Displaying items by tag: saratoga springs

Susan Cox remembers those magical nights, eyes fixed on the television set in her grandparents living room in Indiana, waiting to see what kind of musical mayhem would ensue. On the screen, a single mother of five alternated sitting behind the wheel of the family’s multicolored school bus and “playing” the piano to lead her musically imbued children in song.

It was the eldest sibling, played David Cassidy, who most captured the attention of Cox, as well as millions of others across America.

“I had watched him on TV dramas like “The Mod Squad,” and “Marcus Welby, M.D.” and he was a dramatic actor of course, but from the first time I heard David Cassidy sing, I thought he was phenomenal. And ‘The Partridge Family’ I watched religiously, every Friday night, with my grandparents. My grandmother used to say: ‘He’s so nice-looking, but he needs a haircut,’” she says with a laugh.

“I was a fan since I was 11 years old. I had an extremely difficult childhood, and my grandparents raised me. David’s music lifted my spirits. It inspired me to not give up,” Cox says. “I’d sit in my room and listen to his music like every other teenage girl at the time. We were all David crazy.”

Cassidy launched a solo music career and following the “Partridge Family” sitcom TV show run, which concluded in 1974, Cassidy also resumed his acting career as well as following his love of horses. His passion for equines frequently brought him to Saratoga, where he bought his first yearling and where in 2001 he purchased a home.  

“When David passed away in 2017, I felt the need to do something,” says the 60-year-old Cox, who worked at Notre Dame for 12 years, a handful of them in a fundraising capacity. “He gave so much of his life to his fans. He talked about how he loved us, and he knew we loved him. I chose Saratoga because he was into horse racing and he mentioned it as his favorite place in the world, so I started calling places in Saratoga Springs looking for a place to put a (memorial) bench.”

Her inquiries led her to the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame, which sits on Union Avenue directly across Saratoga Race Course which Cassidy frequented during the summer meet. Honoring Cassidy with a bench – the singer died in November 2017 at the age of 67 - would require Cox raising $2,500.

“It was my New Year’s resolution to do something for David. I opened a public Facebook page on Jan. 15 – the David Cassidy Memorial Bench at The National Museum of Racing. I think the first day it had 300 people liking the page. And it just kept going. Donations have come in I had People from Germany, from Malta, South America – Mexico, Columbia and Brazil – I’ve made so many new friends,” Cox says. “By January 30, all the funds were raised. Donations were still coming as of late April and all the excess goes directly into the annual fund in memory of David. I’m hoping I raised a lot of money for the museum because they were so gracious.” Following Cassidy’s lead, Cox says she has also embraced the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, which provides sanctuary to hundreds of horses across the country.

The bench was unveiled Thursday night in the revitalized museum courtyard, which has undergone a winterlong renovation. And in recognition of a $250,000 gift from prominent racehorse owner, philanthropist and Saratoga icon Marylou Whitney, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame named its courtyard in honor of Marylou’s late husband, Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney – who was among the museum’s founders in 1950 and served as the institution’s first president. The Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Courtyard will feature two benches honoring Cassidy. One is the result of a partnering between horse trainer Gary Contessa – who has more than 2,200 winning races under his belt - and Columbia County based horse owner, breeder and veterinarian Dr. Jerry Bilinski. The other Cassidy bench has been dedicated by singer’s fans, who will be flocking to the Spa City during the weekend.

David Cassidy Fans’ Day at Museum on Sunday

“Sunday, May 20 will be our day to see the bench and reflect on his life,” Cox says. The museum has set a 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. window on Sunday specifically to welcome Cassidy’s fans. The courtyard will be open to the public and admission is free.

“David has got fans worldwide and there are people from Germany, from Great Britain and from Canada who are coming to the event,” says Cox, who will be making the 730-mile trek from her home in Indiana. A private Celebration of Life Event, featuring guest speakers and fan reminiscences will take place later Sunday night.

“When I started the campaign, I hoped and prayed that we could get this for David, this permanent memorial tribute to him. He was more than an entertainer, he was a good person with a good heart,” Cox says. “From the moment I reached out to the museum, they have been so gracious. I know that we’ll have an awesome time in Saratoga Springs. Your people up there are really phenomenal.”

ROCK CITY FALLS – Six miles from Broadway stands a grand 19th-century estate where a series of Broadway legends and Tony Award notables will soon be showcased in an intimate performance space. It is, says Mansion Inn co-owner Jeffrey Wodicka, one of the area’s best kept secrets.

