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From the editor
Happy sunny weekend.
If the forecast holds true, Mother Nature is gifting Saratoga two sunny weekends in a row — so get out there for Wing Off today, and Fall Fest next Saturday. And if you can play hooky sometime this week, DO IT. (But don’t tell anyone I sent you!)
After all, this winter is shaping up to be a doozy.
— Abby
In this issue:
🀄 Are you ready?
🛍️ End of an era
🎃 Halloween by age group
🥂 Little Mermaid-worthy sips
📬 He said, she said
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🀄 Mahjong corner
Rack ‘n’ roll! Are you ready to join in the fun? ——> at a NEW venue, McGregor Links Country Club.
👉 Open Play coming soon! For experienced players and Guided Play grads who know the rules and can keep the game moving.
Beginner bootcamp: Tomorrow! LAST SEAT
Beginner-level Guided Play (with instruction): Tuesday, Oct. 20, 3 seats left
🛍️ BROADWAY
Michele Riggi leads chorus of sweet goodbyes to Pink Paddock
One of Broadway’s fashion staples, Pink Paddock (358 Broadway), has announced its upcoming closure (at the end of the year) after more than 21 years in the biz. “There will be plenty of time to celebrate and reminisce,” the beloved boutique wrote on social media, adding that owner Kim Burton will next be in on Wednesday, Thursday and during Fall Fest on Oct. 24. The track season go-to promised the creation of a customer photo/story wall and implored customers to use up all of their gift cards and credits.
“Oh Kim.. You will be truly missed!!” Michele Riggi commented. “Thank you for bringing all of us so many beautiful memories!!” Added the account for Saratoga Candy Co. across the street, “You will be missed, my friend. I will be sad to look over and not see you.” For Mary Catherine, the store marked every Lilly rite of passage: scoring her Junior League Murfee scarf, buying her daughter’s first Lilly dress, and her “summer tradition of getting that perfect picture in front of the Lilly ballet shoe.”
🎃 HEADS UP
Halloween fun: As spooky as you want it to be
Stock pumpkin image by Pexels
Both the Ghosts of Saratoga Trolley Tour and the Canfield Casino’s ghost tours are already sold out — luckily, Saratoga Springs is full of creepy, spooky and cute ways to celebrate, perfect for pint-sized goblins and full-grown ghouls alike.
For families with young kids
Hit Saratoga Springs’ Fall Fest on October 24, from noon to 3 p.m. Come all dressed up with a big ol’ bag for trick-or-treating from (very generous!) local shops, a pumpkin scavenger hunt, live tunes and the (in)famous Pumpkin Roll down Caroline Street. Free! Fun!
Vincek Farm (89 Smith Bridge Road) has been getting rave reviews for its stunning 2026 pumpkin crop, with Susi Ritzenberg calling the gourds of all colors “the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.” Come for the pumpkins of all colors, stay for the baby goats, turkeys and other animals.
For families with kids of all ages (plus adults-only time)
Get ghostly at Artisanal Brew Works’ Spooky Trail (617 Maple Avenue). The wooded trail (bring a flashlight!) at the brewery is transformed with glowing jack o’ lanterns, freaky-deaky scenes, lights, sounds and frightful action among the trees. The trail is very much undead Tuesday through Sundays through Halloween — 5:30-6:30 p.m. the trail is tamer for scaredy-cats (and families), with a spookier nighttime experience, 6:30 p.m. through close. Free and somewhat scary!
Adultish
For a festive sweet (and caffeinated) treat, head straight to Walt Cafe at Whitman Brewing (20 Lake Avenue). October specials include the Jersey Devil (blackberry and vanilla latte), Mothman (caramel apple butter chai latte), Montauk Monster (shortbread and maple latte), and Bigfoot (toffee and cinnamon cappuccino).
Adults only
Not only do seasonal cocktails at The Misfit (1 Caroline Street) include a Pumpkin’ Sour (“like a Pumpkin Creamsicle but better) and a Rita’s Apple Pie finished with a salted caramel cinnamon sugar rim, but the hotspot went all out with its Halloween décor. Think “bloody” handprints on the banquettes and a creepy carnival vibe.
🥂 Under the sea
Hugo Drappier, of the storied Champagne Drappier house, led a stellar, months-sold-out wine dinner at Standard Fare Thursday night, with bubbly lovers packing the place to the gills. (The host stand had to be removed to make room for two extra tables.)
Afterward, about 10 VIP guests were treated to a Little Mermaid-worthy nightcap: Immersion, a Champagne aged for 646 days in the Bay of Lannion off the coast of Brittany.
Not sold in the U.S., the sea-aged bubbly is said to be more mineral-driven thanks to its low-oxygen underwater aging, and it earned rave reviews from the late-night champagnophile crowd.
Under pressure: Yes, those are barnacles on the bottle.
📌 ICYMI…
📬 MAILBOX
Earlier this week, the Dispatch launched “Good Question,” a new column where readers can write in about something hyperlocal that they’d like the answer to. Our first reader-generated assignment: “What happened to those colorful boxes that used to collect donations Downtown?”
After the story ran, Belinda Colón wrote in. She and her husband helped organize the call for art for the original boxes with Joel Reed, then executive director of Saratoga Arts. Our story reported Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll’s account that the boxes had been vandalized and removed. Colón remembers the reason for their removal differently.
Here’s what she told us:
“Just to clarify, the donation boxes were not vandalized. Maybe one of them … The QR code is great but it covers most of the artist’s art. The donation boxes were removed because nobody wanted to be responsible for removing the funds on a scheduled basis. NOT because they were being vandalized.
Sadly, this project was never really recognized for what it was, a way to support our neediest community members.”
🍽️ DISH
If you’re full and needing an afternoon break from today’s Wing Off, the Bourbon Room (8 Caroline Street) is finishing up its Elijah Craig Old Fashioned Week (through tomorrow) with three cozy season sips to get you in the fall mood. On the menu: Pumpkin Spice Old Fashioned, Maple Old Fashioned and Vanilla Slice (“all the nostalgia of an orange creamsicle, with a grown-up attitude”).
The post was short on details, but Noah’s Italian (43 Phila Street) took to Instagram yesterday to announce its new fall menu.
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