On July 16, Saratoga Springs police discovered that a statue, erected in the 19th century to commemorate Union Army veterans from New York’s 77th Infantry Regimen during the Civil War, had been toppled in Congress Park. The statue lay in pieces on the ground, giant chunks of it, including its head, hand and parts of its torso, lay at its base.
The statue’s destruction caused an immediate uproar in the city, with some pointing fingers at Black Lives Matter (BLM) protesters, some of whom, in other parts of the country, had felled statues that honored racist figures or histories. (The assumption here was that the vandal hadn’t gotten an A in history.) Others wondered if it was the other side at fault: One local BLM protester, quoted in the New York Times, wondered aloud whether it, in fact, had been the act of a racist person, who wanted to destroy a pro-Union monument.
All this, following a summer of, at first, peaceful protests dating back to early June, which began happening in the city (and around the world) following the death of George Floyd, a black man, at the hands of a white police officer in Minnesota. Multiple BLM protests and counterprotests followed—most notably, one in which Saratoga police rolled out a tank-like vehicle and shot pepper bullets at counterprotesters to disperse them from the Congress Park area.
More than a month later, no suspects have been arrested in connection with the vandalism of the statue—though private citizens have offered to bring that person or persons to justice. And while a GoFundMe page has been launched by the local Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War chapter, with a stated goal of $20,000 and $8,400 raised at press time, it’s unclear what the statue’s future is at present.
One famous Saratoga County resident wants to change that. Former executive producer and director of the hit sitcom Friends, Kevin Bright, who appeared on the Spring 2020 cover of Saratoga Living—and who sits on a number of boards around town and most recently, along with his wife, funded Caffè Lena’s Music School—tells me that he wants to fully fund the repair or replacement of the toppled statue, but that he wants to do it “through the right channels.” (It’s unclear, for instance, where the $20,000 total comes from in regards to the GoFundMe page—or if some of the money will go to fees to GoFundMe.) Donations have already been given to help repair the statue, but Bright says “I will pay the rest to get it done.”
At press time, he tells me that he’s planning on contacting the mayor’s office today (August 28) to get the ball rolling.
A 24-year-old Saratoga Springs tradition is going to look a little different this fall, thanks to the COVID-19 crisis. In lieu of the regular Showcase of Homes, which in the past has given the public the opportunity to drive around and tour brand-new homes by a dozen or so local builders, the Saratoga Builders Association will present a one-hour Showcase TV Special, to be aired this fall on WRGB Channel 6.
“We were trying to figure out a way to not just bag the whole thing,” says Barry Potoker, the president of the Saratoga Builders Association. “It’s very difficult to replace being there, going through houses, touching, feeling things. Obviously it’s not replacing that, it’s just a different twist.”
The special will be aired six times throughout late September and October, and will be hosted by CBS anchor Liz Bishop. Twelve area builders will be featured, and the special will include interviews with the builders themselves and virtual tours of their properties, as well as segments encouraging viewers to donate to Rebuilding Together Saratoga County and Habitat for Humanity of Northern Saratoga, Warren & Washington Counties, the two charities the Builders Association usually donates Showcase ticket sales to.
The typical Showcase of Homes awards—which include best kitchen, best exterior architectural design and best interior floor plan—will also not be given out this year, as some of the builders will be unable to finish their Showcase homes due to construction delays caused by the pandemic.
But while this year’s Showcase won’t be exactly what fans of the tour are used to, they can rest assured that next year’s will be bigger and better than ever. “We’re planning lots of festivities for our 25th next year,” Potoker says. Could that include a revival of the popular Taste of Showcase, which features food and drink samples at the featured homes on the Friday before the show begins? We can only hope.
Here’s an understatement for you: It’s been a tough summer season here in Saratoga Springs. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, the majority of fans were barred from ever setting foot inside Saratoga Race Course—save for some lucky horsemen—and while the races have gone off just like clockwork most every day behind its gates, fans have had to either watch the races on TV or their tiny smartphone screen, or try to catch a glimpse of a jockey or prized Thoroughbred from outside the fences on Union or Nelson Avenues (even some of the fences were blocked off to deter crowds from forming).
Although Saratoga Living applied for a handful of photo passes, so that our photographers could cover the fan-less track season, as far as I can tell, all of our applications were denied. Sadly, we haven’t had a single photographer at the racetrack all summer long to capture the event from our perspective. That is, until now.
