Sweeney’s Restaurant in Schuylerville has been renamed Mama Bear’s Diner after a change in ownership. Logo via the restaurants’ Facebook pages.
SCHUYLERVILLE — Since 2016, the diner located at 106 Broad Street in Schuylerville has been known to locals as Sweeney’s Restaurant. But starting July 31, the establishment changed ownership and revealed its new name: Mama Bear’s Diner.
Former owners Ed and Amanda Bergin wrote in a Facebook post that “for the last 8 years, we have had the pleasure to serve this community doing what we love. We have decided that it is time for us to step down and give someone else the same opportunity.”
The new owner might be familiar to Sweeney’s regulars. Ashley Comeaux, a waitress at Sweeney’s, took over the business from her former employers.
“I’ll be in the back baking yummy treats today but dad, a.k.a. the coffee guy, is ready to serve you some delicious food,” Comeaux said in a Facebook post. “Can’t wait to see you all!”
Mama Bear’s Diner is open from 7am to 2pm, Wednesday through Sunday.
“Goose on the Green” graphic via the Western Sun Foundation. Photo of Goose via the band’s website.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Last year, the jam band Goose had their biggest headlining performance to date at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC). This year, when the band returns to SPAC for a two-night run in September, a fan-created charity is coming along to raise funds for a local nonprofit.
The Western Sun Foundation will host its first in-person fundraiser at the Saratoga Spa Golf Course on Saturday, September 7. The “Goose on the Green” event nearly sold out in only a week, with 72 people already slated to attend. As of Tuesday afternoon, the event had two tee times remaining for Goose fans looking to hit the links prior to the band’s second show.
The golf outing includes the long strange putt contest (a nod to the Grateful Dead lyrics, “what a long, strange trip it’s been”) and some soon-to-be-announced, Goose-related prizes.
The local nonprofit beneficiary of the fundraiser has yet to be determined. Western Sun Foundation President Sarah Blazincic said that Saratoga-area and Capital Region charities should contact her to be considered. The beneficiary will be officially selected by the foundation on August 15.
Western Sun was launched by a group of Goose fans in 2022. The Goose community, akin to the Phish and Grateful Dead fan bases that came before it, often attends multiple shows every year, obsessing over the setlists, solos, and sound mixes of each tour. Goose’s popularity has been steadily increasing over the past few years, especially after performances with Phish’s Trey Anastasio and the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir seemingly cemented them as the next great jam band act.
“We decided to take this big energy that was Goose and the music we get from it, transform that into action, and raise money for the communities that we’re traveling through,” said Blazincic.
Phish’s Mockingbird Foundation and the Grateful Dead’s Rex Foundation both served as examples for Goose fans looking to give back. “Just like lots of other communities have done before us, we wanted to capitalize on the Goose energy that is so quickly rising and do some good with it,” Blazincic said.
One example of Western Sun’s good deeds came during Goose shows at the legendary Red Rocks Amphitheatre in October 2023.
“We partnered with an organization called Feel the Beat,” Blazincic said. “They are an organization that provides music education and music therapy for children with disabilities and people who are hard of hearing. So they actually have vibrating dance floors that they’re putting in venues around Colorado. They make sure that there are music interpreters and all different types of programming to bring music education and therapy to people who typically don’t have access to it.”
Western Sun raised $6,000 and launched a 30-day awareness and visibility campaign for Feel the Beat. The fan foundation has also financially supported nonprofits such as Girls Rock Detroit, a music education program that teaches girls how to play instruments and create a band. Girls Rock Detroit participants were invited to attend a Goose soundcheck and watch the group live.
Blazincic said that Goose band members have been “very supportive” of the foundation’s initiatives over the past couple years.
“We work with them side by side to make sure that we are doing things that they want to see,” Blazincic said. “This golf outing was one of them.”
“Goose on the Green” will take place on Saturday, September 7 at the Saratoga Spa State Park Golf Club at 60 Roosevelt Drive in Saratoga Springs. For more information on registration and sponsorships, visit app.eventcaddy.com/events/goose-on-the-green.