“We thought it would be fun to bring some top Broadway New York City performers up to the area and have them in a small, intimate setting. So, we decided to put together a supper - where a three-course dinner is served – and have major talent for a 90-minute performance in an intimate room that seats 120 people,” he says.   

Wodicka and partner Neil Castro took over the historic Mansion Inn on Route 29 in 2001. Originally built in 1866 as a 23-room Venetian, villa-style estate and recognized by The National Register of Historic Places, the mansion was once the grand home of 19th Century industrialist George West - a renaissance man of sorts who established an art and archaeological museum in Round Lake, served as a member of the New York State Assembly and the House of Representatives, and owned as many as 10 paper mills, which earned him the nickname the “paper bag king.”

The inn has remained virtually unchanged during the past 150 years and hosts about 45 wedding celebrations annually as well as retreats and – for the past few years - a supper club theater.

The 801 Supper Club season opens May 24 with an appearance by Bobby Conte Thornton, who made his Broadway debut as Calogero, the leading role in Robert DeNiro's musical version of "A Bronx Tale.” Thorntown’s show, “Blame It On My Youth,” offers songs written by artists ranging from Irving Berlin to Sting.

TV actor Ryan Raftery performs “The Rise and Fall (and Rise) of Martha Stewart” on June 21. Andrea McArdle – who rocketed to stardom as Broadway’s original “Annie” – stages a brand-new show that celebrates The Great American Songbook, Broadway and contemporary music on July 26; Broadway Legend Lillias White, who secured a Tony Award for Cy Coleman and Ira Gasman’s “The Life,“ starred in 2010’s “Fela!,” and starred in "Dream Girls" on Broadway performs at The 801 Supper Club Aug. 23. Singer-songwriters and Carnegie Hall headliners Will and Anthony Nunziata stage their show Sept. 20, and Josh Young - nominated for a Tony Award for his performance as Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar” presents an evening of showstoppers comprised of Andrew Lloyd Webber favorites on Oct. 18. The concert includes songs from “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita,” and “Phantom of the Opera.”

“These are top, top people – and they love coming here, because they’ll come up in jeans and a piano player for a very intimate performance you wouldn’t normally see,” says Wodicka, who grew up on Long Island and relocated to Saratoga after the completion of his college years.   

“A property like the Mansion Inn needs to be used, there are not many like it. In downtown Saratoga Springs there are quite a number of older homes and properties, but they’re not on any land – they’re on postage-stamp size lots and don’t have a lot of space. Here, we can accommodate a lot of people. We’re on acres with a pond and a carriage house and a barn, so we can do all kinds of things,” he says.

The atmosphere during the supper theater, he says, is something special. “It’s intimate. You sit around a table with people you’re probably meeting for the first time, you have the dinner conversation back-and-forth, then the show comes on and you know, it’s electric. There is no bad seat. You really get the effect.”  

Tickets are $75 and include a three-course meal and a 90-minute show. For more information about the 801 Supper Club at the Mansion of Saratoga, go to https://www.themansionsaratoga.com/

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The city officially counts 59 “zombie” properties throughout Saratoga Springs but acknowledges there could be dozens more abandoned structures across the Spa City landscape.

The vacant and deteriorating homes, often abandoned by owners behind on their mortgage, pose safety risks and can negatively affect property values of entire neighborhoods.

“There are some in almost every neighborhood in the city,” says Public Safety Commissioner Peter Martin. “On our vacant property registry list we have 59, but we believe from neighbor reports and our own officers driving around the city that there are probably closer to 80.”

Abandoned properties can attract animals, pose potential structure fire issues, result in injuries to children seeking an unmonitored play space and create all kinds of concerns for the neighborhoods they inhabit, Martin says. “An eyesore that looks dangerous can lower property values, despite how well the neighboring properties are maintained.”

In 2013, the city adopted an ordinance to identify and registering vacant buildings, while imposing reasonable responsibilities for the property owners. Assisted by the awarding of a $150,000 state grant, the city more recently has begun to make a concerted effort to come up with solutions to the zombie properties.

“In part, the grant went to help us staff our code enforcers and in part it helped us to participate in the State Registry (of Vacant Properties),” Martin says. “We were also able hire an attorney on a part-time basis.”

In January, the city issued a call to hire a Special Prosecutor to work 15 to 20 hours per week at a rate of $40 per hour and assist the city attorney in enforcing local law relating to vacant structures. That position was recently filled and is already making a positive impact, Martin says. “The reasons were doing this comes down to safety and security,” he says, explaining that once identified, there are a variety of outcomes that can occur with the properties.

