Jays.
The move comes after Hornung’s stellar start to the season, in which he earned a career-best .855 OPS in 159 at-bats with the Vancouver Canadians, the Blue Jays’ High-A affiliate.
Hornung, a 2024 Northwest League All-Star, had a .308/.396/.459 slash line after 44 games this year, racking up 9 doubles, 3 triples, 3 home runs, and 24 RBI.
On May 27, Hornung doubled off the top of the right field wall to bring home a run in the Canadians’ 9-5 win over Hillsboro. A couple days later, he crushed a 3-2 pitch into the right field corner for a triple that solidified an 8-1 victory. On June 6, he had a three-hit game (including another triple), and on June 14 his solo homer helped secure another W for the 38-30 Canadians, who are currently at the top of the Northwest League standings.
In 2024, his first full season with Vancouver, Hornung led the team with 105 hits in 112 games. He also had 27 multi-hit games, a team high for the season. He finished the year with a .714 OPS, 25 doubles, 6 homers, and 47 RBI.
Hornung was selected in the 16th round (484th pick) of the 2023 MLB Draft by the Blue Jays. He was the first Skidmore alum to be drafted by a professional sports team.
Photo of Bernie Williams’ concert at Millbrook Vineyards & Winery in 2024 courtesy of Nicole Puckett.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The list of things Bernie Williams hasn’t accomplished in his 56-year-old life grows shorter by the day; four-time World Series champion, Latin Grammy Award-nominated jazz musician, five-time MLB All-Star with his number retired by the New York Yankees, “Seinfeld” guest star, winemaker.
If you’re a Yankees fan, you’re likely familiar with all these feats, save one: since when does Bernie Williams make wine?
In 2021, Williams stumbled upon the Millbrook Winery in Upstate New York while cruising around on his motorcycle. His visit led to a chat with David Bova, the winery’s vice president and general manager, which in turn led to a collaboration: a 2022 vintage called “Bernie’s Blend.” The red wine is a mixture of cabernet sauvignon, merlot, and cabernet franc. Williams also had a hand in blending the winery’s 2023 chardonnay and 2021 pinot noir varietals.
These wine bottles are wrapped in a custom label created by Williams’ daughter, Beatriz Williams, a Brooklyn-based artist. The artwork features a symbolic guitar held by two sets of hands, representing the passing of musical knowledge from one generation to the next.
It’s a fitting piece of symbolism. Williams has not only collaborated with Millbrook on the wines, but he’s also returning to the vineyard for a summer jazz concert on Saturday, June 28 at 6 p.m. $10 from every concert ticket sold (as well as a portion of wine sales that evening) will be donated to the music programs at Dutchess Community College. Members of the school’s jazz ensemble will also open for Williams and join his band during the concert’s second act.
Ahead of this event, Saratoga TODAY was able to chat with Williams about a range of topics, including Saratoga, baseball, wine, and music. Without further ado, here is our Q&A with the Yankees legend, edited for length and clarity.
Saratoga TODAY: Your manager said Saratoga is one of your favorite cities, and I know you’ve visited a few times. Can you tell me what you like about the city, and if you have any fond memories of your time here?
Bernie Williams: I’ve been there a few times. I used to go more often. I remember bringing one of my daughters there for basketball tournaments. After that, I remember playing a couple of music gigs downtown. The one thing that I enjoyed the most about Saratoga is going to the Roosevelt Baths and getting some treatments there. The water there is just amazing. And especially in the summer, there’s a lot of things to do and have a great time.
ST: Pretty much everyone knows you were a baseball player and that you’re a musician, but I don’t think a lot of people knew that you were also a wine guy. Can you tell me a little bit about how you got into wine?
BW: Well, the whole wine situation with Millbrook was not planned at all. I mean, we literally stumbled upon the winery one Sunday afternoon. We were just kind of cruising around in my motorcycle, and we ran into the winery and decided to stop. We really fell in love with the place. It was so beautiful and [I] ended up talking to the manager at the time, which put us in contact with the marketing department, and then next thing I knew, I was blending my own wine and playing a concert there. [laughs] So it was something that was not really premeditated. It was something that kind of happened over time. I definitely have developed a great appreciation for the process [of making wine], and the people that have that responsibility, because there’s a lot of things that have to come into place. Some of them are within our control and some of them are not. So it’s kind of like where work meets art, as far as being able to find a place where you can find that level of appreciation about making a good bottle and [making] something that could last for years and still be drinkable.