The Western Sun Foundation is looking for beneficiaries in the Saratoga area that meet the following criteria:
• Classified as a “Public Charity” with tax-exempt status under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code (individual or private foundations are not eligible)
• Operating budget less than $1,000,000
• Focuses on one of the following areas: music education; music therapy; safety, health, and personal wellbeing of women and children; or climate action and environmental sustainability
Local organizations that meet these criteria can contact Sarah Blazincic at westernsunfoundation@gmail.com.
Saratoga rower Kristi Wagner competes with her double sculls partner Sophia Vitas. Lauren O’Connor, another Saratoga rower, is seen in competition with her quadruple sculls partners. Wagner and O’Connor both competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics. Photos via U.S. Rowing.
PARIS, FRANCE — Two members of the Saratoga Rowing Association competed in the 2024 Paris Olympics this week and last week: Kristi Wagner and Lauren O’Connor. As of press time, Wagner was scheduled to row in the women’s double sculls B Final on Thursday. O’Connor was slated to compete in the women’s quadruple sculls B Final on Wednesday.
Wagner had finished third in a prior event on Saturday, which allowed her to advance to the semifinals held on Tuesday. In the semifinals, Wagner and her doubles partner Sophia Vitas placed fifth with a time of 07:04.12.
O’Connor’s quadruple sculls team also placed fifth in their repechage event on Monday morning, sending them to the B Final.
Both Wagner and O’Connor have been knocked out of the running for medals, but their overall placement in the games will depend upon their performances on Thursday and Wednesday, respectively.
The Paris 2024 games marked Wagner’s second Olympic appearance. She previously finished fifth at the 2020 games in Tokyo. For O’Connor, the Paris games were her first time in Olympic competition.
Wagner and Vitas previously won a bronze medal at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. Wagner is the host of a podcast, “The Other 3 Years,” in which she discusses her journey to qualify for the Olympics. Her profile on the Team USA website notes that she enjoys hiking in the Adirondacks. She is currently the Regatta Director for the Saratoga Rowing Association, where she plans the “Head of the Fish” race held in October on Fish Creek.
O’Connor finished 11th in quadruple sculls at the 2023 World Rowing Championships. She is originally from Belleville, Wisconsin. She has been a coach and athlete at the Saratoga Rowing Association for the past three years.
Image of Brett Rodriguez via the Tri-City ValleyCats.
TROY — The Tri-City ValleyCats, a professional baseball team competing in the Frontier League, announced Tuesday that they had signed Queensbury native Brett Rodriguez to their roster. Rodriguez made his debut for the team on Tuesday night against the New England Knockouts, playing right field.
Rodriguez was signed to a minor league contract by the Seattle Mariners in 2020. He spent time with the High-A Everett AquaSox, the Single-A Modesto Nuts, and the Indios de Mayagüez team in Puerto Rico. In 2021, he reached the AAA level, playing in two games for the Tacoma Rainiers.
Last year, he had 153 plate appearances for Modesto, finishing with a .693 OPS and 15 stolen bases. In July 2023, he was released by the Nuts. Earlier this year, he played 39 games with the Milwaukee Milkmen, an independent team based in Wisconsin.
After a three-game home series against New England, the ValleyCats will hit the road for three games against the New York Boulders. Prior to the New England series, Tri-City was 35-31 on the season, placing them fourth in the Frontier League’s East Division.
GLENS FALLS — The Glens Falls Dragons, an amateur baseball team that competes in the Perfect Game Collegiate League, wrapped up its season last Sunday with a 7-1 loss at home to the Saugerties Stallions.
Overall, the team had a rough season, finishing with a 8-30-1 record. Despite this, the Dragons had some standout individual performances. Dominican outfielder Odilio Cespedes had a .290 batting average in 100 at-bats. He also led the team with 11 RBI. Utility player Cody Meier earned a .282 average across 110 at-bats, and had the second-most RBI with 8.
