SARATOGA SPRINGS —The Saratoga Senior Center will celebrate its 70th anniversary on Friday, March 28 with a community event at Universal Preservation Hall.
The event features two presentations – at 10 a.m. and at noon. The first is a presentation that honors the visionaries who built their past homes and shaped the center of today, while connecting their story to the history of the city and the county. Following the historic presentation, a video will showcase members, the impact of the center on their lives, and the services provided. Following this, guests may enjoy a light brunch and live music
There will be an optional shuttle at 9:15 a.m. from the Center to UPH for those who will be attending.
Tickets for the event are $7 per person and may be purchased by visiting or calling the Center’s front desk at 518-584-1621 or via the website saratogaseniorcenter.org/70th-anniversary/.
This event is sponsored by the Alfred Z. Solomon Charitable Trust, Home of the Good Shepherd, and UPH.
2025 Home & Lifestyle Show. Photo by Supersource Media Studios.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — The Rotary Club of Saratoga Springs’ annual Home & Lifestyle show raised $86,000 in net funds which will go back into the community with donations to support local non-profit organizations and to the Rotary Education Foundation for local student scholarships.
The event was held March 1-2 at the Saratoga Springs City Center and the amount of funds raised during the Club’s major fundraiser was a record, according to the organization.
The Club and its members have produced the home show for the past 51 years and plan on continuing it in future years.
To learn more about thee programs or Rotary in general, go to: www.saratogaspringsrotary.org.
The 32nd annual Woodworkers Showcase will take place March 29-30 in Saratoga Springs. Photo provided.
SARATOGA SPRINGS —The Northeastern Woodworkers Association is holding their 32nd annual Woodworkers Showcase on Saturday and Sunday, March 29–30, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day at the Saratoga Springs City Center.
The event will feature more than 500 exhibitors, amateurs and seasoned professionals alike, as well as a variety of displays that will include furniture, carvings, sculptures, musical instruments, intricate turnings, intarsia, scroll work, toys, and accessories.
Attendees will have the opportunity to see the exhibitors compete for award ribbons across several categories. Free lectures and demonstrations will also be held with nationally and regionally recognized master craftsmen for everyone to attend.
Day two of the event will include Family Day, where children will get to learn about working at the Toy Factory. Children will also have the opportunity to make a toy to bring home with them with the help of NWA members. Meanwhile, NWA members will guide parents through turning and creating their own pen on a lathe.
A number of national and regional trade vendors will be in attendance, offering woodworking tools and accessories for those of all skill levels.
This showcase event will also include the Totally Turning Symposium, where participants will get to learn more about the art of turning wood on a lathe. The symposium requires a separate fee to attend.
Visit https://woodworker.org/showcase-show-information/ for more information on the Northeastern Woodworkers Showcase and the Totally turning Symposium and to purchase tickets in advance. The Saratoga Springs City Center is located at 522 Broadway. Parking is available in the new City Center attached parking garage.
SARATOGA SPRINGS — “Breaking Bubbles: A Celebration of Women in Our Community,” will take place at Universal Preservation Hall, from 5:30-9 p.m. on Thursday, March 27.
The event to benefit Double H Ranch will feature food prepared by the dining team of the Ranch, along with 9 Miles East, and desserts by Driscoll Foods. The evening will also include a silent auction, interactive activity stations, and bubbly-related drinks.
JoAnn Slattery, vice president of wholesale at Vineyard Vines, will serve as keynote speaker.
Discover the Double H Ranch: Learn about the impactful work of the Double H Ranch, which provides specialized programs for children living with serious or chronic medical conditions.
For more information, registration options and admission, go to: https://www.doublehranch.org/special-events/breaking-bubbles/
54 Church St. project north elevation concept. The sketch is presented by the applicant as being “very conceptual in nature” and intended to provide a general overview.
SARATOGA SPRINGS – A new project seeks to develop a four-story mixed-use building near the intersection of Church and Clinton streets where a gas station and small convenience store currently stand.
The proposal calls for a civic space/sculpture fountain on the Church Street/Clinton Street corner with new trees and concrete curbing, and the construction of the four-story structure – measuring approximately 50 feet by 80 feet – located at the south of the existing property.
