Event image via the Ballston Spa Central School District website.
BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa Central School District is hosting a “personal and open” discussion about depression, mental illness, and suicide on January 31 from 6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. in the high school library. The presentation will be hosted by Donna Thomas and Dr. Jaimee Arnoff of James’s Warriors, an organization that aims “to bring change to the way mental health is perceived, reduce the stigma surrounding it, and prevent suicide,” according to its website. Parents and other adults are welcome to attend.
SARATOGA SPRINGS —The New York Racing Association, Inc. announced it will host a job fair on Wednesday, Feb. 21 from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., the first in a series of events to support the historic Belmont Stakes Racing Festival at Saratoga Race Course.
The Belmont Stakes job fair will be held on the first floor of the 1863 Club at Saratoga Race Course. Interested applicants should enter through the Wright Street entrance (Gate 8) with parking available in the 1863 Club lot.
Highlighted by the 156th edition of the Belmont Stakes on Saturday, June 8, the 2024 Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will begin on Thursday, June 6 and continue through Sunday, June 9.
Employment opportunities for the Belmont Stakes Racing Festival will be available with the following NYRA partners: All Pro, Integrated Staffing, Levy Restaurants, Mazzone Hospitality and Union Square Events. Positions will include restaurant staff, mutuel clerks, cashiers, cleaners, merchandise clerks and others.
Applicants must be at least 15 years of age and have New York State Certified Working Papers. Prospective security guards, cashiers and betting clerks must be at least 18 years of age to apply; security guards must have a high school degree or GED. All applicants must present a photo ID and Social Security card or I-9 alternative.
NYRA will host its traditional job fair for the Saratoga summer meet later this year.
Photo of Phinney Design Group’s new office in Lake Placid provided by Cira Masters.
LAKE PLACID — Last week, The Phinney Design Group announced the opening of a new office in Lake Placid. In a statement, the company said it was “thrilled to bring our services closer to north country partners and customers.” The new location at 2413 Main Street will be open Thursdays through Saturdays, 9am to 4pm.
“We are excited about the opportunities this expansion brings for both our team and our customers,” said Michael Phinney, Founding Principal at Phinney Design group, in a statement. “This new location will enable us to better serve our existing clients while also fostering new connections within the vibrant Lake Placid community. My family is six generations from the Lake Placid region and my father, a former bobsled racer. It feels like coming home in many ways.”
Phinney Design Group is an architecture, interior design, and green building consulting firm that focuses on sustainable and environmentally sensitive construction.
65 Ash St., as per documents on file at Saratoga Springs Jan. 22, 2024.
SARATOGA SPRINGS —A public hearing will be held 6:30 p.m. Monday, Jan. 29 regarding the seeking of an Area Variance to permit the demolition and reconstruction of a residence on the city’s west side.
The new business in front of the Saratoga Springs Zoning Board of Appeals Proposes the demolition of a single-family, two-story residence at 65 Ash St., and the construction of a new, single-family two-story residence with a detached garage in its place.
The current owners acquired the property last September.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — During the month of February, The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library will present a traveling exhibit, Messages From Survivors: One Family’s Holocaust Legacy. The exhibit will then travel to Saratoga Springs Public Library during the month of March.
The exhibit is built on 40 years of filming a family of Holocaust survivors in the Bronx, Miami, and a bungalow colony in the Catskills between 1962 and 2016.
In the exhibit, six short videos introduce the Holocaust through powerful personal stories of a family of Holocaust survivors. Six exhibit panels researched using the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum’s resources provide historical context for the video footage. The exhibit covers the family’s experiences from 1938 through the 21st century.
A feature of the exhibit is the use of QR codes to bring the Holocaust survivors’ voices directly into people’s lives, both onsite and at home. Take-home cards keep the story alive once visitors return home. Each card contains stories of family members–-some who survived and some who didn’t, along with QR code links to the videos.
The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library will also present Never Forget: Conversations with a Holocaust Survivor at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, Feb. 6. The live-streamed conversation hosted by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. will be followed by a live Q & A session. All ages are encouraged to attend and no registration is required.
Saratoga Springs Public Library will host two programs while the exhibit is on display during the month of March. A Child’s Memories of the Holocaust: A Conversation with Survivor Ivan Vamos on March 10 and a book discussion March 18 – Finding Kalman: A Boy in Six Million, with a viewing of the accompanying documentary. Finding Kalman is written by Roz Jacobs, creator of The Memory Project.
The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library is located at 475 Moe Road in Clifton Park, and can be reached by phone at 518-371-8622 and online at www.cphlibrary.org.
The Memory Project Productions, Inc. creators of Messages From Survivors is a New York-based non-profit organization that creates exhibits and programs devoted to social justice, art and remembrance. Its exhibits have toured the U.S., Poland, and Hungary. Their award-winning film, Finding Kalman, has been broadcast nationally on PBS stations.
BALLSTON SPA — A 45-year-old Johnstown man was sentenced Jan. 19 to an indeterminate term of 2 to 6 years in a state correctional facility in connection with an incident that occurred on July 30, 2023, in the Town of Wilton.
Richard T. Irelan, of Johnstown, had previously entered a guilty plea to vehicular manslaughter in the second-degree, a felony, related to the incident.
The charges against Irelan originated from his operating a Harley Davidson motorcycle erratically and rear-ending a pickup truck on the Exit 15 I-87 southbound off-ramp, according to a statement released by county District Attorney Karen Heggen. The impact resulted in the ejection of the passenger on Irelan’s motorcycle, who was rushed to Saratoga Hospital and later succumbed to her injuries.
