SARATOGA SPRINGS —Roohan Realty announced that Megan Brenenstuhl has joined the team as a Licensed Real Estate Salesperson.
Megan was born and raised outside of Lexington, KY, not far from the Keeneland Race Course. Not long after, she went on to pursue sales, marketing, and event planning opportunities in the outdoor recreation industry in places like New Zealand, Key Largo, Virginia, Vermont, and Colorado. In 2015, Megan and her husband Ryan, a Saratoga Springs native, settled down in his hometown where they are currently raising their daughter.
Megan Brenenstuhl can be reached at 859-533-1236 or megan@roohanrealty.com.
Roohan Realty, a tradition of excellence and trust since 1969, is now celebrating 54 years of successfully serving the community’s residential and commercial property needs.
Roohan Realty is located at 519 Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs.
GLENS FALLS — Arrow Financial Corporation announced the promotion of Marc Yrsha to Chief Banking Officer for its two subsidiary banks, Glens Falls National Bank and Trust Company and Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company.
Yrsha retains his position as Executive Vice President and will assume all Chief Banking Officer responsibilities for the banks. He joined the company in 2015 and currently oversees Retail Banking, which includes retail, consumer, business and municipal banking, as well as small business and home equity lending. As Chief Banking Officer, Mr. Yrsha succeeds Dave DeMarco who was promoted to President and CEO of Arrow in May.
SARATOGA COUNTY — With approval of the NYS Office of Cannabis Management and with cooperation from Legacy Dispensaries, a Cannabis Growers Showcase will be held at Old Saratoga Mercantile. The showcase will feature tested and certified cannabis products grown by state approved cannabis cultivators from Saratoga, Washington and Rensselaer Counties. The location has been approved to operate from Wednesday, Aug. 23 through Jan. 1, 2024. Weekly, the showcase will operate Wednesday through Saturday from 12 p.m. to 8 p.m.
“After listening to cannabis farmers from across the state who were struggling financially due to the delays in dispensary openings, The Office of Cannabis Management produced thoughtful and curative guidelines providing relief by way of a Growers Showcase. As farmers, we are happy to provide a location to assist in the program, helping farmers get their products to customers who have longed for legal and responsibly grown cannabis. We are also happy to note that our community will benefit directly from the tax dollars collected from these sales,” Christina Myers, owner of Old Saratoga Mercantile.
Burnt Hills — Cannone’s Deli isn’t just a deli – it’s been a home, but with other homes to look after, the Cannone’s are finally calling it quits at this location.
John Cannone began his restaurant career working in his father’s Long Island deli, the Five Corners Food Market. In 1980, John married Theresa, and four years later, the couple moved upstate. On August 4, 1984, they opened Cannone’s Deli at 654 Saratoga Road.
The restaurant was a continuation of what John’s father taught him about how to make good sandwiches. With rolls from Rockland County, locally-sourced Thomas Poultry eggs, only the best bacon, and Boar’s Head Brand meats, the Cannone’s make sandwiches the way everybody likes them.
A Mighty Gallop
The location of Cannone’s Deli was home to one restaurant establishment or another for a century. When the Cannone’s took over in the eighties, they served gas from pumps out front, and lived for a year and a half in the apartment above.
Five years later, they built the current structure, originally named the Lake Elizabeth Plaza, and operated the corner unit. They ran Cannone’s Pizzeria and Cannone’s Liquor Store here, too, before selling the plaza in 1999.
In the proceeding years, the deli became Kelley’s Deli, and Post Time Deli and Catering, before the Cannone’s again took over operations in 2018. In the interim, John enjoyed harness racing and running the Horseman’s Restaurant at the Saratoga Harness Track, while also serving as President of the Amateur Driving Club.
“I didn’t realize how many people loved us until I came back,” said John, who arrived in Wilton when he was 28 years old, and began his 12-year term on the Town Board when he was 33. “People would come in and hug me, saying, ‘Welcome home. Don’t go anywhere. This is where you belong.’”
“When I came here, I was the outsider, but now,” said John, nodding, “I consider myself a local.”
“The hardest part of leaving this place is leaving the people.”
Life After the Races
John and Theresa agree, “It’s time.”
They’ve made more than 1,000+ egg sandwiches each week, and all the favorites, including the Cannone’s Special; made with Cappy Ham (hand-coated with the taste of Old-World Italy), pleasantly sharp provolone, and peperoni; the Thanksgiving dinner or turkey-bacon sub.