Enter retired CBS camera operator and lifelong Saratoga racing fan David Cabano, who was getting his hair cut at Woody’s Barbershop in Saratoga recently and got talking to its owner Joe “Woody” Wood about his new favorite pastime: photography. Woody suggested he reach out to me at the magazine. It turned out that Cabano had most recently worked on CBS This Morning—with a hero of mine, Anthony Mason—as well as manning the camera for Super Bowl telecasts, the Olympic Games and presidential inaugurations (the list goes on and on). He’d been shooting black-and-white portraits of the track from the vantage point of a fan—from the outside in—and wanted to find a place to publish his work. For one, he has great taste in barbers. But seriously, I took one look at his wonderful photos and gladly obliged. He comes at Saratoga’s “lost season” with a fresh pair of eyes. First, find a personal essay from Cabano below. Access his gallery of photos by clicking on the topmost image.
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The gates are locked, betting windows closed, picnic tables stacked away in storage. But in true Broadway theater fashion, “The show must go on.” The curtain rises to an empty house five days a week, revealing a very different looking stage.
The 2020 Saratoga Race Course meet is a shell of its former self. Yes, the horses have arrived—and the trainers and jockeys are here as well, shielded by masks, making it hard to distinguish who is who. Only a skeleton crew of trackside workers complements the cast this year, barely keeping the traveling circus that is known as the New York Racing Association (NYRA) operational.
The traditional early morning run for the picnic tables has been replaced with fans lining up on Nelson Avenue, peering over the fence to see their equine heroes. No spectators are allowed at the track unless you are an owner of a horse running that day. Instead of viewing the races from the track apron or watching the TVs located in the picnic area underneath the red-and-white umbrella pavilions, racing enthusiasts are relegated to watching the action from home or at watch parties set up at various bars and restaurants located throughout Downtown Saratoga.
A Whitney Handicap without Marylou, a Travers Stakes run before the Kentucky Derby?This year’s out-of-order schedule has made the season disjointed and confusing. However, some things never seem to change. Chad Brown and Todd Pletcher are once again dueling for the most wins by a trainer, and the Ortiz brothers are once again battling it out atop the jockey standings.
Ironically, the rhythmic cadence of horse hooves hitting the ground, while the horses race towards the finish line, is much more audible this year. Normally drowned out by the screams of thousands of fans cheering for their favorite, that passing train–like sound now echoes throughout this empty historic racing cathedral.
Sam’s bugle call may have been silenced this season, too, but the anticipation of better things to come next year is already percolating. Despite the COVID-19 crisis, this venue’s rich tradition and history assure its future survival. Next year, when the curtain comes up, the show will be even better than ever, the crowds larger, the cheers louder. But more than anything else, the appreciation for this annual Saratoga spectacle will be at an all time high. —David Cabano
Horse racing fans: Are you ready to see what the future of the Sport of Kings looks like? On September 5, the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs, which has undergone extensive renovations—including the addition of a number of high-tech bells and whistles—is set to reopen to the public on Saturday, September 5.
Closed since January and originally supposed to reopen on July 16, in time for the start of the Saratoga Race Course season across the street, the museum will be once again welcoming in crowds of the faithful on the 5th. And devoted racing fans will find some brand-new experiences awaiting their next visit. Besides updates to existing exhibitions, the museum has installed an interactive Hall of Fame experience, featuring digital plaques for each of the 459 inductees, which will allow guests to learn more about each of the racing legends by swiping a museum-provided stylus on them. Each plaque will feature collections of digital photographs and videos. Visitors will also be able to view a new 16-minute signature film entitled, What It Takes: Journey to the Hall of Fame, that examines the history of Thoroughbred racing and “what it takes” to be inducted into the Hall of Fame.
With the COVID-19 crisis still a factor, the museum plans to enforce a number of safety measures in accordance with state and local health regulations, including limiting visitors to 24 every two hours. Hand sanitizing stations have been placed throughout the museum, and markings on the floor will keep guests six feet apart and on a one-way route through the exhibits. And of course, masks are mandatory for all visitors.