Last week, the city posted a form on its website that enables residents to notify the Public Safety Department of a vacant structure. That form may be accessed at: http://www.saratoga-springs.org/formcenter/vacant-structures-17/report-a-vacant-zombie-property-69

“You hope that you can catch it early enough so that there’s not too much damage to the building, so it can be brought back and made useful again – and in many cases it can be brought back. In some cases, it’s going to take the owner selling it to someone who has more ability to bring the property back, and, in very few cases it will result in the demolition of the property if it’s gone too far,” Martin says. “That’s really not the result we’re looking for - particularly if it’s a historic property - but in some cases it’s deteriorated to the point where that’s the only possible answer. We actually have a couple of those in (the demolition) process right now. “

In 2016, Gov. Andrew Cuomo first announced that New Yorkers can report vacant and abandoned properties in their communities through a hotline at the New York State Department of Financial Services, and signed legislation to prevent foreclosures and curb the threat posed to communities by “zombie properties” across the state.

“For each zombie home that we cure and for each that we prevent with this legislation, we are saving entire neighborhoods from the corrosive effect of blight and neglect,” Cuomo said.

City Offers Help for Homeowners

“Sometimes homeowners, through just bad luck, run into financial straits and are not able to make mortgage payments on a timely basis,” Martin says. “We have sessions where people can come and talk to homeowners about ways to restructure debt so that if they want to maintain the home, sometimes it can be done.”

To that effort, homeowners can contact reach out to the department of Public Safety, which maintains an office on the second floor of City Hall.      

SARATOGA SPRINGS – A charity organization founded by a local reporter to honor his wife has become a popular annual Mother’s Day event to aid families who have suffered a loss due to cancer, as well as those currently engaged in fighting the fight.

Kelly's Angels Incorporated, was conceived by WNYT-TV reporter, Mark Mulholland, in memory of his late wife, Kelly, who lost her battle with cancer in 2007 at the age of 37. On Sunday, May 13, the organization will stage Kelly’s Angels Mother-Lovin’ 5K in the Saratoga Spa State Park, which invites men, women and children of all ages and abilities to participate in the name of helping children who’ve lost a parent or sibling to cancer. The event - Kelly's Angels Inc. big fundraiser of the year -typically attracts hundreds of families and more than 1,000 people overall.

“Being a sole surviving parent, I can empathize with anyone who is going through this,” says Mulholland, whose son Connor just turned 18 and will be graduating from Saratoga Springs High School in June. Daughter McKenna is 16. “Knock on wood they’re good kids. I do feel like I have very special bond with the children, so I feel fortunate in that way. I don’t think there’s a day that they don’t miss their mom, but I think they’re gratified as I am that we’re helping other kids.”

The organization’s “Fun Grants” have helped more than 100 kids in the region under the age of 18 who have lost a parent or sibling to cancer. The donation allows children to do a fun activity of their choosing. Some have made a trip to a Major League Baseball game or had a backyard bouncy house party; others have enjoyed a day at an amusement park, a Rangers’ hockey game in New York City, a Broadway show. One young girl received a puppy that her dad always wanted her to have.

“Our original mission was to help children who have lost a parent or a sibling to cancer by providing ‘fun grants.’ We’ve expanded our mission to include scholarships for children who overcome adversity and were also going to help families who are in a current battle with cancer, who are devastated by an insidious disease,” Mulholland says.

A family in Queensbury were notified just before Christmas that the father was diagnosed with colon cancer and having a very difficult time. “We provided them $1,000 so they could provide Christmas for the kids. That sparked the whole idea of what we call ‘Angel Aid.’ And we’re finding a lot of people who need help,” Mulholland says. “We’re giving aid to families who are in the throes of the battle. Whether it’s because they can’t work, or because of costs associated with medical care, or in need transportation - those sorts of things. We decided not just help families who have suffered a loss, but also those who are fighting the fight.”

This year marks the third time the organization will give scholarships to a boy and a girl, who are graduating seniors at Saratoga Springs City Schools.

“Kelly taught third grade at Saratoga Springs City Schools before she passed. We started with that school and chose a boy and a girl who have overcome adversity, demonstrated a need and demonstrated a commitment to helping other kids and who are going to an institution of higher learning, so, those are our primary criteria. Now we’re expanding that. Our goal is to give scholarships throughout the Capital Region,” Mulholland explains. “It’s a pretty lofty goal, but people have been very generous and very giving to the organization, so maybe we can do it. This year, in addition to Saratoga Springs, we’re adding Queensbury – because Kelly taught there for a time, and Hoosic Valley in Schaghticoke.”