On the mound, pitcher Riley Orr (a Queensbury native) led the way with 29 strikeouts in 17 innings pitched. Not far behind was southpaw Alfonso Lombardi, who had 27 strikeouts across 26.2 innings. JJ Trudeau, a freshman from Cohoes, had a 3.48 ERA and 20 strikeouts in 20.2 innings.
The Dragons roster this season featured a number of local competitors from Clifton Park, Mechanicville, Ballston Lake, East Greenbush, and other communities. The team plays its games at the East Field in Glens Falls.
The interior of BuonaSera, a new Italian eatery located on Saratoga Lake. Photo via the restaurant’s Facebook page.
MALTA — BuonaSera, a new Italian restaurant located on Saratoga Lake in Malta, opened its doors earlier this month. The eatery is housed in the former home of Nostalgia Ale House & Wine Bar.
The menu includes Italian favorites such as chicken parmesan, penne alla vodka, and spaghetti with clam sauce. Offerings also include shrimp aglio e olio, frutti di mare, grilled eggplant ragu, roasted chicken, beef carpaccio, and grilled ribeye.
BuonaSera, located at 113 Route 9P, is now open from 3 p.m. until 10 p.m. every day except Wednesday.
The storefront of Life is Good’s Saratoga Springs location on Broadway. Photo via the company’s Facebook page.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Life is good for John Nemjo, and not just because his businesses have sold more than 43,000 canoes and kayaks.
Earlier this month, Nemjo opened Life is Good on Broadway in Saratoga Springs, right next to his other store, Saratoga Outdoors. The Life is Good brand has been an enduring success for decades, and Nemjo attributes that success to the company’s positive, outdoorsy message.
“Saratoga has so many things that relate to the Life is Good deal. We have music. We have SPAC. We have horses,” Nemjo said. “We got the lake. We got the mountains. We got golf. We got tennis. We’ve got lots of things.”
Upstate New York’s access to the great outdoors is what made Nemjo’s stores successful, and it’s also what drew him to the area in the first place.
“I fell in love with the Adirondacks over a bunch of years and decided, hell I’ll move to Old Forge and open up a camping store,” Nemjo said.
When he opened his first Mountainman Outdoor Supply Company store in 1993, Nemjo had little money and even less experience running a business. But after three years of hard work, it became clear that Nemjo was on to something. Canoe and kayak sales began to skyrocket. His burgeoning empire grew to three stores located along the Moose River. Then in 2007, he purchased an old bank in downtown Old Forge and turned it into his first Life is Good location.
“That store took off right out of the box,” Nemjo said. “We were doing $5,000 a day in t-shirts right at the beginning. It was crazy.”
When Nemjo relocated to the Capital Region, he wanted to work a bit closer to home. So he began exploring the idea of opening a Life is Good store in Saratoga. At the time, the ski apparel company CB Sports carried Life is Good products in town. But when the CB location at 490 Broadway closed, Nemjo seized his opportunity. He took over the property and opened the first iteration of a dedicated Life is Good store in 2008.
Since then, Nemjo has steadily increased his presence on Broadway, purchasing neighboring stores when they closed up shop. Today, he owns four storefronts, including the new Life is Good location at 486 Broadway, which officially opened its doors on July 1.
“I think we’ve got the largest retail footprint on Broadway now,” Nemjo said. “I know my landlord’s making a lot of money from us.”
A screenshot of episode nine of “The Dealership,” a TikTok comedy series produced by Mohawk Chevrolet that’s generated millions of views.
BALLSTON SPA — A series of mockumentary-style TikTok videos produced by Mohawk Chevrolet in Ballston Spa have garnered millions of views, catapulting the car dealership’s digital team to national fame. And it all started with a thousand plastic ducks.
“We had an employee purchase like a thousand mini plastic ducks, and she was secretly putting them all around the dealership,” said Grace Kerber, a digital branding creator for Mohawk Auto Group. “We knew we had to make some sort of content with it.”
Kerber and her fellow creator Ben Bushen decided that the duck situation sounded like something that would happen on the NBC sitcom “The Office,” and so the Mohawk Chevrolet comedy series “The Dealership” was born.
