If you think current students at Saratoga Springs City School District are restricted to woodworking and crafts in shop class, we have the guy most qualified to tell you that elective paths (home economics? Not a thing anymore) look a lot different these days. Michael Gallagher, department chair of technology education for the district, has been teaching technology education here for 23 years. “My father was an engineer at GE and was part of some groundbreaking inventions,” says Gallagher, who earned his master’s from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). “Stories of his work sparked my passion for technology, leading me to education as a technology teacher.”
These days, technology education is generally split into two major strains: One path is more engineering-based (with Saratoga schools offering several classes for college credit from RIT), and the other involves hands-on trade skills such as carpentry and woodworking (what most folks think of when they hear “shop class”). “In one classroom we have a bunch of 3D printers, a laser cutter and desktop computers,” Gallagher says. “And the other lab is all woodworking equipment, a table saw and band saw, so the kids can build wooden stuff in there.”
What makes Saratoga’s technology education stand out is that Gallagher has chosen to emphasize both paths equally. “A lot of school districts have focused on either engineering or the trade skills, and I think it’s a real injustice to cut one to add or fund another,” he says. “We’re the only school in the area that I know of that never cut either.”
Gallagher has also made a big push for diversity and inclusion. Last year, he started a series of guest speakers who talk to students via Zoom. “Former students talk to our kids about what it’s like in the real world,” he says. “We’ve had this tech education program for so long that we try to get women and students from diverse backgrounds.” One such alum that Gallagher recently invited to talk was Tristan de Jesús, a scientist at GentiBio doing cutting-edge work in genome engineering.
Gallagher’s balanced and inclusive approach is connecting with students. He’s eager to show off YouTube videos of his former students doing amazing work, such as Ryan Watkins, a Research Engineer at NASA who’s using 3D printing for the next Mars Rover mission, and Elliott Poppel, who was a global advisor at Meta (Facebook) for five years before creating his own software startup called General Collaboration.
“I’ve had some kids that have gone on and just done crazy stuff,” Gallagher says with a proud smile. “I can’t wait to see what they’ll do next.”
What happens when you mix a respected interior design firm and the chicest coworking space in Saratoga? Here’s what:
Since opening three years ago, luxury Saratoga design firm Interior Designs Atelier (IDA) has been growing—so much so that earlier this year, the small-but-mighty team needed more space. After purchasing The Workers Club at 3 Franklin Square, IDA owner Linda Gerace-Skinner and her husband, Andrew Skinner, sought to expand the coworking space, and the idea to share it with the local design community came naturally.
Enter: Saratoga Design Collective, a coworking opportunity created by and for interior designers and design-related industry partners. “The Collective,” Gerace-Skinner says, “is a collaborative (not competitive) space where like-minded professionals in Saratoga and the greater Capital Region can exchange ideas and share resources.” While non-designers are the core of The Worker’s Club’s clientele, Saratoga Design Collective gives those in the design field even more than the traditional coworking perks of free wi-fi, printing services and access to conference rooms.
The common areaThe resource libraryThe exterior (Photography by Shannon Rose Design)
What types of perks, you ask? Think to-the-trade lunch-and-learns, ASID continuing education seminars, procurement and receiving services, white-glove delivery services, and access to one of the area’s most extensive resource libraries, complete with samples of fabric, wallpaper, furniture, tile, stone, carpet, rugs and trim. Gerace-Skinner explains: “It’s for the designer who doesn’t have time to travel to New York City whenever they need access to the resources of a design center.”
Beyond the library of samples, the Saratoga Design Collective offers à la carte services including both private offices and open seating within cozy lounge areas, a full kitchen, a large conference room, and access to established trade accounts with more than 450 vendors. Basically, it’s a desk that doesn’t double as a dining room table like at home, plus everything successful “solopreneurs” or up-and-coming designers need to run their business successfully. “We’re also open to partnering with leading luxury brands to elevate the studio to become a showroom for their product lines,” says Skinner, who currently manages the space.
“We simply designed a beautiful interior design studio that inspires, motivates and encourages us as design professionals,” continues Gerace-Skinner. “Then we just added a few more desks.”
Stepping into Lola Saratoga, a luxury handbag and accessories store on Broadway, you’d never know that a few short months ago the shop was the site of a smash-and-grab robbery. The thieves took some $100,000 in inventory, but owner Megan Druckman and her staff were quick to bounce back from the tragedy.
“The biggest thing we learned from the robbery is that our community is really like no other,” Druckman says. “The way the community came out for us was so moving. We wouldn’t have been able to move forward as a business or a team without feeling that support.”