An investigation by the New York State Police at the scene determined that Irelan was intoxicated at the time of the crash, and a subsequent blood test revealed a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of .09% and the presence of cannabis in his system.
The investigation was conducted by the New York State Police Bureau of Criminal Investigations and the Troop G Collision Reconstruction Unit.
FORT EDWARD —A Washington County jury on Jan. 23 found 66-year-old Kevin Monahan guilty of second-degree murder in the shooting of Kaylin Gillis – the Schuylerville woman killed in April 2023 after the vehicle in which she was a passenger mistakenly pulled into Monahan’s driveway in the town of Hebron.
Gillis was 20 years old. She attended Schuylerville Elementary School in kindergarten and first grade and returned to the district in high school for grades 10-12.
“It’s a very rural area with dirt roads. It’s easy to get lost,” Washington County Sheriff Jeffrey Murphy explained during a press conference staged shortly after the April 15 incident. “They had been looking for their friend’s house, got mistaken and drove up this driveway,” the sheriff said. “While they were leaving the residence, once they had determined they were at the wrong house, the subject came out on his porch, for whatever reason, and fired two shots – one of which struck the vehicle that Kaylin was in… there was clearly no threat from anyone in the vehicle.”
Sentencing is scheduled for March 1.
“We will never have full closure from the events of that fateful day but do feel justice has prevailed,” Kaylin Gillis’ father, Andrew, reportedly posted on Facebook shortly after the verdict. “While we would trade anything to bring Kaylin back, this was the best possible outcome short of her still being here with us. Kaylin got her justice.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS —A Saratoga Springs man accused of unlawfully entering a residence through a window while armed with a deadly weapon and stabbing one of the residents with a knife, is facing multiple charges for his alleged actions.
The suspected incident occurred while a minor child was present, and the victim – an adult female victim – was transported to Saratoga Hospital by EMS for evaluation and treatment of non-threatening injury.
George S. Tinoco, 48, of Saratoga Springs, was charged with felony burglary, and possession of burglar’s tools and endangering the welfare of a child – both misdemeanors, according to a press release issued by the Saratoga County Sheriff’s on Jan. 22.
The alleged incident relates to a disturbance call in the town of Malta shortly after midnight on Jan. 12 received by the sheriff’s office. An investigation led to the arrest of Tinoco four days later, after he was released from Albany Medical Center where he had been hospitalized for self-inflicted injuries.
Tinoco was arraigned and sent to the Saratoga County Jail in lieu of bail or bond pending further action in the matter.
Swan Lake. The NYCB stages at SPAC July 9-13. Photo Erin Baiano.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The 75th anniversary celebration of the New York City Ballet will continue with its seasonal return to Saratoga Performing Arts Center this summer.
From July 9 – 13, the company’s 58th season at SPAC features more than 90 dancers under the direction of Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, accompanied by the New York City Ballet Orchestra, led by Music Director Andrew Litton.
Opening the season on July 9 is “NYCB On and Off Stage,” hosted by NYCB principal dancers for a unique “behind the curtain” experience featuring excerpts from the week’s ballets and culminating with a celebratory after party. Highlighting the residency is George Balanchine’s three-act work Jewels, returning for the first time since 2016 and featuring Fauré’s elegant Emeralds, Stravinsky’s jazz-inflected Rubies, and Tschaikovsky’s symphonic Diamonds.
Also featured are two evenings dedicated to works by contemporary choreographers including a new work by Amy Hall Garner, which is set to hold its world premiere as part of NYCB’s 2024 spring season; Gustave le Gray No. 1, a SPAC debut choreographed by Pam Tanowitz and set to the music of Caroline Shaw; Ulysses Dove’s dynamically charged, abstract work Red Angels, set to a riveting score for electric violin, and Justin Peck’s sneaker ballet The Times are Racing, heralded by audiences and critics alike since its premiere in 2017.
Rounding out the season will be two performances of some of Balanchine’s most beloved works, including the classic story ballet Swan Lake; the exuberantly patriotic Stars and Stripes; the SPAC-commissioned work The Steadfast Tin Soldier, based on Hans Christian Andersen’s charming fairytale; and scenes from Coppélia, featuring children from the Capital Region, in celebration of the work’s 50th anniversary, which held its world premiere at SPAC in 1974.
New York City Ballet: July 9 – 13
NYCB On and Off Stage – Tuesday, July 9 @ 7:30 p.m. NYCB principal dancers host a unique “behind the curtain” experience featuring excerpts from the week’s ballets. A compelling evening for newcomers and aficionados alike. Immediately following the program is a celebratory “dance party” in the Hall of Springs.
Jewels – Wednesday, July 10 @ 7:30 p.m. and Thursday, July 11 @ 2 p.m. Emeralds (Fauré/Balanchine); Rubies (Stravinsky/Balanchine); Diamonds (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine)
Contemporary
Choreographers – Thursday, July 11 @ 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, July 13 @ 7:30 p.m. New Garner* (TBA/Garner); Red Angels (Einhorn/Dove); Gustave le Gray No. 1* (Shaw/Tanowitz); The Times Are Racing (Deacon/Peck).
Swan Lake & Stars and Stripes – Friday, July 12 @ 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, July 13 @ 2 p.m. Swan Lake (Tschaikovsky/Balanchine); Scenes from Coppélia (Delibes/Balanchine and Danilova, after Petipa); The Steadfast Tin Soldier (Bizet/Balanchine); Stars and Stripes (Sousa, orch. by Kay/Balanchine).
*Indicates SPAC premiere
Tickets will be available beginning on Feb. 9 at 10 a.m. for members (tiered by level) and on Feb. 22 at 10 a.m. for the general public. Visit spac.org for details.
