The Saratoga County Business Showcase is returning this fall. The longstanding annual showcase brings together businesses, organizations, entrepreneurs, and professionals from across the Capital Region for one of the area’s premier networking events.
Open to the public, the event is scheduled from 4 to 6:30 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 19 at the Holiday Inn Saratoga Springs located at 232 Broadway in Saratoga Springs.
This expo is for businesses and organizations of all sizes and industries looking to grow, connect, and build their brand throughout Saratoga County’s business network. From startups to seasoned corporations to B2B service providers, the showcase offers a unique opportunity to highlight the area’s diverse economic landscape within a platform designed for attendees to meet potential clients, collaborators, and fellow professionals. Attendees are encouraged to bring business cards.
“The Saratoga County Business Showcase presents an opportunity of significant value for both businesses and organizations that exhibit as well as attendees who come to network,” Chamber President Todd Shimkus said. “Attendance is free and we welcome members of the public to join us and enjoy a lively networking environment filled with potential connections from throughout the region.”
Businesses and organizations interested in being an exhibitor or sponsor are encouraged to reserve booth space by emailing Andrea Mulholland at amulholland@saratoga.org. Limited spaces are available.
Photo of 430-436 Broadway in June of 1920 (Courtesy of the Hall of History Foundation and the Saratoga Room in the Saratoga Springs Public Library)
Current Photo of 430-436 Broadway (Aidan Clark)
An anchor of the downtown Saratoga streetscape, 430-436 Broadway, is for sale for $14.9 million dollars. The three-story mixed-use building stands on the corner of Broadway and Caroline Street.
Built in the 1860s, the building has had just two owners over its lifespan, first by the Putnam family. Then in 1923, the grandfather of the current managing partner, Bill Walbridge, purchased the building, beginning 103 years of family ownership.
Currently the building holds five businesses— Lifestyles, Esperanto, the Merc, the Vault, and Tin and Lint. The former is the longest continuously operated bar in the city of Saratoga – since the 1970s.
The bustling downtown scene of today is in part, due to the civic work of Bill’s father.
In the 1970s, downtown faced a vacancy rate approaching 50 percent. Community leaders responded by investing in streetscape improvements and creating a grant program that encouraged owners to reinvest in and preserve their buildings.
Those efforts helped spark the revitalization that transformed Saratoga Springs from a primarily seasonal destination into the vibrant, year-round city it is today.
Now with unprecedented investment into the Spa City’s downtown district, The Walbridges have decided it is time to list the property for sale.
According to Roohan Realty, brokers of the building, the sale represents more than a change in ownership— it is an opportunity to pass a piece of Saratoga’s history to the next generation of community leaders who will help shape the future of downtown, just as generations before them did.
Yaddo, the nation’s foremost artist residency program, announced the appointment of Cyra Levenson as its next President. Levenson is currently the Deputy Director of Learning and Engagement at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, an art museum on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. She will assume her new role on November 16, 2026, succeeding Elaina Richardson, who is stepping down after 26 years of leadership.
“For 100 years Yaddo has been dedicated to creative people, to practice and to the magic that happens in community,” Levenson said. “Artists have a unique ability to see what doesn’t yet exist and to metabolize what is happening in the world in ways that others can digest and gain nourishment from. It is an honor and a privilege to support that effort as the next leader of Yaddo.”
At the Guggenheim Levenson serves on the Executive Team, where she has helped shape public engagement across the institution’s global constellation, developing initiatives that connect artists and audiences across disciplines. Her work has included establishing the museum’s first poet-in-residence program, welcoming new audiences to the museum through dynamic public programs, and collaborating with artists including Rashid Johnson, Nick Cave, and Cecilia Vicuña to create opportunities for musicians, dancers, actors, and poets to engage with the museum as a creative platform.
“Cyra Levenson brings to Yaddo a rare combination of strategic leadership, intellectual depth, and hands-on program experience,” said Peter Kayafas, Yaddo Board Co-Chair. “She is also a visual artist, and she understands, from the inside, what a place like Yaddo means to the artists and writers who work here. We could not be more delighted to have her lead Yaddo into its next century.”
Before joining the Guggenheim, Levenson served as a Deputy Director at the Cleveland Museum and as Curator of Education and Academic Outreach at the Yale Center for British Art.
