Coffee Planet in Ballston Spa was purchased by current owner Kim Tribley in 2018. Photo via the company’s Facebook page.
BALLSTON SPA — Coffee Planet, located at 100 Milton Avenue in downtown Ballston Spa, celebrated six years under its current ownership on Saturday.
A statement posted to the company’s Facebook page said that owner and CEO Kim Tribley “has poured her heart and soul into creating a space that goes beyond serving coffee; she’s built a community where warmth, connection, and exceptional service are at the core of everything we do.”
Tribley purchased Coffee Planet from previous owner Cliff Baum in 2018. The shop celebrated its 20th anniversary last year. Tribley was previously a sales rep at Chris’ Coffee in Latham.
A screenshot from the Saratoga 250 augmented reality preview app shows Benedict Arnold standing inside the Saratoga TODAY newsroom.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Benedict Arnold stood tall next to the water cooler in the Saratoga TODAY newsroom as he expressed his eagerness to repel British advances at the upcoming Battles of Saratoga. Or at least that’s how it looked on one reporter’s cell phone.
The Saratoga 250 Commission is using augmented reality and 3D animations of historic figures to help bring the “turning point” of the American Revolution to life. Upon downloading an app, cell phone users can “see” these animated characters standing in front of them via their phone’s camera. The characters then deliver first-person testimonies of their roles in the Battles of Saratoga, presenting history in an entertaining and technologically advanced fashion.
“You can stand next to an animation of Benedict Arnold and take your picture,” said Lauren Roberts, Saratoga County Historian and chairperson of the Saratoga 250 Commission.
360XR, a digital storytelling company, is responsible for creating these augmented reality experiences. The company previously created similar animations for various historic sites on Long Island. One in particular, a driving tour of the Culper Spy Ring, caught Roberts’ attention.
“We liked all the different ways that they were telling the story and we decided that this is something that we would really like to have in Saratoga County,” Roberts said. “Not every place is a historic site where you can have staffing and signage and installations, so the idea of using technology was really great for us.”
After the second battle of Saratoga, when British General John Burgoyne was outnumbered and on the run, he headed about ten miles north to what is now Schuylerville. With the use of augmented reality, this trail of the British retreat would come alive at various sites where visitors could hear stories told by animated, historic characters.
Some of the characters being brought to life by 360XR and Saratoga 250 are Benedict Arnold, John Burgoyne, and Lady Frederika Riedesel, who wrote memoirs of her experiences in the war.
“We know a lot about what was going on during the siege because of her writings,” Roberts said. “She gives some wonderful perspectives; ones that we wouldn’t necessarily hear from a military perspective.”
Riedesel, the wife of the commander of German forces at Saratoga, took shelter in the Marshall House in present-day Schuylerville. In the house’s cellar, she helped care for women and wounded soldiers.
“Here, I stand, thousands of miles from home with my three young daughters,” says an animated version of Riedesel in a donor preview video created by 360XR. “We live amidst a paradox. Nature’s beauty surrounds us, yet the harsh realities of wilderness travel and the brutal truths of war shape our days.”
These words, spoken by an actress portraying Riedesel, come directly from the actual writings of Lady Frederika. But when it comes to other historic characters who didn’t always leave behind written records of their thoughts, a certain amount of creativity is required to, quite literally, put words in their mouths.
“We’re interpreting their position or perspective, but we’re trying to be as accurate as you can be in a process like this,” Roberts said.
As of now, a few demos of these historic characters have been created. But Saratoga 250 hopes to make more of them.
“Technology is not cheap, so [Campaign for Saratoga 250] is working on funding so that we can include more stories and implement what we have,” Roberts said.
The hope is to have all of these augmented reality experiences ready in time for the 250th anniversary of the Battles of Saratoga, which will be celebrated in 2027.
“I hope that using a new way to tell stories will interest a larger audience,” Roberts said. “We’re really just trying to reach more people and tell the story in an informative and entertaining way.”
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.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The LA Group, a landscape architecture, engineering, and planning firm based in Saratoga Springs, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year.
The LA Group has served a diverse clientele ranging from federal and state agencies such as the Department of Veterans Affairs and New York State Parks to educational institutions such as West Point and Skidmore College. Local projects include collaborations with Saratoga Hospital, Saratoga Regional YMCA, and the Wellspring Headquarters in Malta.
“Our journey over the past five decades has been defined by our unwavering dedication to creating spaces that enrich communities and elevate experiences,” said David Miller, RLA, Principal at The LA Group in a statement. “We are incredibly proud of the impact we’ve had and look forward to continuing to innovate and serve our clients.”
“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.
Impressions set up a pop-up tent while interior electrical work was being completed.
If you happened to drive down Broadway during the past two weeks you may have noticed a peculiar sight: a handful of stores closed during race season! The culprit: Water and fire.
On June 19, a six-inch water pipe failed, flooding the basement of 19 Phila St. and 368 Broadway. The flooding caused an electrical fire which destroyed the electrical infrastructure of both buildings.
The Saratoga Springs Fire Department and The city’s Department of Public Works responded quickly, assisting residents and pumping water out of basements.
While very little damage was done to the buildings, all electrical infrastructure and more than 30 individual meters required replacement.
MTG Electric worked around-the-clock to complete the job so residents could return home, and business owners could resume operations. National Grid, along with other departments, were also very helpful with this unique fire.
While interior work was being completed, businesses were forced to think ‘outside of the box’. One of those shops was Impressions, who opened a pop-up tent on the sidewalk with a sampling of their overall offerings.
As of press time all work is complete and both buildings are open for business again.
“We are incredibly excited to be able to be open again and a truly appreciative of all of the support we have had over the last five weeks.” stated impressions co-owner Maddy Zanetti. “From customers to the Roohan employees, MTG Electric, and our fellow businesses; it has been overwhelming and humbling to have so many reach out and offer assistance in some way.”
While the downtime varied from as little as 10 days, some businesses were out of power for four or five weeks.
The following businesses were affected by the fire and welcome your support:
The Content Agency, New Attitudes Salon, Magic Moon, Impressions, Catholic Charities, Kettlewell & Edwards, The Shoppe, Kiki Hairslayer, The Funding Store, J B Squared Enterprise, Maryam Harri DDS, Lyrical Ballad, Miss Scarlett, Trattoria Fortunata, and Heather Satkowski.
Something Bleu Bridal, located at 75 Woodlawn Ave in Saratoga Springs, recently celebrated a change of ownership at a ribbon cutting ceremony hosted by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce. New owner Brandi Solomon purchased the bridal boutique this year from Marissa Mackay, who previously bought the business in 2018. Photo provided by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
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.”