"The scholarship really means a lot specifically coming from his family and knowing what they’ve been through,” said Harry Lazar, a senior at Saratoga Springs High School, who this week was informed he is one of Kelly’s Angels 2018 scholarship recipients.

“Growing up, I lived with my mom. I never knew my dad. My mom, she had a lot of mental issues. She was a great person, but she had a lot of problems. She hit a breaking point and broke down. It made my life pretty difficult, but I always had my grandparents who helped me, and I always had my friends, which was nice, so I got through it because I had a good support group around me,” said Lazar, who will be heading to the University of Virginia where he’s anticipating study either economics or psychology.

“I needed to fix her. My childhood was slipping away… (but) It didn’t work. She was too far gone.” Harry’s mother died when he was in his sophomore year. His anguish, over time, has been transformed into something else. “When stripped at its core, what was once guilt revealed itself as the last gift my mother ever gave me: purpose.”  

“I’ve had to work for a lot that I have. I really think I’ve developed a good work ethic and a thick skin to face whatever life has to offer. I know from here on out, going to college, things are just going to get more challenging, but I feel I’ve been given an advantage to have a good shot of doing well.”    

What would Kelly Mulholland think?

“I think she would have a huge smile on her face because kids were her passion. The fact that we’re expanding now and giving out scholarships – I think she’d be thrilled,” Mark Mulholland says.  

Details

The 6th Kelly’s Angels Mother-Lovin’ 5k Run/Walk takes place Mother’s Day, Sunday, May 13, in the Saratoga Spa State Park. Race Day Registration/Packet Pickup: 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Activities step off at 8:45 a.m. with a Kids’ Fun Run, where children under 9 years of age race toward the finish line with moms and dads rooting them on, or running alongside. Online registration is $30. Day of race registration is $35. Awards will be given to the first and second overall male and female winners as well as first, second and third place male and female winners across 8 different age groups. Register HERE. 

Donations may also be made and go directly to fund "Fun Grants" for children who have lost a parent or sibling to cancer. Online donations may be made at: http://www.kellysangelsinc.org/donate/. Checks may be sent to Kelly's Angels, Inc., P.O. Box 2034, Wilton, N.Y. 12831.

SARATOGA SPRINGS - Rhianna Stallard was on her way to work Tuesday morning when she caught sight of some activity in Congress Park that prompted her to action.

“I was just driving by, when I saw them taking down this beautiful tree,” she said. “I pulled over and parked, then I ran in the park and went and jumped up, into the tree.” Two workers who were set to cut down the tree were forced to pause their actions as the woman sat high atop a limb of the tree, which is located a few yards from the Congress Park Carousel, for the better part of a half-hour.

“This tree is a staple of this park,” Stallard said. “Brides get their picture with it. Kids get their picture with it. I grew up with it.”

Prevented from cutting the tree, the workers were soon dispatched to another job, in another part of the city.

“The two workers were really nice, and we had a fine conversation,” Stallard said after the workers had gone and she descended from the tree limb. “They told me they’re going to wait, that they’re not going to cut it down today.”

The willow, which is marred by a two to three-foot wide hole in its trunk, will need to be removed for safety reasons, said DPW Commissioner Anthony “Skip” Scirocco.

“Nobody wants to see a healthy tree get cut down, but there’s nothing healthy about this tree. It’s either take it down, or it will come down by itself,” Scirocco said.

“We have talked about it for some time and we were hesitant. We asked if there was anything we could do to try and make it right, to try and save the tree - but there’s nothing,” Scirocco explained. “We talked about going in and trimming it a little bit, doing different things that might eliminate some of the issues, but in the end, it just kept getting worse and worse. I’ve got pictures from last year until now and the hole just keeps getting bigger.”

The commissioner said he has received complaints about park visitors’ safety from parents whose children play near the tree.

“Apparently some kid got inside of it,” Scirocco said. “We’re thinking: not good. The location is right by the carousel and it’s a dangerous situation. The tree is diseased and it’s in a public place where it could really create serious problems if it were to fall. And eventually it will fall, by itself.”

Scirocco said after the tree is removed, DPW workers will plant another one in its place.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Garage sales. Flea markets. Estate sales. Tony Izzo has rummaged through the past on a scavenger hunt to uncover history for as long as he can remember.