Levenson studied visual arts and Asian art history at Oberlin College, where she earned her B.A., and holds an Ed.M. from Teachers College, Columbia University.
The appointment follows a broad national search conducted in partnership with Russell Reynolds Associates, a global leadership advisory firm. The search was co-chaired by Yaddo Board Members Ann Chen and Alexi Worth under the leadership of Board Co-Chairs Kayafas and Lee.
“We considered more than 200 candidates from across the country, and the finalists were an impressive and diverse group,” said Chen and Worth. “Cyra rose to the top because she pairs institutional and fundraising experience with a true artistic sensibility.”
“I am so grateful to the Search Committee for the great care, intelligence, and rigor they brought to the process of selecting Yaddo’s next President, and I am thrilled by the result,” said current Yaddo President Elaina Richardson. “Cyra Levenson is a wonderful choice, and I am sure she will do much to increase Yaddo’s impact and ability to support artists in these challenging days. After leading Yaddo for 26 years and knowing the many unforeseens that can arise in today’s world, it is a joy to know our second century begins brightly.”
Yaddo honored Richardson’s tenure at the Yaddo Centennial NYC Benefit on Oct. 5.
The 2026 Saratoga Showcase of Homes is celebrating 30 years of exceptional homes and will be presented over two fall weekends this year on October 3-4 and October 10-11 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are $25 and this year’s edition has 13 locations from 12 award-winning builders in Saratoga County on display.
Showcase tickets are available now online at www.saratogashowcaseofhomes.com or at Adirondack Trust branches, Arrow Bank on South Broadway in Saratoga Springs, Curtis Lumber in Ballston Spa & Queensbury, Roohan Realty in Saratoga Springs, Rebuilding Together ReShop in Ballston Spa and Habitat for Humanity ReStore in Fort Edward. Showcase tickets are always conveniently available at any showcase home during tour hours.
As in previous years, each showcase ticket holder will receive a free commemorative shoe/tote bag at the first home visited, while supplies last!
Participating builders in this year’s event; Amedore Homes, Barbera Homes, Belmonte Builders, BT Land Development, Homes by Malta Development, Kodiak Construction, Kohler Homes, Spa City Builders, Talarico Construction, Trojanski Builders, Urvalek Builders and Witt Construction.
This year’s showcase will also be featuring a “Boards to Blooms” build exhibition on Saturday, October 3rd from 10 a.m. to noon at the Trojanski Builders Showcase home #12. Local school students will be building wooden box planters led by Whitbeck Construction. It’s all part of spotlighting work in the trades by the Northeast Construction Trades Workforce Coalition. In addition, a CTE Construction Trades/BOCES Victorian inspired “Greenhouse” will be on display all four days of the event at the Homes by Malta Development Showcase home #5.
This annual community event has contributed $1.8 million dollars to local charities. Proceeds from the Saratoga Showcase of Homes benefit Rebuilding Together Saratoga County and Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties. For more details on the 2026 Saratoga Showcase of Homes event, please visit www.saratogashowcaseofhomes.com. Check out Saratoga Showcase of Homes on Facebook and Instagram for all the updates on this year’s event!
Ariel View of the Proposal of 269 Broadway (Courtesy of the Saratoga Springs Planning Board)
A proposal for a six-story mixed use development on 269 Broadway in Saratoga Springs is currently being considered by the City Planning Board.
The site spans from Broadway to Hamilton Street and sits in between Saratoga Central Catholic School and NBT Bank. The land is currently a parking lot. The project includes a singular retail space on the ground level with high-end condominiums on the upper floors and underground parking.
The developers, Prime Group Holdings, said deliveries and car traffic will enter through Hamilton, with the aim of keeping congestion away from Broadway.
Included in the plans are renovations of the Hamilton and Broadway sidewalks, installing streetlights, and planting additional trees along the property.
A requirement of the board is to save the 60-foot maple tree planted by late Public Works Commissioner, Anthony “Skip” Sirocco, who was instrumental in implementing street trees along Broadway.
Prime Group Holdings received approval for a similar project in 2022 which notably garnered significant public opposition in the form of an 800-signature petition over the scale of the proposal which sits in the city’s historic district.
However, the developers abandoned the project after construction costs increased due to groundwater on the site.
