9/11 Memorial Film
Friday, Sept. 10 | 10 a.m.
Clifton Park-Halfmoon Public Library | 475 Moe Rd Clifton Park
Commemorate the 20th anniversary of 9/11 with this film presented by the 9/11 Memorial & Museum, highlighting first-person accounts of the attacks and their aftermath. Please also see exhibit in the foyer and café area of the Library on display until September 20.

Never Forgotten: Commemoration and Remembrance Ceremony
When: Saturday, Sept. 11 | 8:15 a.m.
Where: High Rock Park, Saratoga Springs
Mayor Meg Kelly welcomes all citizens to a Commemoration and Remembrance Ceremony. Gather at the Tempered by Memory Sculpture in High Rock Park on Saturday, Sept. 11. Ceremony will begin at 8:30 a.m., please arrive by 8:15 a.m. Ms. Dottie Pepper, CBS Sports will be the Master of Ceremonies. Frank G Hoare, USAR, Ret, will be the Keynote Speaker. 

9/11 Ceremony of Remembrance at Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery Saturday
Saturday, Sept. 11 | 10 a.m. 
The Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery | 200 Duell Rd, Schuylerville 
The Gerald B.H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery will host a ceremony in remembrance of the attacks of 9/11. 
The event will be held honor the victims of that day, as well as those who have lost their lives in the years since due to health issues from working on the rescue and recovery efforts. The ceremony – which will take place at 10 a.m. on Saturday – will also honor those who served in the military and were killed, several of whom are interred in the cemetery.
For more information and maps for parking visit acebook.com/NatCemSaratoga or facebook.com/Saratoga-National-Cemetery-Support-Committee
The Gerald B. H. Solomon Saratoga National Cemetery is located 200 Duell Rd, in the town of Saratoga. 

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Saratoga-Wilton Elks Lodge #161’s 2021 Flag Day Parade Commemorating 9/11
Saturday, Sept. 11 | 12 to 3 p.m.
Begins on North Broadway and ends at Congress Park
Saratoga-Wilton Elks Lodge No. 161’s 53rd Flag Day Parade will take place Sept. 11, at which time it will commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the 9/11 tragedy. Parade participants will march down Broadway in the City of Saratoga Springs starting at 12 p.m.
This year’s parade theme will be “Honoring Our First Responders.” The Elks plan to honor not only our brave local first responders who went to New York City to assist with search and rescue efforts after the Twin Towers fell, but also our community’s first responders who have been at the forefront of the local response to the COVID-19 pandemic, including medical personnel, public health officials, law enforcement members, and emergency services personnel.
The Elks are pleased to announce that the Avant Garde Drum and Bugle Corps will again reunite and be a key participant in this year’s parade.

Ballston Spa 9/11 Remembrance Event
Saturday, Sept. 11 | 7:30 to 8:30 p.m.
Ballston Spa Village Hall/ 9/11 Memorial Park
66 Front St Ballston Spa 
On Saturday, Sept. 11 at 7:30 p.m. Ballston Spa holds its Annual 9/11 Remembrance Ceremony. 
20 years ago, life in our country changed. Even in the quaint village of Ballston Spa, we had a new perspective on life. To remember those who we lost, the community of Ballston Spa came together to created its own 9/11 Memorial Garden, next door to Village Hall. The Memorial, complete with a section of the subway track that ran under the Twin Towers, is a treasured part of the Ballston Spa community. 
This year’s ceremony is very special. The 20th Anniversary marks an important milestone for all Americans. To honor those who died in the attack and those who gave their lives trying to save others, Ballston Spa is planning a special ceremony. 
The program will include music by the Union Fire Company Band, a dramatic light display and art banners, presentations by elected officials and a special candlelight ceremony. The event will be attended by the McBoston Fire Truck flying their massive American Flag and members of the local Fire Companies, Police and Ambulance Corp. Everyone is welcome to attend this personal small town event. Bring a chair. We will be following CDC guidelines. Rain date Sunday Sept. 12. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Barbara Floryshak remembers marveling at the view when her eyes scanned the landscape of the great city. 

“Up at the top you saw all of New York City, the city in all its glory and vastness,” she says. 

“There was a young lady visiting from Germany. I asked her, ‘Hey would you like to go over to the World Trade Center?’ So we went, got on the elevators, rode all the way to the top. When we were in the elevator, I remember telling her about the first time we had a bombing, in the garage.” 

In February 1993, a terrorist bomb had exploded in a parking garage of the World Trade Center. Six people were killed that day and more than 1,000 injured. Later, the FBI would refer to the attack as a deadly dress rehearsal for 9/11. 