“I go to several of them a week and collecting things since I was a kid,” says the city resident, who works by day as a local attorney. “I especially enjoy collecting audio, and there is a lot of audio history out there - things that sat in someone’s attic or garage - but the problem is when people find this sort of stuff they can’t find anything to play it on, so they throw them out without knowing what they are.”

At one local sale he came upon a slew of boxes filled with audio tapes with no idea what they contained. “Nobody was paying much attention to them. I ended up buying five or six boxes and only paid a few dollars a box,” he recalls. “There were hundreds of tapes - 90 percent of them were re-recordings of commercial albums, but I learned there were also tapes from the estate of a man who was a local radio broadcaster and his collection had things he had accumulated throughout his career.”

The broadcaster was Herb Sabin of the radio station WKAJ AM 900, which was located on West Avenue in Saratoga Springs. Several hours’ worth of tapes revealed a local historical goldmine.

In the mid-1970s Saratoga Race Course hosted a series of 10-day events during consecutive summers in advance of the racing meet. The festival, called the Saratoga Fair, featured art exhibits and parades, firework shows, live animals, a children’s petting zoo, and nightly performances by some of the biggest entertainers of the day.

“The Saratoga Fair was a significant event in the 1970s for NYRA and for this city,” Izzo says. “I went to a number of them with my folks. For a few bucks you had access to the fair grounds and a major headline entertainer each night.”

A bandstand erected on the dirt track staged appearances by Johnny Cash and Glen Campbell, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, and The Smothers Brothers; Mickey Mantle, Willie Mays and O.J. Simpson came from the sports world to sign autographs. Each of the festivals drew more than a quarter of a million people over the 10-day gathering.

Sabin’s tapes feature the broadcaster’s rough-cut interviews with dozens of fair-goers, celebrities and local officials. George Bolster talks about his collection of historic Saratoga photographs, Tom McTygue speaks of the festival as being “a real boost for Saratoga,” Edward Villella, introduced by Sabin as “one of the most in-demand dancers in ballet,” is interviewed about the New York City Ballet’s summer season. Bob Hope talks about sustaining patriotism in the era of Watergate, cracks a few jokes about his stay at the Gideon Putnam hotel, and reminisces about his early days of struggle in Chicago during the 1920s.

“To me this is a very comprehensive and thorough audio history of this event that has not been very well documented. Just to hear the sounds of that event. I’m very pleased it’s preserved, instead of it just being thrown away in the trash,” Izzo says.

There are also interviews with singer Donna Fargo – who then had recently had a hit with the song "The Happiest Girl in the Whole USA," “Tonight” show bandleader Skitch Henderson, and excerpts from Red Skelton’s live stage show.

Bandleader Mercer Ellington charmingly talks about performing the songbook of his father, Duke Ellington: “mostly the standards, like ‘A Train,’ things that are easily identifiable – we’re not going to get far out and play any modern jazz or anything of that sort. We’re going to play the favorites for the people and the things they know him best for.”

The 1974 and 1975 festivals drew 254,000 and 293,000 people, respectively, and were co-sponsored by NYRA and Harry M. Stevens Inc. – who collectively invested about $1 million in the project each of the years. Joe Dalton, executive vice president of the Greater Saratoga Chamber of Commerce estimated the annual fair brought in to the local community about $3 million. But NYRA and the Stevens company bowed out after two years, citing a loss of $1.3 million. The 1976 fair was sponsored by a non-profit organization comprised of local residents and business owners. That season, too, resulted in a financial loss and in January 1977, the group announced the fair would be no more. Whether it was ultimately financial concerns, the trampled grounds of the race course in advance of the summer meet, or complaints from other area venues that ultimately doomed the fair isn’t clear, but after a three-year run it ceased after the Bicentennial Summer of 1976.

Other Voices, Other Rooms

Through his foraging, Izzo has uncovered a plethora of additional raw goodies on reel-to-reel and cassette tape. Whether they were publicly broadcast, or played once and disposed of, is not known. Among his collection are backstage interviews with Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey dating to 1956, and Johnny Mathis and Tony Bennett in 1960; Aaron Copland and Helen Hayes in conversation at Skidmore College; talks with Lloyd Bridges - accompanied by his pre-teen son Jeff Bridges, writers Joseph Heller and Frank Sullivan in Saratoga Springs, musician Count Basie in Glens Falls, and actress Jayne Mansfield who talks about her role in a production of “Nature’s Way” in the 1960s as well as how she is required to film two versions of her movies – one for open-minded European audiences, and one for the more conservative American market.