Other interactive museum updates include the Race Day Gallery, where guests can travel through three areas of the racetrack, The Paddocks, The Track and The Winner’s Circle, to get a closer look at what really happens on any given race day; and Call the Race, an interactive exhibit that gives visitors a chance to view footage of some of the sport’s largest events before making a “call” (that can then be downloaded and shared!). There will also be an exhibition dedicated to the famed Jockey Club, paintings by British artist Martin Stainforth and a juried photo exhibition, displaying 34 photographers’ takes on Thoroughbred racing in America.
“We set out with an ambitious goal of being the best and most interactive
Hall of Fame in the country,” says museum President John Hendrickson. “I believe we have accomplished that goal. Our great sport deserves a showcase venue that everyone can be proud of. This is a game-changer for the museum, and it is everything we hoped it would be when we began the process to reimagine and enliven our institution.”
Tickets can be purchased online, starting on August 28 for members, and August 31 for the general public.
The COVID-19 crisis has caused a parallel crisis for those suffering from behavioral health issues. People are under an undue amount of stress these days, with the unemployment rate high and many still stuck at home. At least for Capital Region patients, finding a psychologist for a teletherapy session or psychiatrist to land a prescription is much easier than it has ever been, thanks to local tech startup aptihealth. Through its digital platform and mobile app, aptihealth has effectively streamlined how patients, physicians and psychologists interact in the health care space. And patients can not only connect directly with health care providers via the app, but can also stay in contact with them via a HIPAA-approved messaging system.
Up until recently, about 100,000 patients had access to the aptihealth system. But that number will now skyrocket to more than 150,000, as the startup has inked a major partnership with Glens Falls Hospital to offer its network of seven primary care practices access to aptihealth’s teletherapy program. These practices include Cambridge Medical Center, Evergreen Medical Center, Greenwich Medical Center, Granville Medical Center, Hudson Falls Medical Center, Salem Medical Center and Whitehall Medical Center.
“Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, we’ve gone from zero telehealth visits to 1,200 a week,” says Patti Hammond, Glens Falls Hospital’s vice president for physician practice management. “Working with aptihealth, we are able to greatly enhance and expand our offerings for behavioral health services—and offer them in a way that is convenient and safe. The partnership with aptihealth will provide a level of care that is essential for our community.”
The deal is a win-win situation for both the hospital and tech startup. “We are proud to partner with Glens Falls Hospital on this transformative initiative and look forward to working together to deliver personalized integrated behavioral healthcare that truly changes lives,” says Dan Pickett, aptihealth’s CEO. “By taking a comprehensive approach that includes both physical and behavioral care, we can rapidly connect patients with the right therapists and prescribers, accelerate treatment, and ensure their entire care team is in lockstep throughout the process, improving outcomes and making care delivery more cost-effective.”
aptihealth, which is headquartered in Boston, has a satellite office in Troy.
On the same day that New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo targeted Saratoga Race Course as an “attractive nuisance”—a regional destination that would likely lead to more outbreaks of the COVID-19 virus—the New York Racing Association (NYRA) was forced to make this year’s Saratoga summer meet fan-less. While the city’s done its best to make the best of a bad situation—Saratoga Living even offered up options to track diehards to save their Saratoga summers—it very much feels like a “lost season.” Despite there being a surprising number of staycation tourists out and about in Downtown Saratoga these days, the daily absence of fans holding up traffic along Union Ave is pretty alarming.
However, that hasn’t applied to all “fans.” If you’re a Thoroughbred owner with a New York State horseman’s license, have a horse racing on a day’s card and don’t have COVID-19 (obviously), you’ve likely been attending some of the races at Saratoga this summer. Saratogian Maggie Quinn is one of those people. Quinn, the director of operations and support, commercial agent channel, for telecom company Frontier Communications, came upon some disposable income a few years ago and decided to buy into some horses. (“I own a couple of hooves,” as she puts it.) She’s actually a member of a local Thoroughbred syndicate, Epona Racing Stable, based in Saratoga.
Quinn recently attended Alabama Day with an owner friend from Rochester—his horses were running, not hers—and because she had a New York racing license, the golden ticket (besides your health) that gets you through the track’s gates, she was able to tag along for the day. For all of the mega-fans who have been griping day in and day out about how crappy it is not being allowed inside the track this season, the experience, if you can even call it that, doesn’t sound all that enjoyable. In fact, it sounds downright eerie. Quinn told Saratoga Living about her day at the races, in the middle of a pandemic, in her own words.
