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From the editor
Hey, Dispatchers,
I had been so excited for this “catch-up” week between Travers and Labor Day — instead, I’ve been reduced to a blob of human wreckage held together with DayQuil and Throat Coat tea.
Prior to my downfall, I had promised to talk Dolly Parton on Monday; specifically a few Easter eggs that I dropped as an homage into my pre-Travers report. In that intro, I kicked off with, “Pour yourself a cup of ambition,” a classic line from her hit song “9 to 5.” That was the obvious one, your clue that there might be more…
(I was asked why I didn’t just include everyone’s fave, “It takes a lot of money to look this cheap.” Sadly, that one proved slightly harder to fold into a Travers report …)
Instead, I worked in versions of two of her famous bits of wisdom: “Find out who you are and do it on purpose” and “If you don’t like the road you’re walking, start paving another one.”
I’m a-paving, Dolly!
— Abby
In this issue:
💪 Speaking of bad-a** women…
🎨 Late to the party
🚨🚨 Good news/bad news (Dinner Club news!!)
🦐 Moby Rick’s update?
📩 Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe — and join the more than 6,000 of your neighbors who never miss a thing.
💪 KNOW THY NEIGHBOR
Janine Markham: Consider yourself noticed
Photos by: Lizz Spano
‘Tis the seasons: As we finish up track season, Panza’s bartender Janine Markham looks forward to fall — and beyond. “Our busiest season at the bar is actually the holiday season,” she says. “Our Christmas decorations are incredible — Michael Panza goes all out. It is very fun.”
I remember the exact moment that Janine Markham had me. I had chopped six inches off my hair — which felt like the weight of the world, gone — that morning, and not one person had noticed when I rolled up to Panza’s for happy hour. “Hey, did you do something different with your hair?” she asked me.
In a world of casual “I’m not good with names,” that innate attention to detail is something you either have or you don’t. And seven years ago, Tony Panza recognized that she had it.
“I didn't have a ton of experience in the restaurant scene, but they took a chance on me,” Markham says. “It was a very scary time in my life — I was a single mom who hadn’t worked in seven years — and they saw something, picked me up, and I've been with them ever since.”
Turns out, noticing people was practically in the job description. Markham remembers the ad — Panza’s was in the process of moving to its current location on South Broadway — specifically calling for someone who could be friendly and “remember guests as if they were family.”
Family style: “I love the people I work with; my coworker Sean is one of my best friends,” Markham says. “A lot of us have been here for four, five, six, seven years — so it's definitely a family in itself. It's been really awesome to develop that with them.”
Today, she knows the regulars, their families, their kids, their pets. In return, their faces light up when she makes the rounds — and everyone knows she makes a mean espresso martini (pro tip: they have decaf).
And with summer season — when she’s often “buried, seven tickets deep” in the service bar — coming to a close, the exciting rush is making way for her favorite time of year.
“The off season is when we get to interact with our regulars and spend more time with them versus just swinging drinks during track season,” she says. “Establishing a rapport and spending time with people — that’s what I love.”
🎨 ART CORNER, PUBLIC ART EDITION
Park your art?
Attention artists: Now’s the time to enter your submissions for the upcoming Garage Gallery. (This write-up was scheduled for Monday, so if this is your first time hearing about it, you’ve lost two days because of my ill-timed germs — get to it!)
Up to 14 local artists will be selected to help beautify the Putnam Parking Garage (across from Ben & Jerry’s) via original works. (I can’t wait! And I’m not alone…) Steve Rosenblum, Chair of the Saratoga Springs Art Commission, has been thrilled by all the “buzz being generated for the Garage Gallery” and is excited by the “great response” they’ve already seen since applications opened up on Tuesday.
The Garage Gallery is a public art initiative from the City in partnership with the Art Commission. For more info — including the online application — visit saratogaspringsny.gov.
Big wall energy
Loving all of this interest in public art in Saratoga!
Saratoga Springs-area artist Juliana Haliti, known professionally as Monarch, will begin work Sept. 16 on a new 16-by-19-foot mural on the Living Resources building at 70 Beekman St. The piece is expected to be finished by Sept. 27.
The mural is one of seven being facilitated by Saratoga Arts this year through Cultivating Havens for the Arts through Regional Murals (CHARM), a statewide public-art initiative administered by the New York State Council on the Arts. Beekman could eventually get even more Monarch: Haliti submitted three designs to the city’s Design Review Board, and all three were approved. She chose the 70 Beekman design for this project, leaving two others ready to pursue if future funding comes through.
🀄 MAHJONG CORNER
Our first three mahjong classes are in the books! Click below to see just a few photos — and click “follow” on our Instagram while you’re at it. I had planned to announce the next round of classes this week, but sickness called … but I will catch up the second we’re all back from a much-needed Labor Day Weekend.
👉Add your name to the waitlist for first dibs!
🚨🚨 Last call for September 9 Dinner Club!!
The good news? 54 of your neighbors who can’t wait to meet you have already signed up!
The bad news? The cut-off is ON LABOR DAY — when I know we won’t be thinking about signing up for Dinner Club.
So don’t delay — sign up right now so you don’t forget!
👉 The Dispatch Dinner Club has generated more than $18,800 in revenue for downtown Saratoga Springs restaurants and bars — join us Sept. 9 as we push way over the $20k milestone in September!
📸 Seen in Saratoga will be on hand to capture all the special moments!
🥃 The Bourbon Room — as seen in the recent Whiskey Advocate — is hosting the after-party! (Yes, they have a full bar.)
🙌 HUGE thanks to Helen Simpson of Keller Williams, our September sponsor! Top luxury agent and Fast Agent Award Winner
📰 IN BRIEF
At long last! VIVA Empanadas is soft-opening this weekend in Congress Plaza. I’ve been waiting all summer for this! (And according to some users on What’s Going on Saratoga, you can try these tasty handheld treats right now…)
Who can resist this TikTok video — taken in downtown Albany — of all of the Gilded Age actors walking past Stacks Espresso Bar in full costume?
Infamous celeb gossip site Deuxmoi dishes more on its Summer House sightings at the track in its new podcast ep. (Shhh — I heard from a great source that the cast got some serious betting tips before heading to the track from a notorious handicapper.)
Flock cameras and “privacy concerns” took center stage at the last City Council Meeting, reports Saratoga Civic Pulse.
🦐 Is Moby Rick’s Returning to Solid Ground?
Moby Rick’s Seafood’s journey through the Capital Region has arguably been as fraught with drama as the 1851 Herman Melville whaling drama for which it was named. Like Captain Ahab, third-generation fisherman Captain Rick Lofstad Jr.’s fish tale through the choppy waters of retail has been filled with unexpected challenges.
Captain Rick enjoyed eight successful years on Lake Avenue before the building was demolished, prompting a 2021 move to a less-trafficked spot in Congress Plaza. A simultaneous expansion into a larger Mechanicville market and restaurant eventually closed, followed by Congress Plaza in 2025. But Captain Rick never disappeared: Through Pura Vida Fisheries, he continues selling ultra-fresh fish — much of it locally sourced — at farmers markets across the region.
And yet, the siren song of retail may be luring him back to a more permanent locale…
What’s Going on Saratoga recently posted (grammatical and capitalization choices preserved): “Did I see a sign for Moby Ricks out lake avenue at the red barn”?
The responses were fast and furious:
“I saw it today too”
“Hopefully its better than their location in Mechanicville bcuz the Hudson River had better options” *ouch
“Rich said he’d find a place when his lease ended last December” *intriguing
Watch this space for the next iteration of the fish tales (hoping for the best — I always loved his halibut cheeks).
