Displaying items by tag: glens falls

[Photos provided]

BOLTON LANDING — Bolton Landing’s Adirondack Extreme Adventure Course debuts its Saferoller® Kid’s Course, the first of several renovations and upgrades slated for this year. Adirondack Extreme Adventure Course, the United States’ First Aerial Adventure Course will re-open its wildly popular Kids Course and debut Saferoller® continuous belay system (CTM). Scheduled to re-open Friday, May 25, in-time for Memorial Day Weekend, Adirondack Extreme’s Kids Course will now employ Saferoller® and allow for fast, smoother transitions from obstacle to obstacle with continuous end-to-end rolling and unparalleled hands-free movement to ensure optimum safety and more fun.

“We are so excited to bring this technology to our course,” said Jaime DeLong, Park Manager.

The addition of Saferoller® reduces the Kids Course age requirement from seven to six years of age, allows for participants of varying reach requirements and gives parents the option to climb and enjoy the experience with their young adventurers.

Adirondack Extreme Adventure Course Owner, Jamie Johnson said, “this is just the first of many exciting upgrades scheduled this season.”

This fall, Adirondack Extreme’s kids course doubles in size with the addition of a second children’s course with higher elevations up to 24 feet and 15 more obstacles including two to three new ziplines, a wavy bridge, water wings pass, lumberjack logs, and fish trap passage. Although Adirondack Extreme courses do receive annual renovations, upon opening for the 2019 season Johnson says his courses will have received one of its largest single year investments with over $200,000 in renovations all focused on enhancing the adventure experience for thrill-seekers. Upcoming for July, climbers will experience new paths, obstacles and elements on each of the blue, silver and pink courses.

Johnson says, “We like to keep the adventure fresh and the games exciting for new and returning customers from year to year.”

Adirondack Extreme’s adult courses ages nine and over will implement a new smart belay system for the start of its 2019 season and round out this year’s renovations. Photo/video opportunities are welcomed.

To schedule an interview or tour please contact Jamie Johnson at 201-446-1568 or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. Owned and operated by The Johnson Family of Lake George since 2007 Adirondack Extreme is the flagship park of adventure park builders Outplay Adventures and is sister park to Tree to Tree Extreme parks in Cape May, New Jersey and Athol, Idaho. 

SARATOGA SPRINGS – A director discusses the specifics of scene D-14 with his actors and crew, stressing that 5-6 shots will be needed. Meanwhile, a short ways away on the set, other actors patiently wait on their marks, going over their lines and directions for the upcoming shots. All the while, the cast and crew eagerly await the completion of the last few shots so that can finally take their lunch break for the day.

But this film set is not in Hollywood, or somewhere else far off. It’s right here at the Saratoga Springs Public Library (SSPL). And that cast and crew is not made up entirely of film industry professional. Rather, it is composed of local students, learning about film production for a good cause.

Filmmaker Mike Feurstein returned to the Saratoga Springs area for a five-day film residency as part of the Don’t Wait to UnMake a Bully program, a partnership between his How to UnMake a Bully program and Lisa Bradshaw’s Don’t Wait Project. Through the program, Feurstein works with students in districts nationwide, using roles on a film set to teach them about treating others with respect and how to avoid being a bully. After the in-class lessons, students take what they learn and use their new skills to help produce an anti-bullying PSA. This most recent residency ran from April 17-20, with filming at the library taking place in the last three days.

“We meet the classes for the first time on a Monday and talk about bullying, kindness, citizenship, digital citizenship, cyber security, and things like that for the first 45 minutes,” Feurstein said. “The second 45 minutes is learning how to make a movie, and we learn all the roles, and I tie the roles into civic responsibility. So the sound guy is a good listener, and the director is a good leader as well as a good listener. So we tie in the jobs of a movie set to how you should e behaving in a civilized society.”

This is Feurstein’s second time working with students on a project in the SSPL, having worked there for the first time two years ago. This year, he is working with students mostly from the Saratoga Springs City School District, as well a few from South Glens Falls and Burnt Hills. The short film that they came up with has an appropriately library-inspired theme, with villainous characters coming out of various books and possessing the bodies a various children, causing them to act like bully.