After entertaining several offers, John chose to sell Cannone’s Deli to Matthew Sanchez and his business partner, Colin Hunt. Sanchez, a 1993 graduate of the French Culinary Institute, has been a Saratoga resident for 12 years, known the Cannone’s for six, and worked for them nearly two.
“This place is an institution,” said Matthew. “There are guys 20 years younger than me who were raised on the Cannone’s egg sandwiches and pizza. I have a responsibility to the neighborhood to keep the tradition going.”
When this Travers’ Weekend is through, Matthew will need both full and part-time help to replace the Cannones, he said. He is looking for people with John’s same bright smile and welcoming personality.
“It’s simply what I’ve done all my life,” shrugs John, who, in retirement, is looking forward to relaxing, traveling to the couple’s two homes in Delaware, and seeing their three children and five grandchildren on the East Coast.
“I’m looking forward to being with my family. For seven days a week, 24 hours a day, it’s been about the deli,” said Theresa. “Now, my daughter is having her first child, and I’m totally excited to spend this time with her.” Theresa is also looking forward to attending her grandsons’ hockey games, she added, which she’ll finally be able to see since she’ll no longer need to open the deli every morning.
Wilton — When Brian Brumley turned 50, he declared he would work smarter – not harder.
“I always had, in the back of my mind, that when I turned 50, I was going to slowly back away from the fast pace of the deli business and start a new, slower-paced restaurant,” he said.
That was last year, and now, Brian has embarked on the venture.
Readying His Stance
Being in the restaurant industry since he was 14, at age 23, Brian Brumley and his childhood friend, Anthony Gargano, took a risk in 1996 and became co-owners of the Spring Street Deli & Pizzeria in downtown Saratoga Springs.
“People who worked for me 20 years ago still stop me in the street to tell me what a great experience they had,” said Brian. “It’s been great watching Saratoga grow. I love the Saratoga Springs community, but I feel like it’s the perfect time to step away and scale back a little. The business has been incredible, but after 28 years, it is time for a change.”
Now, at 51 years old, Brian Brumley wants something else – simplicity.
Eying the Shot
As it goes with transcendent businesses, customers and owners alike benefitted from Brian and Anthony’s tremendous ability to supply favorites to those headed to the race track, as well as consistently good food locals loved. There is no denying the duo made great things happen.
The two no longer share ownership of the Spring Street Deli & Pizzeria. Anthony bought out Brian’s share of the business. Brian is now busy launching Rustic Pizza & Eats adjacent to his other business, the Olde Saratoga Mini Golf Course (founded in 2019). The new restaurant is slated to open this fall.
Taking the Swing
When Brian purchased the building at 556 Maple Avenue in 2009, he left the kitchen intact but added display racks in the former dining room when it reopened in 2012 as Saratoga Wine & Spirits. For 70 years prior, the building on busy Route 9 was the site of many bars and restaurants including The Gringe Tavern, Mino’s Restaurant, and Bizbee’s Waffle House.
Therefore, the work to be done for Rustic Pizza & Eats fall opening is mostly cosmetic, said Brian. All approvals are in place, so once the exterior and interior painting are complete; and more modern refrigeration and appliances are installed, Rustic Pizza & Eats will be ready to open.
Brian has also been working with his chef on a select menu tailored to take-out, delivery, and catering.
“My vision is to create a menu focusing on more modern-day preferences that will include cleaner eating with locally-sourced chicken and grassfed beef, fresh, creative salads, grain bowls, specialty pizzas, smashburgers, and traditional Italian sandwiches.”
“We will also keep some of the more popular Spring Street staples, such as the all-day egg sandwich. This menu will appeal to a large amount of the Wilton community,” he said.
Retaining plenty of parking spots in the high-trafficked road is fortuitous for Brian as Wilton is projected to add almost 500 single-family homes withing the next few years.
It’s almost as if he can’t help but be at the brink of opportunity when it’s emerging.
Brumley is simultaneously trying to break the stigma of restaurant work. He is creating a much smaller, more scaled-down menu than he’s used to, and Rustic Pizza & Eats will be closed Mondays. Because of their location across from Maple Avenue Middle School, he will try (as much as possible) to follow the Saratoga School District schedules.
“My goal is to make a less stressful, employee/family friendly restaurant with great, clean, healthier food choices.”
Keeping an Eye on the Ball
Even after opening Rustic Pizza & Eats, Brian will continue to offer delectable wood-fired catering from his mobile pizza oven. While Rustic Pizza & Eats will serve desserts, ice-cream will continue being served from Olde Saratoga Mini Golf’s concession stand, as well. Their popular “Puff, Puff, Putt” events allowing cannabis smoking, will continue every Tuesday, 5 – 9 p.m. until the second week of October (weather permitting).