There is also a reel-to-reel tape Izzo possesses of a high-quality live Arlo Guthrie appearance in October 1975 at the Great Saratoga Music Hall, which stood at 106 Spring St. and has long since been converted to condominium apartments. The tape depicts stage announcements by Lena Spencer – the co-founder of Caffe Lena - introducing Guthrie and announcing upcoming concerts at the hall by Tom Paxton and Don McLean.

Guthrie meanwhile is heard joyfully interacting with the audience throughout his show and performing Bob Dylan’s “Don’t Think Twice It’s Alright,” Woody Guthrie’s “Talking Dust Bowl Blues,” “Do Re Mi,” and “This Land Is Your Land,” and a series of tunes carved from the great American songbook -“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,” “Oh Mary Don't You Weep,” and “Goodnight Irene,” among them.

“Here’s what I learned,” Izzo says, “the lesson is if you come across something and don’t have the means to play it – think twice before throwing it away. It may be something significant. You just never know what you’re going to find.”

A partial list of entertainers performing at the Saratoga Fair.

1974 – Johnny Cash, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Glen Campbell, Tony Orlando & Dawn, The Smothers Brothers, Mac Davis, Anne Murray, Willie Mays, O.J. Simpson. Admission: $2 adults, $1 kids. Parking: $1.

1975 – Olivia Newton John, Lynn Anderson, Mac Davis, B.J. Thomas, Red Skelton, Tanya Tucker, Roger Miller, the Mills Brothers, Bob Hope, Hudson Bros. Sports clinic, Q&A session with Mickey Mantle, Dave DeBusschere, Craig Morton, Ralph Kiner, Emerson Boozer. Admission: $3 adults, $1.50 kids. Parking: $1.

1976 – Johnny Cash, Fifth Dimension, Tanya Tucker, Donna Fargo, Anson Williams of Happy Days, Charlie Rich, Pat Boone Family. Tickets: $3.50 adults, $1.50 kids. Parking: $1.  

They crept down the hallway, two abreast, draped in their flak jackets and helmets and with weapons drawn.

A dispatcher’s voice crackled over the radio: “loading dock, amphitheater, for an individual armed with a handgun.”

City Police, State Police, State Park Police and members of the Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department gathered this week at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to practice responding to terror scenarios involving an active shooter.

“It’s reality based and we try to do this as realistically as possible,” said State Park Police Lt. Donald Benware, as the officers took turns walking through the theater’s backstage area, confronting a “shooter,” and exchanging a volley of simulated rounds.

“We try to put the officers at a higher stress level (in the training). Let’s face it, we’re all human beings. Your blood pressure is going to go up. Get the adrenaline level up so they can feel that adrenaline rush and make sound decisions,” Benware said. “Also, it’s very important be able to come down off that. After an incident happens, they may be moved to another location and they need to be able to bring that heart rate down, bring their decision-making skills back into a more focused ability.”

One benefit of involving multiple agencies in the scenarios is that it builds a familiarity between law enforcement officials who don’t normally work alongside with one another. “Doing this type of training, we all get to see different faces and know different people and how they react in situations, so you have a little bit of a confidence, a little bit of an edge in a worse-case scenario if you have to respond to something like this,” Benware said.

Over the past 50 years, incidents have prompted law enforcement agencies to re-think their roles in response. In the 1960s, police departments began building special teams in reaction to terror-based incidents. The city of Los Angeles led the way with their Special Weapons and Tactics unit, or SWAT. But, the police response to active shooter incidents began to change following the Columbine High School massacre of 1999. Police showed up almost immediately after the shooting began, but waited for SWAT officers, who didn’t enter the school until much later. Police departments today focus more on stopping the shooter as quickly as possible, rather than waiting for SWAT teams to arrive, according to the 2014 report “Critical Issues In Policing Series,” published by Police Executive Research Forum.

Since that time, names like Columbine and Sandy Hook, Parkland and Virginia Tech became part of the sad map in American consciousness.

Last month, Saratoga County Sheriff Michael Zurlo announced he has a team of four deputies assigned to schools throughout the county who patrol during the day shift as well as the afternoon shift, and periodically conduct a school walk-thru to interact with students and school staff. While notable incidents have occurred in schools, some of the deadliest single day mass shootings in U.S. history have recently occurred where large gatherings of people come together: 49 people were killed and more than 50 injured inside an Orlando nightclub in 2016, and last October 58 people were killed and nearly 500 injured when a 64-year-old man opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 concertgoers in Las Vegas.