What sort of health protocols did NYRA make you follow to get into Saratoga Race Course?
To be able to go in the barns as an owner, in the morning to watch the horses work out, you have to have your [New York racing] license and a COVID test. The COVID test has to be good and dated, at the most, seven days from when you go in. So, I went and got my COVID test, which had to get approved by NYRA, and I got a sticker on my license, which allowed me [access] to the track and breakfast.
Was that the COVID-19 nose or antibody test?
Just the nose test.
OK, so you present them your card with the sticker on it and you get into the track. Are you on the Oklahoma or main track side?
My trainer is actually over on the Oklahoma side, so I could go to the Oklahoma side if I wanted to. What I did do was I went over to the main track, and then we walked over to the backstretch. They’re very strict; you have to have your mask on at all times. When you drive in, you have to get a temperature check, show your credentials, horseman’s license, and they give you a wristband. We were able to walk freely around the inside of the track, but you had to have a mask on at all times.
Was it really eerie to be there without any fans in the stands?
For the races, it was surreal. There’s one small area that they’re allowing the owners to sit at—it’s over by Shake Shack and the Paddock Bar, and they also have, on the other side of the rail from the Paddock Bar, a grassy area where they’ve set up picnic tables, 10 feet apart, with umbrellas. So, you can either go sit by the Paddock in the Paddock tent, or sit where we sat, which is over by the picnic tables. They actually have the Paddock Bar open, which I was surprised about. They only have table service.
Swiss Skydiver, after winning the Alabama Stakes at Saratoga Race Course. (Chris Rahayel)
You’re describing tables that are not directly in view of the track or the finish line. Were you able to actually watch the physical races happen in real time?
I was surprised that you could walk up to the track to watch the race. What I thought was the most surreal thing about it was that there really weren’t a lot of people there. The trainers are under the same regulations that the owners are. You couldn’t go up by the boxes, you couldn’t watch a race from up there if it was raining. Everybody was just kind of hanging around the rail. I sat there with Todd Pletcher for one race. Bill Mott was there, Steve Asmussen was down there with his son. They looked like the guys that bring the little coolers and find the corner [of the picnic area].
Since there’s really no chatter at all—no cheering, no nothing—at the track, was the live race a louder experience? Did you hear the thunder of the horses’ hooves coming down the stretch more clearly?
Yes, actually, you could. You could hear it better; you’re still down, but you’re at track level. You’re watching the screens more, [because] if you were up in the boxes you’d be able to see better. Yes, you could hear the horses coming a lot sooner.
And there’s no “Call to the Post”?
They have the bell go off, they walk the horses in and the same things are happening [as during a fan-filled season], except the jockeys come out at the last possible moment. Everybody’s fully face-masked. You used to be able to walk behind the horses and then turn left before the track to go watch the race. None of that. There’s just one handler and the horse. Everybody else had to walk back through the Clubhouse to go to the rail to watch the race. It was just weird.
How long were you able to stay at the track? Was it an all-day affair, or did you have to leave after your friend’s horse ran?
I was there for about two hours.
Did your friend’s horse win?
No. As a matter of fact [chuckles], one of my favorite horses won, and it was one of Pletcher’s horses, who I was sitting next to when he won.
Did he show any emotion when it won?
Not really.
Would you go back to the fan-less track if you had a chance?
Yeah, I would. If I had a horse running. So much of the track is the whole social atmosphere. Not so much [now]. But it was definitely different, and I would do it again.
Did you get the sense from the NYRA staff or the other horsemen in attendance that they think this is going to go on longer than just this season?
Everybody’s just accepting that it is what it is, and we’re just thankful that we have the racing up here. And my understanding is that the handle is up—everybody’s wagering via phone apps.
Are people cautiously optimistic about next season?
Yes. But there are rumors going around that they’re going to cancel Aqueduct this year. So, I don’t know if that means that they’re going to cancel Aqueduct and keep Belmont going longer, or if they’re just going to take off those four months. That’s just a horse owner’s rumor that’s going around.
Memorabilia collectors rejoice! The New York Racing Association’s (NYRA’s) Cares program, a charitable campaign that raises funds for Saratoga area nonprofits, has teamed up with the Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce to raise funds for the Adirondack Trust Company’s nonprofit arm, the ATC Community Fund, through a $10-a-pop online “raffle” with a chance to win a number of racing-related items. (It’s technically not a raffle, because the person who purchases the most tickets or entries for each designated item will be awarded that item.)