Centralized within the Wilton community, Brian looks forward to making residents lives easier. He’ll be developing a regular delivery schedule for the Maple Ave School and giving back through food drives and coat collections, contests, fundraisers, and special happenings such as Haunted Mini-Golf and a Christmas-themed event.
The Olde Saratoga Miniature Golf Course and Rustic Pizza & Eats is slated to become Wilton’s go-to for quick and easy family dinners, parties, and corporate outings.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga Springs-based company Free Form Fibers has received a pair of Small Business Innovation Research awards from the Department of the Navy and Air Force Research Laboratory.
Free Form develops high performance ceramic fibers, the company’s website states. The Navy contract is a Phase II award, and will see Free Form Fibers continue developing silicon nitride fibers, said CEO Shay Harrison.
He said the fibers can be utilized to protect interrogation equipment in hypersonic vehicles, naming jets, missiles, and drones as examples.
“This material, silicon nitride, is good for handling very high temperatures, but it also has the right electromagnetic properties, which means it transmits out the wavelength of the interrogation equipment,” said Harrison. “So it can send out signal and receive signal back.”
The company had previously completed Phase I, Harrison said, with Phase II entailing scaling up production and testing the fibers in proper environments.
“So when a jet is going Mach 5, Mach 8, you’re talking about temperatures that are 2,000 degrees Celsius,” Harrison said. “So we need to get some data about how the fibers work in the parts that are going to be used for this.”
Free Form’s contract with the Air Force Research Laboratory also deals with hypersonic vehicles, Harrison said, and is a Direct-to-Phase II SBIR Award. He said the company was able to receive the Direct-to-Phase II distinction as a result of the company’s past work with the U.S. Department of Energy.
“So we were able to leverage what we had done several years ago with the Department of Energy and translate it to this concept for cooling for these hypersonic vehicles,” said Harrison. “Basically, they’re looking for different ways to cool those really fast vehicles.”
Harrison said the contracts are meaningful, noting the company is transitioning to commercial manufacturing. Founded in 2006, Free Form Fibers originally operated in research and development, he said.
“We were a really good research and development shop for many years, and we decided about two, two and a half years ago, we’re ready to move out of that stage and become a manufacturer,” Harrison said. “We definitely had a great deal of credibility as an R&D shop, and we’ve been able to get through some doors because of that. Now it’s building that credibility as a manufacturer.”
He said the grant awards from the Navy and Air Force can allow the company to develop products that could then be included in commercial supply chains.
“We are working on the largest number of grants and grant revenue, right now, in our company’s history,” said Harrison. “… So this is another step in that commercialization process, but a really important one, because these are important things that needed to be solved, and they are trusting us to solve the challenge.”
Harrison noted the company has increased its production capacity in order to meet demand. He said it is exciting to see the company’s shift to commercial manufacturing.
“It’s very cool to be at this point, and seeing what we thought would be of interest to folks, with the purity of the materials and the different types of materials that we could make,” Harrison said. “It’s fun to be part of that process.”
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Saratoga National Bank and Trust Company is pleased to announce the appointment of Nick Zarrelli to Assistant Vice President, Business Banking Relationship Manager.
In his new role, Nick Zarrelli will be responsible for maintaining, growing and servicing the company’s small business loan portfolio and growing relationships with longtime customers.
More information about Saratoga National Bank can be found online at www.saratoganational.com.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — Northshire Bookstore celebrated 10 years in Saratoga Springs on Friday, with a ribbon-cutting ceremony hosted by the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce.
At the ceremony, Mayor Ron Kim read a proclamation declaring Aug. 4 to be ‘Northshire Bookstore Day.’
Northshire initially opened in Saratoga Springs on Aug. 4, 2013, expanding from its first location in Manchester, Vermont. The store is currently owned by three sisters; Nicole Ihasz, Cathleen Ihasz, and Ashley Ihasz-Austin.
The sisters are natives of Manchester, with Nicole Ihasz saying they visited Northshire Bookstore often as kids. She said it is meaningful to “continue the legacy” of the store.
“We grew up in Manchester. So the Northshire store, I feel like we grew up in that store,” said Nicole Ihasz. “What the Morrows created is a cultural center for the town. It’s the heartbeat of the town, it’s a community center.”
Northshire’s Manchester location was originally opened in 1976 by Ed and Barbara Morrow. After the Morrows retired, the store was operated by Clark and Lu French, before the Ihasz sisters acquired Northshire following the passing of Lu French in 2022, the company’s website states.