“We saw the view, we came down, and I put her back on a plane. That was on Monday. On Tuesday was when 9/11 occurred.” 

Rev. Dr. Barbara Floryshak served as a pastor at Tribes Hill Presbyterian Church near Amsterdam, NY and has served a part-time as Chaplain at the Albany VA.  Originally from Long Island and a Saratoga resident since 2006, while with the ministry she became a go-to person with people visiting from Germany. 

“I became their guide to New York City, because I knew the city back-and-forth having graduated at NYU,” she says.  Floryshak had lived in Germany for a spell, where she has a familial background. “I was almost stuck behind the Berlin Wall in 1961 – but that’s a whole other story.” 

On Sept. 12, 2001, she returned to the Trade Center.  “It was a day later. I went down and responded to the area for people who lost somebody and needed help spiritually,” says the retired Presbyterian minister. 

“The subway was bombed out, so I had to take a bus from Grand Central. It was terrible. You’d just see a white cloud with all this stuff floating around. Nobody was wearing masks or anything. And it was heartbreaking to see where the building used to be, not being there. It’s hard to explain.” 

Hundreds of rescue workers descended upon Lower Manhattan searching for survivors and sorting through the ruins. 

Floryshak stayed at the Marriot Hotel near Ground Zero for several days. “They were using a church, an Episcopal church there, for recovering the bodies, I think it was. It was a terrible scene. I was trying to help people emotionally and spiritually – the first responders, the people from the families,” she says. “I was with a priest down there and I remember him saying: the hardest thing is to give counseling to the families of people who just jumped out the window. He was having a hard time, too, just trying to give some comfort, because how this all happened, it doesn’t make any sense.” 

Floryshak’s son worked downtown. He was able to make it out. His best friend with whom he graduated from Syracuse that year, did not. He worked on the 100th floor. “He was supposed to go to his friend’s wedding the next week. Instead, he had to go to his funeral. His best friend. When I go down there now, I look for his name.” 

In the 20 years since the attacks of 9/11, memorials have been sited across the country. In Saratoga Springs, at High Rock Park, stands the 25-foot-tall sculpture titled “Tempered By Memory.” Commissioned by Saratoga Arts and created by artists Noah Savett and John Van Alstine, it is comprised of five twisted pieces of Trade Center steel. Four pieces came from the North Tower, one came from the South Tower. It is not an easy memory. After much public and political debate of potential sites that varied from the City Center to the Visitors Center, the sculpture stood in a field in Northumberland awaiting a permanent location in Saratoga Springs.  It was eventually placed at High Rock Park in 2012.

Floryshak has since made several trips from her upstate home to downtown Manhattan. “There was an organization for people who lost their loved ones and First Responders, and I became a part of a group. They got together once a year, so every year I kept on going down,” she says. 

On the first anniversary of the attacks, she befriended a woman who explained she had lost her son who was working on one of the upper floors in one of the towers. A requiem was sung for the people who had passed away. A memorial gathering was being staged. “It was in the morning and when I started walking down the street, suddenly I couldn’t walk. The wind was so terrific it stopped me in my tracks. It was the same time, the same day, one year later. I said to myself: what is going on? Eventually I got on a train and went back to Albany. The very next day I picked up the paper and there it was. It showed all the people around doing the ceremony, but the wind was blowing so hard things were flying all over the place.”   

At Ground Zero, while the families of the victims crowded deep in the pit around the Circle of Honor while all 3,000 names were read aloud, the wind slipped over the sides and whipped the dust into a thick cloud that billowed all through the complex, eerily replicating the smoke that hung in the air a year before,” wrote Charles Shaw in 3 a.m. Magazine. 

“When I picked up the newspaper the next day and looked at the picture, the caption read: ‘Are Those The Lost Souls Coming Back?’ Floryshak says. “For people who are not involved spiritually, it maybe doesn’t matter. But to me? It meant a lot.”

Floryshak deals with lingering physical effects she says from the time she spent at Ground Zero. “I had cancer in the lung. In 2011 I went to Dana-Farber in Boston. They took out a lung. It’s connected to my time there, it’s all a result. So now this year they’re working to give me radiation and I’m just trying to find out if I have some more cancer in it, so I don’t know if this is kind of the end or what,” Floryshak says. “I yell at myself: ‘Why did you go down there?’ And then I snap back: ‘You went down there to help out,’ so I have to put it aside.”