Currently, a gas pump island with four pump stations stand beneath a red canopy on a concrete pad at the location. That would be modified to feature four fuel pumps and a new canopy. The brick/block structure housing the existing convenience store would be demolished with an expanded market to be constructed in its place. The expanded market and fuel station would continue to operate under the current owner’s use. A second tenant would be added, preferred to be a coffee and beverage franchise, according to the proposal.
The project location at 54 Church St. sits just west of Broadway, between the AMC Saratoga Springs cinema on Church Street and the Blackmer Building on Clinton Street.
The 15-page application for a Site Plan review was submitted to the city by Grewal Properties, Inc.
The proposal depicts commercial use space on the first floor – including an expanded market and fuel station for use by the current owner, with floors 2,3 and 4 each housing four apartments. A penthouse apartment with outdoor patio space would be located on the roof. The plan also calls for 13 on-site shared parking spaces.
The application has not yet made its way onto the Land Use Board calendar as a meeting agenda item, but the Planning Board was specifically cited as the preferred board to conduct the Sketch Plan Review as variances related to the proposed project will likely be required.
LONG LAKE, NY — John Hendrickson, who passed away last August, designated the Town of Long Lake as the sole beneficiary of net proceeds from the expected sale of Whitney Park.
The Whitney family acquired the property in the late 1890s and maintained it for more than 125 years, most recently though the responsible stewardship of Hendrickson and his late wife Marylou Whitney.
The celebrated and historically significant 36,600-acre property includes 22 lakes and ponds, over 100 miles of undeveloped shoreline, and an historic Adirondack Great Camp.
“This is an historic moment and one of the most significant events in the town’s history,” said town Supervisor Clay Arsenault in a statement. “John Hendrickson and Marylou Whitney were strong supporters of Long Lake during their lifetimes. They were beloved and respected in this community and contributed generously to the Long Lake Library, our medical center, our celebrated fireworks displays, and countless other causes.”
Hendrickson’s estate will manage the continued marketing and sale of the property. While the actual amount of money that Long Lake receives will not be known until the property is sold, the property is currently listed at more than $100 million.
“Their generosity through the years did not adequately prepare us to learn that John left the town with a gift of this magnitude and transformational potential. It is totally unexpected, amazing, and will provide incredible opportunities for our community that will have a profound and positive impact for generations to come,” Arsenault said.
The announcement was made during a special meeting at the Long Lake Town Hall on March 7. There are no restrictions on how the town must use the funds.
“My colleagues and I will treat this gift with the respect it deserves,” Arsenault said. “Even though it may take several years for Long Lake to receive funds, we will immediately start thinking about how we will manage this gift in a way that is responsible, transparent, and faithful to John’s memory.”
The Town of Long Lake, located in the Adirondack Mountains of Hamilton County and is home to approximately 800 residents and is a year-round vacation destination. Long Lake, which also includes the Hamlet of Raquette Lake, encompasses over 449 square miles.
SARATOGA COUNTY – Elections will be held in some villages in Saratoga County on Tuesday, March 18. They include:
Village of Schuylerville
When: noon – 9 p.m. Where: Village of Schuylerville municipal building in the firehouse, 35 Spring St. Positions up for vote: Mayor 4-year term; Two Trustees 4-year terms. Candidates: Mayor – Vision for the Village: Dan Carpenter, unopposed. Trustees – Vision for the Village: Whitney Colvin, Michelle Campbell, unopposed.
Village of South Glens Falls
When: noon – 9 p.m. Where: Village Hall, 46 Saratoga Ave., South Glens Falls. Positions up for vote: Mayor 4-year term; Two Trustees 4-year terms.
Village of Victory
When: noon – 9 p.m. Where: Village of Victory Community Center, 23 Pine St., Victory Mills. Positions up for vote: Mayor 4-year term; 1 Trustee 4-year term. Candidates: Mayor – Republican: Corey Helwig vs. Democrat, Next Victory: Wayne White. Trustee – Republican: Tammy Lyn Mitchell vs. Democrat, Next Victory: Ray J. Kemmerling. Residents of other villages in Saratoga County should contact their respective village office.