ST: If you could share a bottle of wine with any member of the New York Yankees, living or dead, who would it be and why?
BW: I probably think somebody like Joe DiMaggio. His whole persona beyond the baseball field was a cool thing. I would say Babe Ruth, but if I would have chosen that, I probably would’ve had to hang out until three or four in the morning. [laughs] I think Joe DiMaggio, I would pick his brain about playing centerfield. He carried himself with so much class that I think it would be cool to have a bottle of wine with him.
ST: This concert is going to benefit music education programs. Can you tell me why you think it’s important for younger people to be educated about music?
BW: I think it’s really important for young people to be educated about music, first of all, to have a greater appreciation for the process of making good music. It’s something that a lot of people take for granted, but it’s a very intricate process and it’s an art form. It might be a little polarizing to say this, but I just don’t think that young people these days have an opportunity to really experience the process of making music and they may not have an appreciation for how hard it is to make music that touches your heart and your spirit. You don’t have to become an instrumentalist, but you can definitely be able to appreciate how hard it is to be able to do that and be in a better position to support live arts and live music. It seems to be sort of a lost art. I do know for a fact that especially young kids that are exposed to music, it enhances their learning capabilities. They do better in other subjects like math and writing and all the things that have to do with the creative part of the mind. I think music and having the opportunity to learn music, it’s a really important part of that process.
Tickets for the June 28 Bernie Williams concert are now on sale at the Millbrook Winery website (https://www.millbrookwine.com/bernie-williams/). The winery is less than 2 hours away from Saratoga.
2024 Saratoga Jazz Festival photo by IronGlass Productions.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The much-anticipated Saratoga Jazz Festival returns this weekend to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC) with a new sponsor, upgrades, and a slate of performers encompassing almost every musical genre in existence.
Crafting such a diverse lineup of artists is no easy task, and festival producer Danny Melnick has been at it for more than a year.
“It’s bananas because we are getting inquiries about next year already,” he told Saratoga TODAY.
Musicians are especially eager to perform live nowadays, both to compensate for lost income during the pandemic and because the loss of album sales has necessitated busy touring schedules. This means that finding musicians to take the SPAC stage is not a struggle, but whittling down a list of hundreds of interested artists certainly is.
“One of the great challenges for me is that the festival has 22 sets and not 200 sets,” Melnick said.
The competitive, behind-the-scenes booking process is probably beneficial for festival-goers, however, who will be treated this year to headlining acts like Gary Clark Jr., Trombone Shorty, Cory Wong, Cassandra Wilson, Gregory Porter, Lettuce, DJ Logic & Friends, and Veronica Swift. Just this group alone encompasses a blues/rock/soul fusion, a contemporary spin on New Orleans-style jazz, funk, Grammy Award-winning vocals, nu-jazz, and bebop. Experience levels range from up-and-coming names to established pros. And it’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Melnick’s picks for gems hidden inside this year’s lineup include Julius Rodriguez, a young pianist/multi-instrumentalist performing at 12:20 p.m. on Saturday on the Charles R. Wood “Discovery” stage.
“He is this literal genius of music,” Melnick said. “He’s put out two of his own albums already and he is mind blowing.”
Another of Melncik’s buried treasures is Brandee Younger, a harpist who just released an album earlier this month. Younger will be the second act on the Discovery stage on Sunday.
“She played Alice Coltrane’s restored harp at Carnegie Hall and it was totally fantastic, brilliant, amazing, wonderful, gorgeous; everything you could ever imagine,” he said.
In addition to a robust schedule of performers, this year’s fest comes with some upgrades, including more food vendors, new speakers, and larger video screens.
“This winter, Live Nation installed new speakers in the amphitheater facade going out onto the lawn,” Melnick said. “They also installed new high-definition, larger video screens on the amphitheater facade.”