“The Queen of Hearts is acting all boisterous and bossy,” Feurstein said. “And the Wizard of Oz is acting boastful”

According to Youth Services librarian Kali Nagler, the film will premiere to the families of the students and the public in a special screening on June 15, and in the fall, they will feature the film as part of a planned anti-bullying awareness day alongside the first film produced in 2015. The film will also be shared on Feurstein’s YouTube channel, “Unmaker Mike.”

“I think a lot of them are learning that making a movie is hard work,” Feurstein said. “And it’s collaborative, they have to work together, they have to listen.”

All photos by www.photoandgraphic.com. 

GLENS FALLS – South Glens Falls High School put on an appropriately impressive show for its 40^th Annual Marathon Dance.   Over the course of 28 hours from March 3-4, the school raised $823,614.91, beating its 2016 record by over $61,000.  All the money raised at the event goes to in-need families and community organizations.  The dance was dedicated to the memory of the late State Trooper Timothy Pratt, who took part in the dance as a student, and always volunteered in the years after.    

Malta Apartment Boom

MALTA — Construction has begun in Malta on Park Place, one of three newer apartment complexes in the town, and some are concerned.

“There are a lot of apartments going up in the town of Malta, and it’s transforming our town, not in a positive way,” said Paul Sausville, former Malta town supervisor.

Matt Gourlay, financial analyst with LeCesse Development Corp., said the GrandeVille at Park Place apartment complex off Landau Boulevard on Route 9 — about 3 miles from GlobalFoundries — broke ground in early September. DGA Builders has finished most of the foundations and started framing for the first phase. It is expected to be ready for tenants to move in during summer 2016.

Sausville said he’s concerned that with the number of people moving in and bringing their vehicles, it will create traffic problems and an added cost for snow removal, especially if there’s on-street parking.

“I don’t think we need more people in our town,” Sausville said. “We’ve got a population of 14,000. We need businesses and jobs. Apartment buildings are outpacing the demand.”

The new town supervisor, Vincent DeLucia, said he’s not personally excited about the large-scale apartment complexes going up in Malta, but he added that developers have a right to build new apartment complexes if they fit within the existing zoning laws and requirements.

“I believe in well-organized, balanced growth between residential, rural, commercial and agriculture,” he said.

DeLucia was sworn in January 1.

Gourlay said as far as GrandeVille is concerned, there should be plenty of room for everyone.

“The layout and plan call for a more pedestrian-friendly layout, so we’re hoping there will be ample parking and room for people to move around,” he said.

Anthony Tozzi, the building and planning coordinator in Malta, said that with his more than 30 years of experience in four municipalities, residents often complain about new development, but Malta traffic should be fine.

“Every project of significant magnitude is required to submit a traffic study that is reviewed by the town’s engineer for compliance with applicable standards,” he said. “In terms of overall townwide traffic, Malta has exceptional north-south transportation infrastructure, with the Northway and Route 9 having significant capacity for additional traffic.”

Malta is more challenged with east-west transportation, Tozzi said, particularly Route 67, Old Post Road, East High Street, and other “older” roads, but the town is spearheading improvements to Round Lake Road to address high-traffic issues from GlobalFoundries, the Intermodal facility on Route 67 at Halfmoon and development in Ballston.

Besides the GrandeVille complex, there’s also the Lofts at Saratoga Boulevard and Ellsworth Commons. The Lofts, located at 18 Lofts Way, is about two-thirds complete, Tozzi said, and Ellsworth Commons, located at 2101 Ellsworth Blvd., has been up for a while but still has a small townhouse section that needs to be finished. The Winter Development Group also has plans for an apartment complex.

“We do have an application in, but they haven’t been moving it forward,” Tozzi said.

LeCesse Development Corp., Morgan Management and UC Funds are behind the GrandeVille apartment complex.

Gourlay said the first phase will include 292 units. There will be 19 structures, including a mix of garages; three-story, elevator-serviced apartment buildings; townhouses; carriage-house-style buildings; and a clubhouse. Rent will be between $1,295 and $2,100.

The second phase’s plan allows for 243 units in two- and three-story buildings, Tozzi said. There is no set timing for the second phase.