These days, Druckman is in the process of rebuilding in time for the Belmont, and has new inventory—a mix of “pre-owned luxury” and “new contemporary” pieces—coming in daily. That includes a wide selection of pre-owned vintage bags from Chanel, a brand that’s been in the news recently following 2023 price hikes for its new collection, as well as one very special bag from Hermès.
“Currently we have a very rare crocodile Birkin bag housed in an off-site location,” Druckman says. “It’s by appointment only, and it’s $39,995. To be able to own one of these bags is really remarkable because it’s not something you can just walk into the Hermès store and purchase. You need to be a longstanding client who spends annually a certain threshold at Hermès. This is a really great opportunity for a handbag collector to procure a crocodile bag for her collection.”
Dennis deJonghe still remembers when he and his wife, Peggy, first came to Saratoga Springs: They were on the craft fair circuit, traveling in an old panel van to places such as Buffalo and Connecticut—anywhere that was hosting a juried show where Dennis could share his jewelry. This pursuit is what led the couple to the Washington County Fairgrounds for the Green Mountain Craft Fair. “We didn’t make any money at that show,” says deJonghe. What they did make, however, was a connection to the area that would be their home for the decades to come.
“We moved to Saratoga to look for a place for a shop,” deJonghe says. “And it was really a gut instinct. I’d like to say I did all this research.” He laughs and praises the luck of the draw—that they had been able to find an affordable place to rent on Caroline Street. It was 1982.
Flash forward 42 years, and deJonghe Original Jewelry has grown with the Saratoga community. To step into the storefront at 470 Broadway (to which deJonghe moved in 1988) is to enter a space where loyal customers come to celebrate life’s milestones, out-of-towners experience the artistic spirit of Saratoga, and jewelry is done…differently.
(Photography by Eric Jenks)
“You might find a jewelry bench in a jewelry shop,” deJonghe says, “but not where they’re making everything in the store.” At deJonghe Original Jewelry, everything is made in the shop—and it’s always been that way.
deJonghe credits his unique approach with the fact that he never set out to be a jeweler: His original plan was to become an art teacher. “When I graduated, I couldn’t find a teaching job,” he says. He’d studied jewelry-making as part of his curriculum, and at the behest of a beloved professor, started selling his work. “It was really all new to us,” he says of the jewelry industry. “I was sort of winging it.”
Having no blueprint from which to operate gave deJonghe more room for creativity. Each piece, and each day at the shop, was an experiment—one that included raising his family.
“They all grew up in the shop,” he says of his three children, Evan, Sarah and Becca. “That’s where all their diapers were changed.”
As adults, each of his children embarked on their own career paths, but one by one, they all found their way back to the shop.
“We never imagined having a family business that will continue on,” says deJonghe. “We’re very fortunate.”
Here in the spa city, there’s no shortage of rejuvenating treatments for folks who want to look and feel their best. From chemical peels and HydraFacials to body wraps and therapeutic massages, a quick scan of your favorite local spa’s menu reveals a remedy for every need. Now, this even includes nutrition, thanks to the arrival of IV Therapy.
If the thought of an IV brings hospital visits and trips to the ER to mind, you’re not alone.
“My first exposure to IV therapy was working in the emergency setting,” says Bellatas Medical Aesthetics Founder Laura Newey, FNP-C. “We used it a lot there to rejuvenate people coming in with various [ailments]. You could see people turning around pretty quickly.”
Newey’s experiences in the ER planted a question in her mind: What could IV therapy do for clients in a general wellness setting?
“You’re getting that full bioavailability of the vitamins and minerals that you’re putting in versus taking vitamins orally,” she says.
Normally, our bodies absorb vitamins and minerals pretty slowly; however, the IV injects them directly into our bloodstreams, allowing us to absorb them more quickly—and at a higher dose. Whether you’re an athlete gearing up for a big event or you’re feeling low-energy and want to prioritize your health, IV therapy can provide that much-needed boost.
“Or maybe they’ve had a long night out,” Newey adds. “Certainly, it can be helpful in those situations.”
Indeed, since IV therapy arrived on the local scene last year, it’s become a go-to hangover cure for those in the late-night crowd who don’t want to forfeit the following day to grogginess. In a season-long pop-up, RevIVa Wellness even brought IV therapy directly to the track, allowing racegoers the chance to recharge and maintain momentum.