“God bless our first responders and fellow Americans that we lost on September 11th. We honor their memories and forever hold them in our hearts.” – Senator Daphne Jordan

“I remember being at our office on Broadway and going to get a TV so that we could watch the news. As I was walking past Professor Moriartys I could see people standing at the bar looking up at the news and overhearing them say a plane had hit the Pentagon. It was such an overwhelming sense of fear, sadness  and helplessness. It was the perfect day until it wasn’t.” – Kate Deloria

“There was a Red Cross blood drive at Empire State College on Union Avenue, and as news spread cars pulled over and came in to donate blood. It was very moving.” -Debra Park

9/11 TIMELINE

8:19 a.m.
Flight attendants aboard Flight 11 alert ground personnel that the plane has been hijacked.

8:40 a.m.
Air traffic controllers at The Federal Aviation Administration alert North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) about the suspected hijacking of Flight 11.

8:46 a.m.
Hijackers aboard American Airlines Flight 11 crash the plane into floors 93-99 of the North Tower of the World Trade Center, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.

9:03 a.m.
Hijackers crash United Airlines Flight 175 into floors 75-85 of the WTC’s South Tower, killing everyone on board and hundreds inside the building.

9:08 a.m.
The FAA bans all takeoffs of flights going to New York City or through the airspace around the city.

9:24 a.m.
The FAA notified NEADS (Northeast Air Defense Sector) of the suspected hijacking of Flight 77 after passengers and crew alert family members on the ground.

9:37 a.m.
Hijackers aboard Flight 77 crash the plane into the western façade of the Pentagon in Washington, D.C., killing 59 aboard the plane and 125 military and civilian personnel inside the building.

9:42 a.m.
For the first time in history, the FAA grounds all flights over or bound for the continental United States.

9:59 a.m.
The South Tower of the World Trade Center collapses.

10:07 a.m.
After passengers and crew members aboard the hijacked Flight 93 contact friends and family and learn about the attacks in New York and Washington, they mount an attempt to retake the plane. In response, hijackers deliberately crash the plane into a field in Somerset County, Pennsylvania, killing all 40 passengers and crew aboard.

10:28 a.m.
The World Trade Center’s North Tower collapses, 102 minutes after being struck by Flight 11.

2:51 p.m.
The U.S. Navy dispatches missile destroyers to New York and Washington, D.C.

5:20 p.m.
The 47-story Seven World Trade Center collapses after burning for hours

Casualties: 2,977 people were killed, and more than 6,000 injured.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Four people were charged Tuesday night in connection with protest-related activities that occurred in July, and a fifth person is facing multiple misdemeanor charges following an alleged altercation with an officer, according to a statement released by Saratoga Springs Police Department Wednesday afternoon.

A July 14 protest that started in Congress Park spilled into the streets and interfered with traffic, resulting in motorists stuck inside their vehicles, police said, in a statement.  “This included one motorist who suffered from a heart condition, which was openly shared with protestors blocking his vehicle in. After learning of these added details regarding this protest, Chief (Shane) Crooks ordered that an investigation be conducted and that those identified be charged and held accountable, where appropriate.”

Subsequent to the investigation, arrest warrants were obtained on Aug. 31, and arrests made Sept. 7.  They include: Samira K. Sangare, 23, of Halfmoon, Chandler M. Hickenbottom, 25, of Ballston Spa, and Molly B. Dunn, 44, of Saratoga Springs, each charged with disorderly conduct: obstructing traffic, a violation. Dunn was additionally charged with unlawful imprisonment in the second-degree, a misdemeanor.

Alexis A. Figuereo, 34, of Saratoga Springs, was charged with disorderly conduct violation, and two misdemeanor counts of obstructing governmental administration – the latter charges in connection with Figuereo’s alleged disruption of Saratoga Springs City Council meetings on July 6 and July 20, according to police.

Police said the charges from July 14 allege “the protestors not only obstructed traffic, but by doing so they prohibited the movements of those on Broadway by Phila Street for many minutes. One of these people was the individual with the medical condition noted above.”

According to court documents, a voluntary witness whose name was redacted in court records provided police with a statement dated Aug. 12 that read, in part, that the July 14 protest resulted in halting vehicle traffic. “They had the traffic stopped for about 15 minutes before they let the cars go. At one point while I was stopped, one of the protesters thanked me for waiting…I have never been in a situation like that. I was surprised it was happening in Saratoga.”  

Gabrielle C. Elliot, 27, of Ballston Spa, was charged Sept. 7 with attempted assault, resisting arrest, and endangering the welfare of a child. All three charges are misdemeanors.

While officers were affecting warrant arrests Tuesday night, Elliot is accused of throwing and striking a uniformed officer with a full water bottle who was involved in the arrests. When informed she was under arrest, Elliot refused to comply and pulled away from officers, according to police, and grabbed on to the stroller where her small child was seated until she was taken into custody. Police said “the child was fine and sent with another family member at the scene.”

