SARATOGA SPRINGS — Betty (Boyer) Platt, 98, passed away January 29, 2021. Private service was held at Burke Funeral Home. Burial with military honors was also private at The Saratoga National Cemetery. Memorial donations to Community Hospice or Saratoga Hospital. Visit burkefuneralhome.com
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Beatrice Smith Braim, 86, passed away on January 31, 2021 peacefully alongside loving family. Due to COVID restrictions, services will be private.Arrangements are under the direction of the William J. Burke, 628 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs. Visit burkefuneralhome.com.
SCOTIA — Patricia (Patti) Boyce, passed away peacefully on Jan. 30, 2021. A graveside service will be held in Saratoga Springs this spring. Arrangements are under the direction of the William J. Burke & Sons funeral Home, 628 N. Broadway, Saratoga Springs. Visit burkefuneralhome.com.
Valentine’s & Saratoga Porch Packages
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Impressions of Saratoga and The Dark Horse Mercantile are spreading love this Valentine’s Day through cards and Saratoga Porch Packages.
The “Thinking of You” Card Project allows you to to choose from over 500 different greeting cards to write and mail right at Impressions or the Dark Horse.
Co-owner Maddy Zanetti explains “We have tried to make it fun and easy for everyone. A station is set up with free pens, cards, a mailbox, and even a few prompts to help people think of what to say. Small gestures like cards help to bring smiles and a little brightness during these cold winter days. We have even been writing to friends, past employees, customers, and family.”
Saratoga Porch Packages are presented in a reusable Saratoga tote and filled with locally made food products and Saratoga items. There are “pre-assembled” Saratoga Porch Packages that can be viewed at ImpressionsSaratoga.com or call to create your own.
Fun new Saratoga Porch Packages include “BEE my Valentine,” “You’re the Bomb,” “Hugs & Kisses,” as well as packages for dog, cat and horse lovers.
Stop in, call 518-587-0666, or order at ImpressionsSaratoga.com. Both stores are offering in-store shopping, curbside pickup and local delivery. For more details call 518-587-0666 or email at impressions@impressionssaratoga.com
Truffles, Heart Boxes, Gift Baskets & Chocolate Covered Strawberries
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Candy Co. is celebrating its 23rd year of business, and oh, what a year it has been since the last Valentine’s Day, says Candy Company of Saratoga owner Dawn Oesch, located at 5 Washington St.
This year, with safety precautions in place, the longtime Spa City shop is offering a variety of methods to secure their goodies, including curbside pickup, limited people inside at a time for pick up, and local delivery from Feb. 12-14 within 15 miles of Saratoga Springs.
What better way to spoil the one you love or to give a friend a well-deserved pick-me-up then to have goodies delivered (person is masked & gloved!) to their door.
For more information, go to: saratogasweets.com/loving-our-locals
Local COVID Rates Drop, Hospital Capacity Increases,
County to Decide on Potential Return of High-Risk Sports
BALLSTON SPA — Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Jan. 22 that as of February 1, high-risk school sports had been given the green light to return as long as certain conditions were met and that the decision would be left up to individual county health departments.
Among those sports believed to fall under the high-risk category in New York State are football, wrestling, ice hockey, rugby, basketball, contact lacrosse, volleyball, martial arts, competitive cheer. There are one dozen school districts in Saratoga County with 1,100 school winter athletes.
Among the conditions was a community COVID-19 positivity rate of 4% or under. At the time of the governor’s announcement, the seven-day rolling average infection rate in Saratoga County was 7.4%.
On Jan. 29 – when the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors announced it was approving higher-risk K-12 sponsored school sports to resume on Feb. 1 in conjunction with similar conditions, that average rate of infection had fallen to 4.7%. and on Feb. 3 had fallen to 4% – the first time it had done so in Saratoga County since Dec. 2, when the post-Thanksgiving Day infection surge was on its rise. The infection rate had previously been at or near, and often below 1% from Memorial Day weekend through Halloween.