“The amount of increased fluids eliminates dehydration,” explains Denise Dubois, founder of Complexions Spa for Beauty and Wellness, which also offers IV therapy at its two Capital Region locations. “It’s a main reason why guests feel so good after.”
Those who want to experience IV therapy for themselves can choose from a selection of drips that help meet different goals, including beauty, hydration, a boosted immune system, fat-burning, energy, mental clarity, sports performance and mood.
Curious about what IV therapy can do for you? Newey invites you to explore: “I really love seeing people feel better afterward.”
Ever wondered why Putnam Market and its adjoining wine room are located on Broadway, not Putnam Street? Longtime Saratogians know the (sort of obvious) answer: The businesses got their start on Putnam Street.
In 1995, Putnam Market—then a full-size gourmet grocery store complete with a locally grown produce section, fish counter, butcher and florist—opened in a converted warehouse at the site of what’s now all-you-can-eat sushi hotspot Wasabi. When Putnam Market’s co-owner, Cathy Hamilton, married wine expert William Roach, an Englishman she’d met at the London Business School in the 1980s, it only made sense to add in a wine room.
“We fitted the Wine Room into the warehouse’s truck loading dock, and built a cage around it to comply with regulations of the New York State Liquor Authority, which require shoppers to pass through a shared lobby between stores selling groceries and stores selling alcohol,” says Roach of the small shop seen here in 1998. Working the shop in signature white Putnam Market T-shirts are Roach (standing) and the seated Ashley Edwards, then the executive director of the Children’s Museum at Saratoga. “Ashley was cycling past one day and decided he needed some weekend work,” Roach says. “And I needed some help.”
Shortly after the Wine Room opened, the owner of the building decided to add a floor of offices above the market. “With an unwelcome disruption and being tempted by Broadway, we moved the business to the Roohan Building,” Roach says. “The deli, Cheese Room, bakery and all the groceries made the move. The Wine Room moved, too.”
And, as they say, the rest is history. I asked Roach if he remembers any noteworthy stories from the early days of the Wine Room. “This is the wine business, and frankly, it’s a wonder I remember anything,” he says. “It was, and still is, the most tremendous fun.”
If a meticulously-curated tablescape is the Insta-ready vibe you’re dreaming of for your next dinner party, but you don’t have the place in which to host it—Golden Garden Parties’ new micro-event space might be just what you’re looking for. After making a name for itself around the Capital Region (last fall, the company laid out the stunning outdoor décor for the VIP tent at the Saratoga Motorcar Auction and decorated a private party with Complexions Spa and former Real Housewife of New York Heather Thomson), Golden Garden Parties owner Laiken Herrlett decided to open a cozy, beautiful party venue in her hometown of Gloversville.
Golden Garden Parties was born in May 2021 as a way to bring a luxurious picnic aesthetic to any event, from large public affairs to private birthday parties and showers—think ornate carriages with grass walls as backdrops, floor pillows, candles and, of course, its famous garden party-chic table settings.
Over time, Herrlett noticed that some of her customers struggled to find the right venue in which to throw their dream party. She enlisted her cousin Ashlee McDonald, and together they found their Gloversville locale and worked to bring her vision to life. “We aim to create polished, beautiful memories for clients,” Herrlett says. “We’re so happy to be a part of Gloversville’s downtown revitalization, because its beautiful, historic architecture perfectly complements our style.”
The space is already booking photo shoots and event consultations, with the full roll-out planned for this month. The venue accommodates private and public micro-events for 30-40 guests, including small weddings—anything, Herrlet says, that deserves “nothing less than the golden standard.”
Saratoga Race Course in the early 1900s (Detroit Publishing Company)Spit and Spat fountain after its completion in 1905 (Detroit Publishing Company)North Broadway in 1908 (Detroit Publishing Company)Filming scenes for 1937 romantic comedy ‘Saratoga’ (New York State Archives)Broadway in 1904 (Detroit Publishing Company)Broadway at the United States Hotel in the early 1900s (Detroit Publishing Company)A stereograph looking up Broadway from Congress Park that dates back to about 1850 (New York Public Library/Robert N. Dennis Collection)The Ferndell Bottling Plant in November 1918 (New York State Archives)A colorized photo of the gazebo in Congress Park circa 1900 (New York State Archives)
If you spent any amount of time perusing the Capital Region’s small corner of Facebook this past winter, there’s a good chance you came across the work of photographer John Bulmer. But while the Mechanicville resident is certainly skilled behind a camera, it’s the work he’s done in front of a computer that’s gone local-viral.