Those of you cheering on Sackatoga Stable’s Tiz the Law in his bid to win this year’s Triple Crown, for example, can purchase $10 tickets to enter to win a limited-edition copy of Saratoga Monopoly signed by Tiz’s Belmont/Travers-winning trainer Barclay Tagg.
A 2019 Saratoga Race Course program signed by Yankees great Mariano Rivera. (NYRA)
New York Yankees fans, on the other hand, can enter the drawing to win a 2019 Saratoga Race Course program signed by Hall of Fame closer Mariano Rivera, who was honored last year with his own day.
Besides memorabilia, NYRA is also raffling off seating for next year’s meet, including four seats, along the rail in the 1863 Club, for Whitney Day; a Clubhouse Box for five on Opening Day; and a pair of season tickets for the 2021 season in the Grandstand. You can even enter to have one of four races during the 2021 summer meet named after you (entries for these four races will only be accepted through 12pm on Wednesday, August 26, so get cracking!).
Fans can purchase as many tickets as they want for a certain item, up to 11:59pm on Thursday, September 3, though winning it, of course, is not guaranteed. Winners will be selected by the Saratoga Chamber on the following day.
To view all of the items up for grabs, click here.
If you’ve ever attended a show at Caffè Lena, you’ll know that you don’t sit in velvety theater seats or expertly manicured rows of metal folding chairs. Rather, you find your way to nondescript, black chairs that circle rustic, handcrafted wooden tables. If you’re the observant type, you’ll notice that, etched on the majority of those tables, is a name or names, along with an inscription. It’s one of the space’s many idiosyncrasies that gives it a truly communal, you’ve-got-a-friend-type vibe.
With the exception of the table where a pre-fame Bob Dylan was photographed sitting with his then-girlfriend, Suze Rotolo, and the venue’s owner, Lena Spencer, in the early 1960s, when he played a pair of shows there, all of the other tables have the names and inscriptions engraved right into the wood (Dylan’s table is has a laminated top, which is then inscribed). It’s not by accident; when Caffè Lena launched its fundraising drive to pay for its eventual $2 million renovation, the tables were sold in the form of patron sponsorships. If you’ve ever wondered who the names are on the tables and what the story is behind their inscriptions, wonder no more. In a new, independently published book, Storied Tables of Caffè Lena—which is now available here for free download; or, if you can find one, in physical, coffee-table format—Saratoga couple (and frequent Caffè Lena patrons) Kathleen Rehl and Charlie Pickett have profiled all of the table-sponsoring patrons, telling their intriguing stories through short, informative chapters.
Now both retired, Rehl and Pickett, actually dreamed up the concept two years after the space had been renovated in 2016, at a concert they were attending together. “At intermission, we walked around and we were just fascinated by the lyrics or sayings [on the tables], and I asked [Executive Director] Sarah [Craig], ‘Do you how people picked these lyrics, or why they said what they did on the table?'” says Rehl. “And she said, ‘I don’t know.'” Rehl, who was already a published author, kept thinking about what Craig had said through the second half of the show, and says that by the end of the show, she “was just on fire.” She knew she needed to write the book. “I talked to Charlie and I said, ‘This is a story that has to be told,'” says Rehl. They pitched the idea to Craig right then and there, and Craig was interested. They then went down to Florida for the winter, and upon returning to Saratoga in the spring of 2019, reminded Craig of the idea, she ran it by the board of directors and the book project got the green light, with full support from its donor list. In all, Rehl and Pickett tracked down the donor or donors that sponsored 16 tables and interviewed all of them for the book.
‘Storied Tables’ authors Kathleen Rehl and Charlie Pickett.
So, what will you find within the book’s pages? There are chapters on everyone from D.A. Collins Construction Owner David Collins, and his wife, Stephanie, who sponsored a table that has a lyric from The Beatles’ “With A Little Help From My Friends” inscribed on it; local author Joseph Bruchac, whose inscription is taken from the final seconds of the song “We Are the Iroquois” by his Grammy-winning singer-songwriter friend Joanne Shenandoah; and Deborah and Dexter Senft, whose table features a lyric by their son’s folk group Darlingside, who have performed at the venue a number of times throughout the years (it’s from the tune “The Ancestor,” if you were wondering). Two separate chapters also walk readers through the process of how the tables were engraved by artists Kelsi Lee and Julia K. Johnson.