Hospital capacity is another condition, with a low of 15% availability being a particular danger sign. The Capital Region – the eight-county region which includes Saratoga – is the worst of the state’s 10 designated regions for percent of hospital beds available. However, its 27% availability rate has trended in a good way, climbing in positivity in recent days, and nearing the statewide average of 34% bed availability.
“While the seven-day positivity rate has dropped substantially in just the last two weeks, it is imperative that we do not lower our guard and leave our communities and hospitals vulnerable to another surge in cases,” said Dr. Daniel Kuhles, Commissioner of Saratoga County Public Health Services, adding that he had been directed by Saratoga County Board of Supervisors Chairman Theodore Kusnierz to study NCAA protocols to determine if they can be adapted to high school athletics.
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The Board of Supervisors called for a special meeting to take place Feb. 4 to consider the recommendations of Dr. Kuhles on high school high-risk sports.
Pending updates which may emerge from the special meeting Feb. 4, Saratoga County had recently put additional guidelines in place for schools to proceed.
• If the school is closed for in-person education due to an increase in COVID-19 cases, school-sponsored sports must be suspended until in-person education is resumed; however, this restriction does not apply to schools that are conducting only remote instruction.
• Sports-related travel outside the Capital Region, North Country and Mohawk Valley is strongly discouraged and travel to, or from, any area that has been designated by NYSDOH as a red or orange zone is not permitted. Participation in multiteam events or tournaments is not recommended. To minimize contact, pod/bubble mini-leagues could be created.
• Weekly COVID-19 testing for each student-athlete, coach, manager, referee/official, or other individual associated with the higher-risk sport, unless the individual has documentation of a positive COVID-19 test within the previous 90 days.
• It is also suggested that coaches and student-athletes sign pledges acknowledging that what they do outside of practice and games can affect their teammates, opponents, and their community, as well as directly impact the future of the sports season.
Cuomo’s announcement came a few days after the New York State Athletic Administrators Association – representatives of the over 780 Athletic Administrators in the state – sent a letter to the governor, imploring his reconsideration of a decision to forego ‘high-risk’ sports for the winter and potentially the remainder of the school year, and to permit play to return immediately. The letter cited surrounding states keeping school sports programs operating while identifying mental health and increasing the socio-economic gaps as potential factors in cases of student depression and lower grades while engaged in some form of virtual learning.
Saratoga Springs — Everyone knows that Saratoga Springs is a horseracing town and one of the hardest bets to win at the track is the trifecta where the bettor has to pick the first, second and third place finishers in a race. Dating back to last year’s Section II championships, the Saratoga Springs High School gymnastics team has hit the trifecta in four consecutive competitions.
In each of those contests, Saratoga gymnasts Sophia Damiano, Ava Dallas and Carly Ruschak have finished 1-2-3 in the all-around. On Friday night at the Wilton YMCA, the trio led Saratoga to a win over Guilderland 169.9 – 156.0 to move to 3-0 on the season. Damiano was first in the all-around with a score of 36.825 followed by Dallas in second (36.45) and Ruschak in third (33.25). Guilderland’s top finisher in the all-around was Carli Rem who finished 4th (32.65).
Damiano scored highest on the vault (9.525) and the balance beam (9.05). She finished second on the uneven bars and the floor. Dallas won the uneven bars (8.9) and the floor (9.5). She placed second on the vault and the balance beam. Ruschak took third on the uneven bars, the balance beam and the floor.
“I’m really happy with the consistency of the top three. They are scoring really well while adding more difficult skills to their routines. Really the whole team has come together nicely. We shoot for a team score of 170 in each meet and we only missed it by 0.1 points tonight. We had an injury on the vault and another contributor did not compete. I really like where we are at midway through the season,” commented Head Coach Deb Smarro.
Saratoga returns to action on Thursday, January 28 against Shaker at the Wilton YMCA.