“The Saratoga Springs Police Department recognizes the right to peacefully and lawfully protest but many of the acts committed on July 14 are not only unlawful acts, but they placed the protestors and the public in harm’s way,” Chief Crooks said, in a statement.

The investigation of the events of July 14 is ongoing and additional arrests are likely. Police ask anyone with information regarding unlawful acts committed during the protest contact them at: 518-584-1800 or 518-584-TIPS.

The Saratoga Springs Police Department was assisted by the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Office and the New York State Police.

Click Here: Meet Your New “Meat Guys” at Saratoga Dry Aged Cuts

ROUND LAKE — Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (D-Round Lake), released the following statement on Aug. 31: 

“When the eviction moratorium was put in place 17 months ago, it was meant to mitigate the unforeseen challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and to ensure no one would be left homeless due to a pandemic-related loss of employment or income. 

“Earlier this spring, I supported allocating $2.3 billion in federal and state relief funds to help both landlords and tenants. This money was intended to pay landlords back for the loss of income. The state has been unacceptably slow in getting this money to the people who need it: only 7.8% of the applications submitted from Saratoga County tenants/landlords have been paid out to-date, and 10% of applications from Washington County. Landlords have been covering expenses out of pocket for over a year and a half and should not be expected to be the sole protectors of this safety net. Many have suffered from a significant loss of income due to the lack of rent money and will be put in an even more difficult situation when property taxes come due next month. 

“The moratorium has gone on long enough. In April, I opposed extending the eviction moratorium… I will again vote against this legislation. We must work to restore balance in the housing market. Landlords should not be punished for the state’s failure to distribute rent relief in an expeditious manner.”

ALBANY — Researchers at Albany Medical College and Albany Medical Center Hospital found that patients with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19, are infectious only during the initial onset of symptoms.

The study, published in the August 2021 issue of the Journal of Clinical Virology, and released Aug. 31, was a collaborative effort between Albany Med’s Departments of Immunology and Microbial Disease, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Emergency Medicine, and Epidemiology.

“This illuminating study has implications within the hospital, as we work to effectively isolate infectious patients, and for the larger community, in terms of knowing when we can safely discharge patients who no longer need the high level of care offered in the hospital,” said Dennis P. McKenna, M.D., president and CEO of Albany Med, in a statement.

A nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) from nasopharyngeal and throat swabs is the gold standard for diagnosing Covid-19. However, this test doesn’t distinguish between active virus and other viral genomic fragments that no longer contain active virus, said Dennis W. Metzger, Ph.D., professor and chair of the Department of Immunology and Microbial Disease at Albany Medical College and one of the lead authors of the study.

Beginning in the early days of the pandemic in 2020, instead of relying solely on the NAATs, also known as the PCR test, Albany Med researchers used complex virus culture methods combined with assays to analyze antibodies in samples from congregate care Covid-19 patients hospitalized at Albany Medical Center Hospital.

As expected, they found that the patients expressed infectious virus very early after being admitted to the hospital. However, subsequent samples from the same patients showed that the patients quickly developed mucosal antibodies that suppress viral replication – that is, the virus was no longer reproducing itself. This was the case even when the patients continued to test positive for Covid-19 by PCR, sometimes weeks after the initial infection.

Dr. Metzger explained that active virus was likely present in the early stages of infection because antibody levels were low. “But as the disease progresses and the body produces larger amounts of antibody, the virus is effectively neutralized and the patient becomes noninfectious,” he said.

The study was done using patients with the original Covid-19 virus, not the Delta variant, but researchers say the results would be applicable to the Delta variant and other variants as well.

In Saratoga County, the 7-day rolling positivity infection rate was 4.6%, as of Aug. 31. According to Saratoga County Public Health Services, 67.8% of county residents have completed the vaccine series.   

BALLSTON SPA — The Saratoga County Veterans Service Agency announced it has multiple resources and programs available for Afghanistan Veterans. 

The Saratoga County Veterans Peer Connection Program offers mentoring, informal meet-ups, structured assistance, and one-on-one peer matching to help veterans manage the unique stress and challenges they may feel. The program also helps to foster relationships within the veteran community that will build resiliency through encouragement, personal connections, and access to support and crisis intervention measures. All Veterans are welcome regardless of military discharge. 

Veterans looking for a way to meet other veterans in a stress free, no obligations environment, are invited to gather at Saratoga Coffee Traders (447 Broadway, Saratoga Springs) on Tuesday evenings from 5 to 6:30 p.m. Participants will receive a free coffee and sandwich along with encouraging and supportive conversation with other veterans. No agenda, just veterans spending time together. 