The applicants believe their current proposal will better integrate into the surrounding streetscape.
The architects “have spent months visiting Saratoga Springs, reviewing its historic and current architecture, to immerse themselves in the feeling of Downtown Saratoga,” the project narrative said.
This time around the proposal only includes one level of underground parking, instead of two in 2022.
Although the public’s comments did not focus on the architecture of the building, neighbors did voice their concerns over the ground water on the site.
“The entire engineering issue is associated with the fact that we are putting a lot of weight on a very wet area,” said planning board Chair, Mark Pingel. “It’s a problem that is solvable because it has been solved on many other sites before.”
Current planning board member, Tony Stellato, was employed by the outside engineering firm contracted by the city to review the 2022 project. After disclosing this to the board and a quick discussion about recusal, the board and the developers determined it would be mutually beneficial to have Stellato’s expertise in the approval process.
The planning board did not vote on the project at the September 24 meeting, instead instructing the developers to review their plans on civic spaces, stormwater management, vehicle turnaround on Hamilton Street, and foundation structures.
After the developers return to the planning board with renewed submissions based on the board’s comments, the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQR) process will begin.
The SEQR requires government agencies to review the environmental, economic, and social impacts of the project. This process will include public hearings to be announced at a later date on the planning board agenda.
Public comments can be submitted online at, saratogaspringsny.gov/192/Planning-Department.
The New York State Department of Labor (NYSDOL) announced that on Monday, November 2, at 5 p.m., the department will begin the upgrade of its system for processing unemployment insurance claims, known as Unemployment Services. The process is expected to take 9 to 12 days.
The upgraded system will replace the 50-year-old system and will provide greater efficiency by allowing customers to be able to file and certify claims from any device, including smartphones.
To support a secure transition from the current system to the upgraded platform during the upgrade period, all online and phone-based unemployment insurance services will be temporarily unavailable. Individuals and businesses should be aware of the following:
• Customers will not be able to file new unemployment insurance claims, certify for weekly benefits, or access or update account information. The deadline to file a claim or certify is 5 p.m. on Monday, November 2, 2026.
• Individuals will experience delays in payments; however, customers will receive all benefit payments to which they are entitled once the upgrade is complete, and they file or certify for benefits in the upgraded system.
• Customers should continue to complete and record work search activities during the upgrade period. Remember: To stay eligible for unemployment insurance benefits, individuals must complete and record at least three work search activities each week. During the upgrade period, Career Centers will be available virtually by appointment for job search assistance, dol.ny.gov/workforce-scheduler.
• NYSDOL will notify all customers when the upgraded system is available.
• The Unemployment Services upgrade will not affect electronic filing for NYS-1 and NYS-45 through the NYS Department of Taxation and Finance (TAX). Businesses will continue to file NYS-1 and NYS-45 through TAX once Unemployment Services is available.
The Scene Coffee and Cocktails announced plans to open its second location in downtown Saratoga Springs, the former home of Wheatfields Restaurant and Bar at 440 Broadway.
The Scene opened its first location at 1671 Western Avenue in Albany in July 2023 and quickly developed a strong following for its signature brunch, coffee, and cocktail programs. From morning coffee and weekend brunch to after-work drinks and late-night cocktails, the concept was built to serve guests throughout the day. Owners Mariana and Nick Forbes will bring that same approach to Saratoga Springs.
“We’d like to thank Wheatfields owners Tim and Colleen Holmes for the opportunity they’ve given us. The Capital Region is built on strong family businesses, and it means the world to us to carry on that tradition in such an iconic space,” said Mariana Forbes. “So many Saratogians have celebrated birthdays, anniversaries, and everyday moments in that space, and we don’t take that lightly. We are honored to carry that spirit of gathering forward. Being on Broadway in Saratoga Springs is a dream for us, and we can’t wait to become a part of the neighborhood.”
The space will feature both a traditional bar and a dedicated coffee bar.
Guests can expect many of the favorites from the Albany location, including the Cinnamon French Toast Latte, Veggie Scramble and Chicken Pesto Panini, along with signature cocktails such as the Espresso Martini, Tiramisu Martini, Linda’s Cosmo and the Champagne Vending Machine Experience.