“We pull scenarios right out of the headlines,” explained Saratoga Springs Police Department Lt. Shane Crooks. “We look at different incidents that happen around the country and the world and we take those and fit them into a situation with the area that we have here. Any place you have a large gathering increases your risk of an attack. And this multi-force reality-based training here - we’re training where an incident could occur,” he said.

“The four agencies represented here today are the ones who will be here if something happens. By doing this type of training, we are preparing. We’ll have a better response, we’ll handle the situation better and keep everything safer,” Crooks said. “Every officer here is also learning the layout of SPAC, the grounds and the amphitheater itself, so if they do have to respond to a call, they’ll have that knowledge ahead of time.”  

“This is in our jurisdiction. This is our home and our responsibility. That’s why we’re choosing this venue,” Benware added.  

“We did have an incident back in the ‘70s in Saratoga Springs, at St. Peter’s. So, it can happen,” said Crooks, noting a December 1975 incident when a 32-year-old man recently discharged from the U.S. Navy aimed his .22-cal. handgun out his second-floor apartment window and fired four shots into St. Peter’s Elementary School playground. Two 7-year-old girls were injured.

“Every time something happens we re-evaluate our training, we change our tactics to prepare our officers to better respond to an incident,” Crooks said. “We want to respond as quickly as possible and we train the officers that we need to have a fast response to eliminate the threat.”

SARATOGA SPRINGS – A scatter of workers amble through the vintage chambers of Universal Preservation Hall, exploring the possibilities. Design plans sprawl across tabletops beneath stained-glass windows and free-standing easels boast colorful images of what will be. Soon, the heavy lifting will begin.

When the $8.7 million restoration of UPH is complete, in late 2019, the 19th century building will provide Saratoga Springs with something it has sorely been missing: a mid-range capacity venue with state-of-the-art sound, open year-round and expected to stage more than 200 events.

“It’s going to be a huge performance venue,” says Teddy Foster, whose association with UPH goes back more than a decade - from board member to president to its current campaign director.

“We’re going to be a huge music room, that’s how it’s being designed. We anticipate doing some Broadway cabaret and some live theater; we will be a place of collaboration for SPAC, for Caffe Lena, for people from the community, you name it,” Foster says, standing in the middle of a vacant 20-foot by 24-foot space on the main floor where the staging area for the 700-seat theater-in-the round venue will be constructed.

Tiered seating will be installed at the far end of the main hall – where the current stage sits – and at the opposite end, the balcony will be extended and fitted with seats that descend to the main floor. It will be handicap accessible with an elevator that navigates between floors, and a glass atrium will serve as the new entry way, off Washington Street, in “a super cool alleyway inviting people to come in,” Foster explains.

Event booking will be handled by Proctors, with whom UPH struck an alliance in 2012, and whose event management has included staging everything from major Broadway shows and cutting-edge film festivals to snagging pop music acts on national tours. Proctors’ stated mission: To be a catalyst - through arts and community leadership - for excellence in education, sustainable economic development and rich civic engagement to enhance the quality of life in the greater Capital Region.

Approximately 100 local jobs will be employed during the construction phase, which begins in earnest sometime between May and July. After the $8.7 million project is completed – expected to be in late 2019 - and the venue re-opens for business, it is anticipated UPH will bring approximately 65,000 visitors to the Spa City each year. “We will fill the hotel rooms and the restaurants during the off-the shoulder season,” Foster says. UPH also plans to hire six full-time employees and a number more on a part-time basis.

Earlier this week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced the venue will be awarded $750,000 to help redevelop the hall into a performing arts center. UPH represents Saratoga Springs’ sole recipient of the Restore New York Communities Initiative – which awards funding for projects that will reinvigorate downtowns and generate new economic opportunity in communities.  

The Washington Street venue, which is a non-profit community performing arts center, is also entering into an energized public fundraising phase. The goal is to raise $5.5 million. “We’ve raised most of it,” Foster says. There is just under $1 million to go to reach that goal.

“I’m a huge music lover and I would love to see music of all kinds in that room,” says Foster. “You know this was built as a place where people could come together for all different kinds of things. That’s how we’ve kept it alive all these years. And that’s really what I want to have here: a place that all Saratogians can experience.“  

SARATOGA SPRINGS – Margaret MacKenzie attended church services alongside her family in Sutherland Springs, Texas the first Sunday of November last, when a gunman opened fire on the congregation.

The Saratoga Springs woman, who was in Texas visiting with relatives, promptly threw her body over her pre-teen niece and nephew.