Veterans seeking structured assistance are encouraged to up at 1 p.m. on Sept. 17 for a Mental Health Summit. The Summit is open to all veterans and family members. Representatives from VA programs and community organizations will provide information and resources to those who attend. That takes place at the Saratoga County Veterans Service Agency Office, 2144 Doubleday Ave., Ballston Spa.

The Agency’s mentoring program pairs established, local veterans with returning veterans who are experiencing post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or other re-acclimation challenges. Personalized and informal, these pairings yield relationships intended to ease the transition from combat to civilian life. 

The Agency also offers a one-on-one peer matching program for those who prefer individual interaction. 

Additional resources that may be helpful to veterans:

• Veterans Crisis Line – 800-273-8255
• Saratoga County Mental Health – 518-584-9030
• Albany Vet Center – 518-626-5130
• VA Rapid Access Clinic  – 518-626-5339
• Saratoga County Veterans Service Agency  – 518-884-4115
• VA Caregiver Support  – 1-855-260-3274
•Elizabeth Dole Foundation Hidden Heroes Hotline  – 202-249-7170

For more information about the Saratoga County Veterans Service Agency and its Veterans Peer Connection Program, please call 518-884-4999 or visit www.veteranspeerconnection.org.

SARATOGA SPRINGS — Tickets for the areas premiere new home tour, the 2021 Saratoga Showcase of Homes, are now on sale! This event is now celebrating 25 Years of exception homes! Tickets are available at all Adirondack Trust branch locations, Curtis Lumber in Ballston Spa, Saratoga National Bank on South Broadway in Saratoga Springs and Roohan Realty on Broadway in  Saratoga Springs. Tickets are always conveniently available at any showcase home during tour hours of 10 a.m. – 5 p.m. or can be purchased online at www.saratogashowcaseofhomes.com. Once again this year, each showcase ticket holder will receive a free shoe/tote bag at the first home visited!

The 2021 Saratoga Showcase of Homes is being proudly presented over two fall weekends this year beginning October 9-10-11 (open Columbus Day) and October 16-17. Tickets are $25 in celebration of the event’s Silver Anniversary. This year’s edition has 13 locations from 12 of our area’s finest builders on display in Saratoga County. 

Participating award-winning builders in this year’s event are; The BDC Group, Beechwood Homes, Bella Home Builders, Belmonte Builders, Bonacio Construction, Caruso Builders, Kodiak Construction, Kohler Homes, McPadden Builders, R & M Homes, Trojanski Builders and Witt Construction. To view an interactive map of the home locations, directions and much more, please visit the mobile friendly website.

Now celebrating its 25th year, this annual community event has contributed over $1.3 MILLION DOLLARS to our local charities. Proceeds from the Saratoga Showcase of Homes benefit Rebuilding Together Saratoga County (www.rebuildingtogethersaratoga.org) and Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren and Washington Counties (www.glensfallshabitat.org). 

For more details on the Saratoga Showcase of Homes, please visit www.saratogashowcaseofhomes.com. Check us out on Facebook and follow all the updates on this year’s event.

About Saratoga Builders Association

The Saratoga Builders Association, Inc. (SBA) is a specialized professional trade association representing an industry basic to the wellbeing and economy of the people of Saratoga County. Its membership includes residential and commercial builders, developers, remodelers, building material suppliers, sub-contractors, financial institutions, architects, engineers, realtors, attorneys and other industry professionals. For more information, please visit www.saratogabuilders.org or contact Barry Potoker, Executive Director at 518-366-0946 or bpotoker@saratogabuilders.org

SARATOGA SPRINGS —The Saratoga County Chamber Of Commerce, the Saratoga Springs City Center, and the Saratoga Farmers Market will host their Annual Saratoga Giant PumpkinFest September 25 from 10-4 p.m. at the Saratoga Springs City Center Parking Garage.

Giant pumpkin growers from the Northeast will again compete at this Festival to find the biggest pumpkin of the year. 

In 2019, the festival had over 40 giant pumpkins and a crowd of 10,000 people in attendance. Last year, pumpkins were safely weighed and transported to locations for families around the county to view for the month of October.

The Saratoga Giant PumpkinFest is a free family-friendly event. Giant pumpkins begin arriving in the early morning with the weigh-off starting at 11 a.m. The Saratoga Farmer’s Market will be next door on High Rock Ave. open from 10-3 p.m. with vendors and special exhibits. There will also be opportunities to take selfies with the giant pumpkins to share with friends and family. Contest Winners will be announced at the end of the festival.

For a schedule of activities, to become a vendor or to register your giant produce visit www.saratoga.org/tourism/giant-pumpkin-fest