In the evening, The Scene Cocktail Lounge will offer a menu of shareable plates, including Tomato and Burrata, Herbed Focaccia Bread, Prosciutto and Burrata Flatbread, and the Beef Slider Trio. Live music and DJs will also be part of the experience on select nights.
“We wouldn’t be in a position to open a second location without the incredible support we’ve received from our team and our customers here in the Capital Region,” said Nick Forbes. “Our staff has put so much into building The Scene into what it is today, and our guests have continued to show up for us in a way we’re extremely grateful for.”
“What excites us most about Saratoga is the opportunity to build our second location with everything we’ve learned from our first,” said Nick Forbes. “We’ve had three years to learn what works, what we can do better, and how we can create a stronger experience for both our guests and our team. We’re taking those lessons into every decision we make in Saratoga.”
Beyond the restaurant, The Scene runs a busy catering and events business. The catering menu ranges from brunch boards to the Barista Box, and The Scene’s gelato cart can be booked for parties and events. Catering and events will also be available from the Saratoga Springs location. Additional details, including an opening date and hours, will be announced in the coming months. Follow @thescenecoffeeny for updates.
Seven Saratoga Springs High School students have been named Commended Students in the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program.
Katherine Kemp, Zachary Kopans, Derek Longo, Alejandro Meissner, Nicholas Morser, Theresa Richter, and Jack Sweeney Benzon received Letters of Commendation from Saratoga Springs High School and the National Merit Scholarship Corporation.
Approximately 34,000 students nationwide are being recognized as Commended Students for their exceptional academic promise. Commended Students placed among the top 50,000 students who entered the 2027 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2025 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT).
Congratulations to these seven students on this outstanding achievement!
“Madness, Murder, Untimely Deaths, and Strange Coincidences”
with Gloria May
On Sunday, October 18 at 4:30 PM, join Gloria May for “Madness, Murder, Untimely Deaths, and Strange Coincidences,” a rare opportunity to explore Greenridge Cemetery at dusk. Navigate the tombs and monuments of Greenridge Cemetery while unearthing tales of Saratoga’s most notable residents who have resided at Greenridge since 1844.
Come discover the final resting place of many individuals who made Saratoga Springs their home while getting in the spooky spirit of the season!
Each gravestone in Greenridge Cemetery marks the final resting place of an individual forever tied to Saratoga Springs. There are many stories – from heartwarming to scandalous – tied to the people buried there. If you are brave enough, join us for this spooky walk where the truth of this tale, and many others, may be even more unsettling than ghost stories!
This special program lasts approximately 90 minutes and requires walking and standing on varied terrain. Tours will be limited to thirty and tickets must be purchased in advance. The cost per tour is $25 for SSPF members and $30 for non-members. For additional information on this program, or to purchase tickets visit www.saratogapreservation.org, call (518) 587-5030, or email Dianne Winter, Development Director, at dwinter@saratogapreservation.org
Film lovers in our area will join over 100,000 film enthusiasts around the world when the 29th Annual MANHATTAN SHORT Film Festival screens at the Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library. The Library will hold two screenings: Thursday, October 1 at 6 pm and Saturday, October 3 at 2 pm. Runtime for each screening is approximately two hours and includes an intermission.
For the first time in its history MANHATTAN SHORT has selected ten films from ten countries–USA, Ireland, Australia, South Africa, United Kingdom, Moldova, Russia, Cuba, Georgia, and Mexico.
“Since 9/11 my vision for this festival has been to create a filmic Olympiad,” said Nicholas Mason, founding director of Manhattan Short Film Festival. “An event consisting of ten quality shorts from ten separate countries that joins the world. Finally, in 2026 we have managed to do that. I’m very excited for the reaction it receives from our worldwide audience.”
MANHATTAN SHORT 2026 will screen simultaneously across the world during a one-week period, with the Best Film and Best Actor awards determined by ballots cast by the audiences in each participating venue. By virtue of their selection by MANHATTAN SHORT, each short film is automatically Oscar-qualified.
The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library, located in Southern Saratoga County, provides materials, programs, and services to the residents of Clifton Park and Halfmoon. The Library at 475 Moe Road in Clifton Park is open seven days a week and can be reached by phone at 518-371-8622 and online at www.cphlibrary.org.
For more information about the Library, please contact Library Director Alex Gutelius at 518-371-8622.