Nicole Ihasz said the decision to purchase Northshire was ‘a no-brainer.’
“We’re so glad we did it,” she said. “We had tremendous support from Clark French and from the Morrow family as we made this transition. As I said, we have the most brilliant staff. We’re so lucky.”
Ihasz credited the store’s staff for their work, saying their time operating Northshire has been enjoyable.
“It’s really been a great experience. I am a huge reader, so I just love being in these spaces,” said Nicole Ihasz. “As I said, I feel like I grew up in the store, so it’s really fun for me to interact with our team, but also interact with our customers, and talk to them about books.”
BALLSTON SPA — The Saratoga County Career Center in conjunction with the Greater Capital Region Career Centers will hold the following free virtual career workshops in August:
August 17 at 11 a.m.: Completing Job Applications. Statistics show approximately 50% of mid-sized companies and almost all large corporations use an applicant tracking system to screen candidates for job opportunities. Learn how to prepare your online application to get the most visibility from hiring managers. Facilitated by Warren and Washington counties.
August 22 at 11 a.m.: Overcoming Barriers. Join an informal discussion about how to overcome potential stumbling blocks to finding a job. Whether you’re facing transportation needs, childcare needs, prior justice system involvement, inexperience, health concerns or more, this workshop will provide you with resources and strategies to help you meet your goals. Facilitated by Saratoga and Fulton-Montgomery-Schoharie counties.
August 24 at 1:30 p.m.: Social Media. Your social media presence can make or break your ability to find a job. Learn how to use social media to your advantage in searching for a job and marketing yourself to land the job or career you’ve always wanted. Facilitated by Schenectady county.
Registration is required for all workshops. Visit thejoblink.org/calendar to register or call the Saratoga County Career Center at 518-884-4170 for more information.
ZD Horse Racing and Management president Nick Zito (left) and vice president Robert DiPippo (right). Photo by Dylan McGlynn.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — A new company in horse racing and management has emerged in Saratoga Springs, led by a legendary trainer and an experienced business leader.
ZD Horse Racing and Management is run by president Nick Zito, a renowned trainer who was inducted into the National Racing Hall of Fame in 2005, and vice president Robert DiPippo, who brings along a wealth of business experience.
Combining Zito’s training experience with DiPippo’s financial expertise, ZD Horse Racing buys and manages horses, and oversees their care and training. The company also handles training regimens, veterinary care, and works with jockeys and other personnel, their website states.
DiPippo, who grew up in Garden City before moving to Saratoga several years ago, said he had no prior background in the horse racing industry before the launch of ZD. He said that the venture initially began after a chance meeting with Zito at Max London’s Restaurant.
“I’m sitting at the bar, and there’s a guy next to me,” said DiPippo. “And everybody’s coming up to this guy, and they’re going, ‘Hey, how are you?’ … I said, ‘You look familiar.’ And then he told me his name, and I almost fell on the floor.”
The two began meeting, with Zito expressing his desire to enter the horse management business. The company officially launched on Opening Day at the Saratoga Race Course this summer, with DiPippo saying working alongside Zito has been “a thrill of a lifetime.”
“When I sat there with him, he started telling me about this business. I said, ‘Woah, this could be a real great fit,’” DiPippo said. “(I am) a guy who doesn’t know anything about horses, but has the business acumen to come in and put it together.”
DiPippo is handling many of the company’s business aspects, while Zito primarily deals with horse training and management, they said. DiPippo has served as president and CEO of several companies, he said, and brings his business experience to the ZD Horse Racing team.
Zito has trained horses that have gone on to win the Kentucky Derby, Preakness Stakes, and Belmont Stakes among others.
“Obviously, I’ve identified tons of great horses in my career,” said Zito. “I’ve purchased a whole bunch of them right across the street (at Fasig-Tipton). We’ve had some Derby winners, Belmont winners, that I’ve bought across the street.”
Since launching, DiPippo said things have been going well for ZD Horse Racing. The company, acting as agents for high-profile clients, purchased Hip 53, a bay colt by Practical Joke, for $250,000 at the 2023 Saratoga Sale hosted by Fasig-Tipton on Aug. 7, according to records on the Fasig-Tipton website.
DiPippo also said it has been meaningful to work alongside Zito, saying he is “the most respected man in the horse racing business.”
“I’m lucky to be affiliated with this man,” DiPippo said of Zito. “And he’s taught me a lot, just hanging out with him.”