“This was especially amazing given that Margie was born with cerebral palsy and needs a cane to walk,” says MacKenzie’s friend, Mary Monigan. The fate of another of MacKenzie’s nieces, however, ended tragically. Tara McNulty, 33, was among the 26 people killed in the attack in the mass shooting. MacKenzie was shot in the leg.

“Margie is a modest, unassuming person. She doesn’t think of what she did as anything (special), but she had tremendous presence of mind,” Monigan says. “She threw her body over those kids. The full story, honestly, took months to come out. It came in drips and drabs. She went through phases of depression and anger and survivor’s guilt, but she is getting stronger every day.”

MacKenzie, who lives in Saratoga Springs, grew up in Greenfield Center a hockey fan.

“I am a big New York Rangers fan,” she says, adding that Rangers’ forward Mats Zuccarello is her favorite player.

“When I was 16, the (Adirondack) Red Wings played up in Glens Falls. My dad was the goal judge and sat behind the glass and would push the button when there was a goal,” MacKenzie explains.  “He started taking me to the games with him, that’s where my love of hockey started.”

She became a hockey fan in the 1980s and has been following the Rangers since, although she has never had the opportunity to watch the team play in person in their New York City home rink. Enter Monigan. 

“I wanted to honor her, so we’re doing something to honor Margie - and her love of the New York Rangers,” says Monigan, who initiated A Go Fund Me page in the hope of raising $1,000 to purchase tickets for MacKenzie to see the Rangers play at Madison Square Garden and enjoy a dinner and an overnight stay in New York City.

“I just want to give this woman a break. She’s got a heart of gold, a real solid person, and she’s not the type of person to talk about herself, or to be in the limelight. It’s taken all this time until she felt safe enough to even consider making a trip to New York,” Monigan says. “I know of her love of hockey and she’s crazy for the Rangers. This would just mean the world to her.”

To visit the Go Fund Me page, see: https://www.gofundme.com/help-texas-church-shooting-survivor

Who: “Joe Fegan” aka Jeff Durstewitz

- Where are you originally from?

I’m from Merrick, Long Island, where I became friends with a couple of guys named Ben and Jerry.

- The Ben & Jerry?

Yes. They’re old friends and we still get together. I brought Ben & Jerry’s to town here in 1983. I’m the original franchisee. Saratoga was the first one in New York State.

- How did that come about?

I was a copy editor at the Philadelphia Inquirer when I quit my job to come up here and start an ice cream franchise. You know this was the first place where they originally planned on opening. Ben had (previously) worked at Mrs. London’s, which was then on Phila Street. Ben and Jerry liked it here a lot. In the summer of ’77 they planned to lease a building and zeroed in on a place on Broadway…it didn’t work out. After that, they felt: well, that’s it; we can’t open in Saratoga because we can’t get the location we want, so let’s open in our second choice, which was Burlington.

- Tell us about your book, “The Devil’s Room,” which you wrote under the name Joe Fegan.

That started when I got a phone call on St. Patrick’s Day in 1992 from Campbell Black. He wrote thrillers and was very successful at that point in his career. He wrote the novelization for “Raiders of the Lost Ark.” He was my writing teacher at Oswego State in ’71. We became close friends and he was always bugging me to write fiction.

Campbell bought this incredible palace, in Ireland. If you could imagine the set of a ghost movie, it was like that: haunted to the max. It must have had 20 rooms. There was this one little room on the second room that was blocked off from the inside and walled-in. They called it: The Devil’s Room. That inspired the idea. What if they took down the wall? What might happen?

So, I had fun with it. And it’s meant to be a comedy, not a horror show. It starts in Ireland, then it comes to a small upstate New York town that has an arts college and a horse track. Tony Markellis - who is not only a musician, but also an artist, did the cover.

- Where can people get the book?

At Celtic Treasures and Northshire Bookstore and online at Amazon.com.

- How has Saratoga Springs changed since you first settled here?

I first came to Saratoga in the late 1970s. My parents bought a place in Schuylerville and I used to come visit them. I brought Ben & Jerry’s to town in 1983 and the next year the City Center was built. That was a change like night-and-day. This was the very beginning of Saratoga’s resurgence.

We’ve seen a tremendous amount of change here and I would say, in general, the changes are for the best. People who complain about the development should take a drive around. Upstate New York, in general, is a wasteland. Then you look around here and it’s a lot better than the alternative. It’s a very interesting town. Look at the history, the characters, the statues in the park – it’s incredible. How many little upstate places have anything like this?