The upgrades provided by Live Nation come at a time when locals have responded less than enthusiastically to the company’s new policy that bans all outside lawn chairs. However, this rule only applies to Live Nation-produced events. The Saratoga Jazz Festival is produced by SPAC, and the venue continues to allow attendees to bring in their own lawn chairs, lawn umbrellas, food, drinks, and blankets.
Also new this year: GE Vernova will sponsor the festival for the first time after agreeing to a $1 million, five-year partnership with SPAC. Although the lead sponsor name on the banner has changed, the festival will still feel familiar to past attendees.
“I think people should feel like the festival that they love is happening again,” Melnick said.
Amenities at this weekend’s Jazz Festival include a fine arts and crafts fair, as well as artist merchandise signings. Parking for the event is free. Performances will begin at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 28 and at 11:45 a.m. on Sunday, June 29.
Tickets are still available at www.spac.org. Children 12 and under receive 50% off tickets in the amphitheater and are free on the lawn. Full-time students with a school issued ID receive 25% off tickets in the amphitheater, or $28 on the lawn (student ID must be presented at will call).
2025 Jazz Festival line-up
Saturday, June 28
Amphitheater:
Gary Clark Jr.
Gregory Porter
Lettuce
Veronica Swift
Michel Camilo Trio
Kenny Garrett
Charles R. Wood “Discovery” Stage:
Artemis
Nicole Zuraitis
Keyon Harrold
Julius Rodriguez
C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band
The String Queens
Sunday, June 29
Amphitheater:
Trombone Shorty & Orleans Avenue
Cory Wong
Cassandra Wilson
Al Di Meola Acoustic Band
DJ Logic & Friends featuring Vernon Reid, Cyro Baptista, Emilio Modeste, James Hurt, Felix Pastorius & Terreon Gully
Charles R. Wood “Discovery” Stage:
Gary Bartz
Bria Skonberg Quintet
Brandee Younger Trio
La Excelencia
Skidmore Jazz Institute Faculty All-Stars Celebrate their Heroes featuring Clay Jenkins, Jimmy Greene, Steve Davis, Dave Stryker, Bill Cunliffe, Todd Coolman & Dennis Mackrel
Photo of the Saratoga County Airport exterior via LeChase Construction.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Two local airports are in the midst of renovations, with work on the Saratoga County Airport due to be finished as soon as this week, and the Albany International Airport repaving its main runway, installing new escalators, and launching a partnership with Breeze Airways.
Saratoga County Airport Nearly Done
The private airport’s $35.2 million construction project, which was officially announced in May of last year, is nearing completion. Supervisor Matthew Veitch had announced at the Saratoga Springs Preliminary City Council Meeting a ribbon cutting ceremony that took place on Thursday, June 26 at 10 a.m.
The airport is getting a new terminal building, restaurant, 20,000-square-foot hangar, and various interior spaces for concessions and rental car facilities.
To fund the project, Saratoga County was awarded $27 million by the state, with an additional $2 million coming via federal funds. The remaining balance of the project was provided by Saratoga County itself.
According to Saratoga County Board of Supervisors Chairman Phil Barrett, the airport has an overall economic impact of more than $10 million.
Albany Coming Along
Meanwhile, the Albany International Airport continues its $100 million construction project, which will include the expansion of the airport’s terminal, the modernization of its entranceways, the expansion and relocation of the security area, the addition of seating and waiting areas, updated conference facilities, an expanded airside marketplace, a public arts area, and a children’s play zone.
Work on the project was initially expected to be completed early this year, but is still ongoing.
Earlier this month, the airport’s 8,500-foot-long, 150-foot-wide main runway was repaved, and the first of four new escalators was installed. Last month, two brand-new jet bridges arrived. In April, Uncommon Grounds—a coffee shop chain that first opened in Saratoga Springs in 1992—opened its newest location in the airport just past security.
Albany International also recently announced a new partnership with Breeze Airways, which includes the launch of non-stop service from Albany to both the Raleigh-Durham International Airport and the Charleston International Airport. The airline also offers connections to Fort Myers, Florida via Raleigh-Durham.
A new escalator is installed at the Albany International Airport. Photo via the airport.