In his free time, Bulmer has taken up the fine art of colorizing historic images from around the Capital Region (with a clear penchant for Saratoga’s bygone grand dame hotels, elegantly clad tourists and sweeping streetscapes)—not for profit, but as somewhat of a public service. “We’re so conditioned to see things in color that when you see things in black and white, there’s kind of a disconnect,” Bulmer says. “It speaks to the past. But when I color these things and throw in some atmospheric light and some haze, people tend to connect with them in a more visceral way.” In fact, Bulmer has been contacted by people who have recognized family members in his colorized photos, including one from 1960 of then-senator John F. Kennedy speaking in Bulmer’s native Troy. Other fans of his work have sent in their own black-and-white family photos for Bulmer to restore. “When they get them back, they haven’t seen their loved one in color in forever, and it’s really moving,” he says. “It’s like, wow, I just gave this person back this memory.”
How does he do it? Despite the rise in online tools that utilize artificial intelligence to create or manipulate photos, Bulmer’s process is actually quite work-intensive. He’ll choose an image, then use Photoshop to restore some detail. From there, he moves the file into Procreate, a digital painting iPad application, to actually color the image by hand, utilizing “layers” and blending methods to make the photo look like it was taken this year. He says he’s gotten pretty good at telling what color an object in a black-and-white photo is based on the shade of black, but there is definitely some creative license involved; for instance, exactly 50 percent gray could either mean black or red, and it’s up to Bulmer to decide which color to use.
Not only have Bulmer’s photos changed the way locals think about the past, but they’ve also changed the way Bulmer himself experiences the present. “I can’t walk down Broadway now and not imagine these gigantic wooden structures on the side of Broadway,” he says, referencing photographs he’s restored of Saratoga’s historic hotels. “It’s impossible not to do a comparison or say, ‘Oh, that’s where the United States Hotel was.’ It’s fascinating to see how it evolved from then until now.”
When you walk—or run or snowshoe or mountain bike—through Saratoga County’s new Graphite Range Community Forest, it seems like the trail system has been there forever. That’s because Steve Ovitt designed it that way.
Ovitt, a retired DEC forest ranger living in Warren County, is the owner of outdoor recreation development firm Wilderness Property Management (WPM), which plans, designs and constructs trail systems all across the region. His latest project—Graphite Range—is a mixed-use network of mountain biking and hiking trails located just past Nové Italian Restaurant on Route 9 in Wilton that will eventually connect to Daniels Road State Forest. While Graphite Range opened to the public in December, you’d never know it’s brand new, given the lack of felled trees and disturbed wilderness you’d expect to see around a recently constructed trail.
“The difference between a road and a trail is that roads go through things,” says Ovitt of how his company works with the environment instead of against it. “Trails go around larger trees, they go around rocks—they roll with the microtopography. A good trail works with the land and reflects the land that it’s on. It’s not just a hole through the woods.”
Photography by Victoria J. Buckman
Therefore, a good trail-maker does more than just cut a hole through the woods; a good trail-maker is a surveyor, topographer, cartographer, ecologist, physicist, builder and—perhaps most importantly—a designer.
WPM’s design process begins with an assessment of a property and what type of recreation the client hopes to host there. In the case of Graphite Range, Ovitt and his team worked with Saratogian Ethan Winter, who donated the land for the 200-acre property, which previously was the site of a graphite mine and, more recently, a driving range. After the initial assessment, the pair divided the land into three areas—the mountain bike area, where the nature of the ground and environment lent itself best to singletrack trails; the more serene “wilderness” area located south of a babbling brook; and a historical area, to which users who crave a destination could hike to see the remains of the old mines.
Those three geographic distinctions informed Ovitt’s next step: designing the trails for specific types of recreation. On the south side, the meandering trail was mapped out to follow the bank of a stream for maximum immersion in nature. The mountain bike trails were created with optimum gradients and turn radiuses that make it possible to travel along them with speed. And the preexisting roadways that miners once used to transport graphite now transport sightseers to the key historical features on the property.
The next step is sustainable and environmentally sound trail design—making sure there are enough drainages to direct water off trails, adding additional topsoil to account for the inevitable “cupping” of trails from compaction, and hardening areas known to possess subsurface water with rock so that they don’t turn to mud (a problem trail builders in the drier western United States rarely have to deal with). “We’ve got a hundred miles of trail out there,” Ovitt says of his company’s vast portfolio of trail networks. “And there isn’t an eroded piece of trail pretty much anywhere.”