Maybe the most touching chapter—and relevant, given the times—comes from Rehl and Pickett themselves, who sponsored one of the last two tables at the venue in 2018. (The idea to do it came on that same night they decided to put together the book.) Engraved on their table’s top is a line from the Wizard of Oz‘s “Somewhere Over the Rainbow,” which the couple write “[is a] song…about hope, that bad times will be overcome.” Both know a thing or two about love, loss and silver linings: Pickett lost his first wife 18 years ago, while Rehl, her husband 13 years ago. The two widowers met on eharmony while Pickett was wintering in Florida and got married in 2018. It was Pickett that introduced his wife to his favorite Saratoga venue (he’s been attending shows there since ’65). The table was a way of commemorating their new life together.
Pickett explains that he and his wife wanted to publish the book this year, in time for the 60th anniversary of the venue, and give it to Craig to use as a thank-you to donors and as a way of helping to promote a new planned giving program. While the COVID-19 crisis has derailed the book’s intended purpose, it couldn’t be coming out at a more important time in the venue’s history. Now, more ever before, Caffè Lena, which is a nonprofit organization, is in need of funding, given New York State’s recent indefinite ban of ticketed/promoted live events. Ironically, this is despite the fact that the venue was deemed “essential” in late April and has been the lone music venue in the Capital Region able to host live, spectator-less shows, which it has been streaming on its YouTube page as “Stay Home Sessions.”
So, even if audiences can’t sit and marvel at these wonderful tables anytime soon, this book will serve as a reminder of what will be possible when they can return. And oh, what a sweet day that will be when it comes.
New York State has dealt a major blow to music venues and the artists who perform at them, with a new set of guidelines from its Liquor Authority. Late yesterday, venue owners were notified by the state that pre-advertised or ticketed shows will be banned for an indefinite amount of time.
The rule has since been posted to the New York State Liquor Authority’s website.
“Basically, we can’t have ticketed or advertised shows,” says Putnam Place’s General Manager Gary Fox. (Putnam Place is owned by Saratoga Living‘s owner). “We can have music but only as part of a dining experience as opposed to shows.” Fox added that Putnam Place would be pulling all of its advertising for any upcoming free music on its patio. Upstate Concert Hall Owner Ted Etoll echoed Fox’s frustration. “All I can say is there are so many rules that no one understands,” he says. “[It] has caused chaos.”
However, local restaurants and bars that serve food and beverages that have a State Liquor Authority license are still allowed to offer music onsite “if their license certificate specifically allows for such activity.” For example, a restaurant could have a live band or DJ onsite, who is not the main reason people are there. Saratoga County restaurants and bars are allowed to host musicians both outdoors and indoors—obviously, that’s season dependent—as long as they’re a form of “small-scale entertainment,” meant to be heard only by customers (in the state’s words “incidental”). Of course, all COVID-19 health protocols must also be met, so said restaurant or bar would have to be at 50 percent capacity; all patrons would have to be seated and if not, wearing a mask and headed to the bathroom, not standing around watching the artist perform; and the performers themselves would need to be at least 12 feet from patrons.
The lone exception to the rule continues to be Saratoga’s historic folk venue Caffè Lena, which was deemed “essential” at the end of April, and has been streaming live, spectator-less performances from its venue to its YouTube page. It’s worth noting, though, that Lena is a nonprofit organization, not a for-profit concert venue. However, Lena is also negatively affected by the rule, given that last month, it was thinking about reopening to limited-capacity performances but pulled the plug on the plans at the last minute.
When I walk into Five Points Market & Deli on Wednesday morning, owner Maura Pulver is a bit preoccupied. She takes down the sandwich orders for two customers, swiftly turns around to grab an already-made breakfast sandwich for a third and rings out a fourth with a 12-pack of Bud Light. “Hello, Tom!” she says to him. “That kind of day?” The first two customers head out with their made-to-order sandwiches. “We’ll be back tomorrow!” one shouts over his shoulder.
