Oh, man.
Sometimes I miss the days of sending a Word doc file to an editor and seeing it in print a few months later … while your favorite struggling middle-aged entrepreneur 🙋♀️ works out some tech issues (big changes coming soon!), I called in some reinforcements.
— Abby
In this issue:
SPAC Jazz fest pics by NUA Photography Co. and recap by Kathleen Willcox
Saratogians say ‘bye’ to Aqueduct
A collab made in creative heaven by Lauren Behan
Fashion highlights, breakout event — and jazz-worthy silliness
Photos by NUA Photography Co.
Photo by NUA Photography Co.
Even the Uber drivers shuttling jazz cats across town were snapping to the beat all weekend. That was the 2026 Saratoga Jazz Festival: a swing in the air that caught performers, gatekeepers and fans alike. And the weather played along, both days — almost comical Upstate New York festival perfection: blue skies, sunshine, warm but not sizzling.
Photos by NUA Photography Co.
Festival-goers showed up puckishly dressed: a white paper parasol here, a funky African A-line dress there, and fedoras everywhere — worn with varying, possibly ironic, degrees of seriousness. The vibe was mellow but not above heckling; anyone ducking out before the headliners had their judgment loudly questioned.
Snacks and craft bevies rolled in by cooler and wagon — PB Oreos, every THC seltzer and IPA on offer, a startling spread of local veggies with scratch-made hummus. And, everywhere, smiles.
Photo by NUA Photography Co.
This year’s headliners were the Godmother of Soul Patti LaBelle and the New Orleans rock collective The Revivalists, but overall, the lineup blended genres and dished out a mix of sounds from blues maestro Christone “Kingfish” Ingram to Afro-Cuban funk star Cimafunk. The Cimafunk performance was arguably the breakout event of the festival, with audience members joining the party onstage, improvising, collaborating, and throwing in their now unexpected beats.
Photos by NUA Photography Co.
“Let’s protest the broccoli bowl,” one attendee remarked, perhaps ironically. “Why are they throwing innocent broccoli and cauliflower heads at plastic pins? It doesn’t feel sustainable. I’ll grab the broccoli and pretend I’m going to throw it at the pins.”
“And then I’ll run up, grab it, and eat it,” said his companion.
Absurd. And it never panned out. But it felt like jazz.
🏇 AQUEDUCT GOODBYE
Saratoga’s legendary Tom Durkin returned to the announcer’s booth to call Race 2 on Aqueduct’s last day. (The typo caught by my fave track journalist, Spa Infield Goose, adds to the charm.)
“They asked me which race I wanted to call and I said just give me the one with the shortest field. You still get a little nervous, I gotta tell you. It's still not stress free."
Tom Durkin to DRF’s David Grening
"Truly Aqueduct is a place that changed my life, so I will be looking back with extreme fondness on The Big A."
Acacia Clement via NYRA
📰 IN BRIEF
Ahead of her trip to Saratoga for New York City Ballet’s summer residency, ballerina Tiler Peck analyzes ballet core with Elle magazine.
Golden Tempo will skip the Jim Dandy, reports Thoroughbred Daily News.
Spectactors collected Aqueduct dirt as souvenirs posted many fans over the weekend.
Five star jockeys will be absent as the Saratoga summer meet kicks off due to suspensions, says Daily Racing Form.
Last season she was the football kicker making history on the road to state. Now meet her buzz-worthy bags that have landed on Broadway.
By Lauren Behan
SARATOGA SPRINGS, N.Y. — You may know Olivia Mancini as the kicker on the Saratoga Springs High School football team all the way to the state championship. This fall, she heads to the Savannah College of Art and Design to study industrial design — and she’s already running her own fashion brand on her home turf.
The 18-year-old is the founder of Sewn by Liv, a handmade accessory line now stocked at downtown shop Petal + Hive. Every piece is made from second-hand and reclaimed fabrics — vintage quilts, sheets, and textiles sourced from fellow sewists and from Sew Something Creative in Ballston Spa — so the bags come out colorful, practical, and often one-of-a-kind.
Mancini has sewn most of her life, largely self-taught and picking up techniques from her grandmothers.
“I started by tailoring my own clothes and mending things to make them last longer,” she says. “About a year ago, I realized I could make many of the things I would normally buy myself, so I started making shoulder bags, purses and makeup bags. Friends and family became interested, and that’s how Sewn by Liv began.”
Petal + Hive owner Jillian Ehrenberg calls it exactly the kind of self-taught local hustle she likes to stock.
Sewn by Liv is available now at Petal + Hive, 510 Broadway.
This story about the Petal + Hive/Sewn by Liv collab is together with…