Month: April 2024

By Susan Elise Campbell

The indoor golf experience that gained momentum during the pandemic continues to delight residents from all around the region.  Whether it’s a family out for a few hours of fun, a couple on a date, or serious golfers working to improve their handicap, audiences are being attracted to golf simulators in greater numbers as the underlying technology evolves.

Troy Miller has opened five new facilities called The Bunker since Covid temporarily closed the doors of many recreation facilities. The latest is at 307 Broadway in Saratoga Springs.

“I read an article recently that golf, for the first time, has more non-green golf interest than the traditional golf course,” said Miller. “People come to have fun and they also come to train and improve their game.”

Popularity has much to do with strides in graphics and high definition monitors that make the  experience more realistic. But as the individual swings and makes contact with the ball, the simulator technology is collecting dozens of data metrics, Miller said.

By Susan Elise Campbell

Arnoff Moving & Storage achieves another milestone this spring with its 100-year anniversary as a family corporation. What was started in 1924 by generations one and two with Abraham Arnoff and his son Louis is now under the management of generations three, four and five.

How future generations will impact the growth of the company when they come on board, time will tell, if they first follow one family rule.

“My grandmother Phyllis had the idea, I was told, that any family member has the opportunity to join the business but must have worked for at least a year at another company,” said Dan Arnoff, chief relationship manager and company spokesperson who oversees sales, marketing and human resources. “She is the one who enforced the rule.”

Phyllis Arnoff has passed away, but her husband Richard, generation three, is the firm’s CEO. The president is their son Michael and his wife Lisa is executive vice president and corporate counsel. Their sons Dan and Craig, the latter a CPA and the company’s chief operating officer, are also operating the firm alongside their cousin Nick, vice president of fleet and safety, and uncle Mark, who manages a separate moving company in southern Florida. 

The Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (THA) held its annual meeting and election of officers in South Florida March 19-20. Tina Marie Bond, president of the New York Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association (NYTHA), was elected president of the national organization. She is the first woman to head the THA since its inception in 1994.

“It’s an honor to be elected president of such an esteemed collective,” Bond said. “THA is at the forefront of collaborative decision-making and policy implementation on issues such as racehorse aftercare, equine safety and welfare, and protecting the integrity of our sport. I look forward to leading the organization as it addresses the challenges that horsemen and women face on local, regional, and national levels.”

Chris Block, president of ITHA, and David Richardson, executive director of MTHA, were elected as vice presidents. Michael Musto, executive director of NJTHA, and Bessie Gruwell, executive director of DTHA, will serve as treasurer and secretary, respectively.

Bond, who with her husband Jim own Song Hill Thoroughbreds LLC in Saratoga Springs, follows previous THA presidents Michael Martin, Rick Violette Jr., and Joe Appelbaum.

By Christine Graf      

The owners of Sophia’s of Little Italy, a popular Manhattan restaurant, have opened a sister location at 54 Clifton Country Road in Clifton Park. The restaurant serves a vast array of authentic Italian fare.

According to Stephan Wininger, business manager at Sophia’s of Clifton Park, the eatery’s owners, a  trio of New York City chefs, fell in love with the Clifton Park location. The building has housed numerous restaurants over the years, the most recent being the Painted Lemon, an establishment that closed its doors after less than one year in business.   

“We all love this building, and we are putting our heart and soul into caulking every crack and doing everything within our power to bring it up to our level of expectation. It’s a great building that was never utilized to its potential. We’ve signed a ten-year lease, so we plan on being here for a long time.”

New York City-based Brazilian artist Murah Lemos was hired to paint murals and create reliefs (raised plaster designs) on the restaurant’s walls. 

“We had him here for six weeks. He is really amazing, and he has a lot of high-end clients in New York City and Miami. We’re very lucky to have him,” said Wininger.

As part of the renovation, the kitchen was reconfigured to allow for a better work flow. Kitchen equipment was upgraded, new coolers were installed, and a 3,000-pound pizza oven that was located in one of the dining areas was relocated to the kitchen. 

By Paul Post

Saratoga National Bank & Trust Company has $1.1 billion in assets and works hard to support and improve the financial futures of all its business and personal clients throughout the Capital Region.

When Chairman Raymond F. O’ Conor — he’s been with the bank since its 1988 founding — needs a break from such responsibilities he and hiking partner Joe Murphy head to the mountains for “An Above Average Day.”

That’s the title of a new documentary film scheduled to debut at 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 24 on WMHT-PBS in conjunction with Earth Week.

“If you told me a few years ago that a pair of superb filmmakers, Katera and Aviral Kapoor of the Veda Film Company, would feature my buddy Joe and I in a documentary film I wouldn’t have believed it,” said O’ Conor, a Wilton resident.

O’Conor, 69, and Murphy, 39, a SUNY Albany academic advisor, of Halfmoon, have hiked more than 4,000 miles and climbed more than 400 peaks since a chance meeting — or was it fate? — on an Adirondack Mountain Club group hike in 2009.

They are Adirondack 46ers and Catskill 3500 Club members, having summited every mountain in both summer and winter, and have also achieved the prestigious feat of climbing all 115 mountains in the Northeast with an elevation of 4,000 feet or more.