For the fourth and final piece of the design process, Ovitt looks to a trail’s difficulty rating. Graphite Range’s mountain bike trails are labeled intermediate, making them the closest such trails to Saratoga proper, which offers only the beginner-level trails at the Spa State Park and advanced-level trails at Daniels Road State Forest. “You start off at Route 9, and there’s no doubt that you’ve got to climb that hill,” Ovitt says of the open, steep area right next to the parking lot. “We used literally every inch we could between property boundaries and limiting topographical features to create a design that allows an intermediate rider to climb that hill and descend it. We’re looking at it so specifically that we’re counting pedal strokes: How many pedals is it going to take to get over that rock?” WPM even utilizes a series of proprietary design standards, including a process that determines which rocks to take off a trail and which to leave.
Put those four elements together; bring in a mini excavator, specialized hand tools, nets, cables and other machines; and a year of planning followed by a year of construction later? Bam. You’ve got yourself a trail system. Then install fencing, signage and a parking lot; wait for Saratoga County to approve everything; and a few months later? Voila. You’ve got yourself a community forest.
“I’m so excited because of the way that it’s bringing people in the community together to share a special place,” says Winter, who began acquiring the land for conservation purposes more than a decade ago. “It’s really exciting to see how well designed this whole property is and how people are interacting with that intentional design. People are commenting on its signage and on the trail-building being really suitable for what it’s designed for. People might want the parking lot to be bigger, but we designed it so that you wouldn’t feel overcrowded there.”
Beyond the hoopla surrounding the trail design, the opening of Graphite Range Community Forest in and of itself is monumental. “It’s the first officially recognized, US Forest Service–funded community forest in Saratoga County, and one of the first in the state,” says Rob Davies, executive director of Saratoga PLAN, which will work with a boots-on-the-ground volunteer advisory committee to manage the county-owned land going forward. “It’s a community forest, but it’s also a forest for the community.”
Currently enjoying the aftermath of Teakwood Builders’ time in the local limelight—the construction company won four big awards last year—president and owner Jim Sasko is in his designing prime. Yet, he says he feels like he never grew up. “This work, it’s like my childhood life that I’m living,” he says about running Teakwood, located in a sleek, white-brick building on Church Street. “I was raised by a family of self-doers. My father was a handyman who fixed and repaired everything himself.” Sasko’s dad actually owned a hardware and building supply store in Cohoes called GF Wertime Building Supply, which was where the builder-in-training worked and got his first exposure to the (literal) nuts and bolts of the building world.
The Spa City abounds with Teakwood’s stunning handiwork, from its signature historic revitalizations—check out the company’s eye-popping remodel of an 1890s Colonial Revival–style home in Saratoga’s historic district (which last year won two Capital Region Builders & Remodelers Association awards)—to total makeovers, such as its transformation of a 384-square foot basement into a luxurious, New Orleans–inspired entertainment sanctuary and speakeasy (which won two national design awards in 2023).
The secret sauce to Teakwood’s success in the competitive construction market? Sasko says it comes down to good ol’ customer service. “The projects do speak for themselves; they’re beautiful and intricate and really well designed,” he says. “But beyond that, we consider our business model more of a service, meaning we’re not just there to turn over a project, meet a schedule and focus on budgets. We also try our best to be great communicators all the way through and stay focused on what our clients want.”
The other key ingredient is Sasko’s ground-up education in the industry. From his childhood in his father’s hardware store and working as a laborer for framing crews building semi-custom homes in the late ’80s, to striking out on his own with Teakwood in 1996, Sasko has done it all. As for how he landed in Saratoga, he says he followed the work. “The ’90s and early 2000s saw that boom of people investing in historic homes in Saratoga,” he says. “There are people to whom a home is their palette, and they want to express themselves by how they live in it. I learned early on who our client was, and there’s such a stock of historic homes in Saratoga that needed extensive work. It was easy to fill my schedule.”
Sasko has always enjoyed standing on his own two feet. Shortly after finishing college for construction engineering and management, he began working for himself at just 26 years old, taking on small projects—building decks, residing homes and installing windows. That early gig would eventually grow into Teakwood, the esteemed luxury builder and remodeler it is today. “When people ask what made me start a business, I tell them I didn’t know any better; I was naïve,” says Sasko, who remains down to earth despite his success. He’s proud of his Capital Region roots, too, choosing “Teakwood” for his business (instead of his last name like most builders) after the Clifton Park street on which he grew up.
As for Dad, the man who sparked it all? “In his retirement years he used to work with us when he could, dabbling in small projects,” Sasko says of of himself and his brother, who works in the company as well. “He’s very proud of us.”