That’s the kind of place Five Points is—a quick and easy pitstop during your work day where the owner knows your name and your order. The market, located at 42 Park Place, has been serving Saratoga’s east side for more than a century, with Pulver at the helm for the last eight-plus years. In that time, she’s become known for her sloppy, delicious breakfast sandwiches and home-cooked meals, and loyal customers return day in and day out to see her smiling face behind the counter.
That will change come September, though. On Wednesday morning, Pulver posted a photo to the Five Points Facebook page with the caption “Store Closing: Sale this Thursday.” The post was met with hundreds of comments from heartbroken customers, many of whom assumed this was the end of both Five Points and Maura’s delicious sandwiches.
But that’s not the whole story. “I just had to rewrite a post this morning because people were going crazy,” Pulver says, laughing. “I was like, ‘I shouldn’t have done that when I was falling asleep.'” Pulver’s new post explains that while Five Points will indeed be closing, she will be opening a new venture, called Simply Food by Maura, out of the commercial kitchen at the Saratoga Senior Center, which she has done catering work for in the past. The Five Points lease will be retained by the building’s owner, Jim Morris, and could potentially reopen in the future. (Pulver says she doesn’t know what Morris has in store for the space, and Morris did not immediately respond to Saratoga Living‘s request for comment.)
While Pulver had been leaning toward the decision to leave the business for a while, there were a few factors that together, made her realize the time to do it was now. For one, her oldest brother was diagnosed with a brain tumor earlier this year, and she and her entire family spent three weeks with him down in South Carolina before he passed away. When she returned, the COVID-19 crisis was in full swing, and she had to change how she ran her business. “We started closing at 4 o’clock,” she says. “We had been opening at 6am and closing at 8 or 9 during track season, and I’m here 15 hours a day. You know, 60 is knocking on the door. Do I really want to keep working 15 hours a day?” The realization that life is short, and that there’s more to life than work, combined with the fact that she was going to lose customers due to COVID-19 (especially because of the lack of racing fans in Saratoga this year) gave her the final push to make the decision.
But while 15-hour days aren’t in the cards for Pulver anymore, she didn’t want to stop doing what she loves entirely. And to figure out her next step, she had to do a bit of soul searching. “I bought a store that already existed,” she says. “I bought Five Points, and now some people have said to me, ‘Oh my gosh, is [the new venture] gonna be like Five Points at the Senior Center? Is it gonna be Five Points, Five Points, Five Points?’ And I was gonna do all that—I was going Five Points. Then I’m like, ‘I’m not Five Points. I’m Maura.’ I’m that messy breakfast sandwich that you need to eat alone with lots of napkins in the car. I’m mom’s cooking that you’re gonna take home and eat as a nice home-cooked meal. I’m everyday food, simply done. When I was trying to think, ‘So, what do I want to do?’— Did you know there’s wavy jalapeño Pringles now? Like I don’t care. I’m over that. I just want simply food.”
And Pulver is doing just that. On September 7, she’ll open Simply Food by Maura, which, unlike Five Points, won’t be selling Bud Light, Daily Racing Form newspapers or Wavy Fire Roasted Jalapeño Pringles. She’ll be focusing on breakfast sandwiches—she already has a 12-item menu of “Mad Sammies” posted to her website—as well as her popular Take 5 to-go dinners and catering. She will also continue to offer free lunches for those in need on Saturdays and Sundays, a practice she started back in April. “I’m taking some great Five Points traditions with me, but we’re gonna have some great new ones over there,” she says. “And Jim might keep some of my stuff.” While Pulver won’t have a storefront at the Senior Center, per se, Simply Food will have it’s own entrance and an online ordering system, so customers can order a sandwich and pay for it online, and then come pick it up.
Pulver has to clean out the entire Five Points space, so while the shop isn’t officially closing until August 31, she’s having a sale on Thursday, August 20, to get rid of product as well as some of the furniture and platters she has acquired over the years. “I feel so humbled to be part of the history here,” she says, tearing up. “This means a lot to me, and I know it means a lot to Jim. It’s a really special place, and I’m glad to have been a part of it. It’s just time for me to go. It just doesn’t fit where I’m at anymore, and that’s OK. It’s OK.”
I thank Pulver for taking the time between DoorDash orders and phone calls to chat with me and turn to leave. As I’m opening the door to go, she yells, “Do you want a breakfast sandwich?”