TOP THREE FINISHERS IN EACH EVENT
Vault: 1st-Sophia Damiano(SS) 9.525; 2nd-Ava Dallas(SS) 9.15; 3rd- Addie Seebode (G) 8.25
Bars: 1st-Ava Dallas(SS) 8.9; 2nd-Sophia Damiano(SS) 8.8; 3rd-Carly Ruschak(SS) 7.3
Beam: 1st-Sophia Damiano(SS) 9.05; 2nd-Ava Dallas(SS) 8.9; 3rd-Carly Ruschak(SS) 8.6
Floor: 1st-Ava Dallas(SS) 9.5; 2nd-Sophia Damiano(SS) 9.45; 3rd-Carly Ruschak(SS) 9.25
AA: 1st-Sophia Damiano(SS) 36.825; 2nd-Ava Dallas(SS) 36.45; 3rd-Carly Ruschak(SS) 33.25
SARATOGA COUNTY — The Alternative Baseball Organization, a 501c3, provides an authentic baseball experience for teens 15+ and adults with autism and other disabilities.
They are looking for a volunteer coach/manager, volunteers, and players to help us start new programs serving those in Saratoga County and the surrounding area, in addition to their other Atlantic programs that are tentatively set to start in late Spring-summer 2021.
The teams travel to other areas, play on traditional high school size fields, and follow Major League rules (wood bats, base stealing, dropped third strike, etc.), Alternative Baseball has clubs in 30+ states. In 2019, the organization was commemorated as a Community Hero at an Atlanta Braves game and has been featured on ESPN’s BASEBALL TONIGHT and NBC’s Weekday TODAY Show.
For more information, go to www.alternativebaseball.org
GLENS FALLS — The founding producing artistic director at Adirondack Theatre Festival, Martha Banta, is returning to her former role on an interim basis while the organization conducts a national search for a permanent replacement.
The theatre’s board announced that Chad Rabinovitz resigned after six years as ATF’s producing artistic director. Nancy Fuller, board president, in making the announcement about Banta, said “Martha will not only serve the organization artistically, she is helping guide us through the transition and search process.”
Lake George native Banta – now NYC-based – has had a storied career in American theatre. She was the original resident director for the New York Theatre Workshop, Broadway, national tour and London productions of four-time Tony winner musical “Rent.” She was associate director of “Mamma Mia!” on Broadway and for one of the national tours. She also developed and directed “Playhouse Disney Live” for Walt Disney World, later called “Disney Jr. Live.” More recently, she directed a new tour production of “Rock of Ages.”
The pandemic is a challenge for the entire theatrical field, but Banta said the timing is actually a good opportunity for a transition at ATF. “We are not under duress to put on the upcoming season,” she said, signaling that the pandemic will impact ATF’s summer schedule. “We have the time to focus on finding the right person.”
Fuller said the board is committed to having the organization be active this summer with a scaled-back schedule. “There are a lot of artists who have been halted from doing what they do best, and I think they are willing to do projects to help out and we’ll definitely rope them in.”
A full-scale show, perhaps outdoors, is possible. There have been only three artistic directors in ATF’s 26-year history: Banta (1995-2007), Mark Fleischer (2007-2014) and Rabinovitz (2014-2020).
Each summer ATF produces a nine-week season– typically four mainstage productions and four special events – for more than 9,000 audience members at Wood Theater in Glens Falls. The organization operates under a Small Professional Theatre Agreement with Actors’ Equity Association (the union of professional actors), casting Broadway-level talent. The actors seen on the ATF stage, as well as the designers and directors, have worked regularly on and off-Broadway, on television and in movies.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Arts announced its next First Thursdays staging will take place 5:30-6:30 p.m. on Feb. 4, when 18 Strings of Trouble will perform at the big picture window at 320 Broadway. Dress warmly, practice social distancing and wear a mask. Dancing is encouraged.
Additionally, as Saratoga Arts is unable to hold the High School All Stars exhibition in the gallery space this year, it will feature artwork created by high school artists in a virtual format on its website. The exhibition features artwork by students from Saratoga, Fulton and Montgomery counties, and will run Jan. 28–Feb. 28. For more information, go to: saratoga-arts.org.