The premiere episode was a hit, both on social media and with Mohawk’s staff. So Kerber and Bushen kept the series going. As of press time, they’d made nine episodes.
The videos quickly went viral, attracting the attention of national publications such as USA Today, Forbes, and the New York Post. The most popular video, episode five, has been viewed 2.8 million times.
The episodes are all improvised and star Kerber in the lead role. Bushen shoots, edits, and helps generate ideas for the series. The rest of the cast is made up of Mohawk Chevrolet employees, who are surprisingly funny for non-professional actors.
“We have a lot of big personalities,” Kerber said of her coworkers. “It’s not too hard to make something funny like this when you are surrounded by people who are so entertaining in their everyday life.”
Kerber said that social media is important to Mohawk’s work culture, so many of the dealership’s salespeople are eager and active participants in her series. “We never have trouble getting anybody to participate,” she said.
A new episode of “The Leadership” comes out every Tuesday on Mohawk Chevrolet’s TikTok page, @mohawkchevrolet, which has 126,000 followers and 1.1 million likes.
“We’ll keep making them as long as people want to watch them,” Kerber said. “We’re having a lot of fun with it.”
The logo for the Saratoga Racers, a new professional basketball team based in Saratoga Springs. Image provided by team co-owner Mike James.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Spa City will soon be adding a new attraction: a professional basketball team called the Saratoga Racers.
The Racers will be part of the American Basketball Association (ABA), a re-launched version of the legendary 1970s league that once featured stars such as “Dr. J” Julius Erving and Moses Malone. Saratoga will compete in the East Region’s White Division, which also includes the Albany 518 Ballers, Buffalo eXtreme, and Hudson Valley Rivermen.
The team plans to hold its regular season games at the Saratoga Central Catholic gym. The season will consist of around 20 to 25 games, beginning in late October and finishing at the end of February. Single elimination playoff games will follow in March.
The Racers are owned by Keith Harrington, a former Director of Communications and Media for the Glens Falls Dragons baseball team, and Mike James, a sports announcer and Saratoga Springs High School graduate.
“It’s a dream come true to be an owner of my own team,” Harrington said.
“We’re really pleased to [welcome] Mike and Keith as part of the ABA; they bring a lot of experience to the league and I have no doubt that they will be successful on and off the court,” ABA CEO Joe Newman said in a statement.
Saratoga was previously represented in the ABA by the Spa City Gamblers, which left the league in 2020, and the Saratoga Yankees, which went kaput at the end of the 1951-1952 season.
“I knew Saratoga used to have a team and then they folded,” James said. “I wanted to bring it back to Saratoga and make it fun again.”
Harrington and James have been steadily piecing together their new franchise, landing sponsors such as Greenwich Ford, D’Andrea’s Pizza, Pinnacle Roofing, and G&S Printing. They also found an experienced coach/general manager to build their roster: Bob Catherwood, a well-known fixture in the Capital Region basketball scene.
“I called up [Mike James] and I said, we have to hire this guy. This is the guy right here. So we’re excited to have him on board with us,” Harrington said.
Catherwood’s prior coaching experience includes stints with title-winning teams such as the Albany Legends and Albany Patroons. He’s also coached at the collegiate level with Schenectady Community College and Hudson Valley Community College.
“I count my blessings every day that I have the opportunity to coach the game that I love,” Catherwood said. “I’m not looking to make money. I’m looking to make these guys better by teaching them the right way to play the game.”
Catherwood is still assembling his roster, which will include a number of players with professional-level experience overseas.
“We have about 35 guys now that are looking to play for us and every day we get more calls,” Catherwood said.
The public can get its first glimpse of the Racers in an exhibition game against the Bennington Martens on Saturday, August 10 at 6 p.m. in the Gavin Park gym. Admission is free. Drinks and food will be available.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Work began Monday on Skidmore College’s $3.4 million turf baseball field. The new diamond will be on Daniels Road, northwest of the school’s main campus, and will be ready in time for the spring 2025 season.
The facility is expected to accommodate more spectators and “enhance” player experience, the college said when the project was announced in March.