Serial Killer Support Group, the debut novel by Saratoga Schaefer, published March 18. (photo: Penguin Random House).
SARATOGA SPRINGS — “Yes, that’s my real name,” says first-time author Saratoga Schaefer, with a laugh. “It was less awkward when I would come and visit for the summer, but now that I live up here I have to explain it to everyone.”
The debut novel by Saratoga Schaefer will publish March 18 and the very next day will be celebrated with an in-person book launch in Saratoga Springs at Northshire Bookstore.
Titled “Serial Killer Support Group,” protagonist Cyra Griffin, who lives in a less-than-stellar studio in Jamaica, Queens, swallows the rage from the hand she’s been dealt following the murder of her younger sister by a serial killer: “She wanted to snap, but she had to choose her battles.”
With the police investigation into the murder leading nowhere, Cyra follows the blood trail and finds her own way forward, infiltrating a support group for serial killers. The group has strict rules that come with a stern warning: Those who break any of the rules… will be killed.
Where did the idea of a support group for serial killers come to Schaefer from?
“I had read something once – and it was some throw-away line – that there was no such thing as a support group for murderers and that just locked in my head,” says Schaefer. “I started to think: OK, but what if there was? And what if specifically, there was one for serial killers? So, it was born from that. I found the concept intriguing. It was something I wanted to explore.”
In the novel meanwhile, Cyra familiarizes herself with the serial killer mindset. She watches and studies, envisioning what it would be like. “She imagines staking his place out and, learning his habits, his comings and goings, figuring out his apartment number and memorizing the door code. When she was ready and knew they wouldn’t be disturbed, she would slip inside and knock on his door.”
The book’s characters carry distinctive names – Sand Fly and Mistletoe, Whipworm, Pea Crab and Python. “Sometimes my characters name themselves,” Schaefer says. “If something leaps out and seems to fit the character, then pretty much that decision is made for me.”
The book’s publisher, Crooked Lane – distributed by Penguin Random House, bills the novel as a biting queer feminist debut thriller.
Schaefer identifies as they. Cyra, the book’s protagonist, is told from the point-of-view of she. “I’m very interested in the female perspective, and I made a conscious decision to make Cyra queer – so that was the part of me that was in there a little bit,” Schaefer says. “I feel it’s no different than a female author writing from a male perspective or vice-versa, so I didn’t find it a very hard perspective (to write). It was more about the character than anything else.”
Schaefer, who grew up in Brooklyn, relocated about two years ago to the Saratoga area where she teaches yoga, hikes mountains and lives with an anxious dog and a possessive cat. So just how did the birth-name Saratoga come about?
“When my mom was younger, her family had a house up here,” says Schaefer. “She spent her summers coming up and when she met my dad, she brought him up here. They both fell in love with the town and the track and then when they had their first-born child, they were like: well, let’s name them Saratoga.”
Saratoga Schaefer will be at Northshire Bookstore at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 19. The event will include a talk about the debut novel “Serial Killer Support Group” with local writer Jennifer Dugan, a Q&A and a book-signing. Later in the week, Schaefer will be part of a flash tattoo event celebrating the publication of the book at Shark Tooth Tattoo, located at 72 Henry St., from 9 am – 1 pm on Saturday, March 22.
For more information about the in-person author appearance at Northshire Bookstore, go to: northshire.com. For more information about Schaefer, go to: saratogaSchaefer.com.
ALBANY — Assemblyman Matt Simpson (R,C-Lake George) welcomed We Are Instrumental to the People’s House last week, recognizing their outstanding efforts in expanding access to musical education for children in the North Country.
“It was an honor to introduce Executive Director and Founder Evan Mack, President Michael Iturrino and the talented students who represent this incredible initiative. Their work is strengthening music education and enriching our communities,” said Simpson.
Simpson represents the 114th Assembly District, which includes parts of Warren, Essex, Washington and Saratoga counties.
We Are Instrumental provides musical instruments to children across the North Country. Since 2020, the organization has collected over 550 instruments. For more information, go to: weareinstrumental.org.
