Saratoga Springs, NY: A European-Style City in a Uniquely American Setting
George Washington not only slept here, he brought his friends along and partied. “Here” is Saratoga Springs, New York, famous for its mineral waters, horse racing and fashionable culture. Since just after the Revolutionary War, the rich and powerful in American society have been flocking to the Saratoga region. Today, the wealthier classes still gather at the city’s wide variety of social spots, but more frequently they rub elbows with the “average Joe.” Why the sudden appeal to the average tourist? Before the 1950’s, Saratoga was popular as a gambling mecca. Casinos and horse racing went hand-in-glove with taking the famous mineral baths and dining in fine restaurants. It was a place to see and be seen. Unfortunately, post-WWII Saratoga began to run rife with scandal and corruption. The casinos closed their doors for good. The mineral baths began to decline, along with much of the downtown area. Today, thanks to solid city planning, that has all changed--drastically. The city is now one of the jewels of New York’s Capital District/Adirondack region. The mineral baths are still popular, and the races--both thoroughbred and harness--are drawing crowds in every season. However, new and trendy attractions are continually being added with each passing year. And with these extra incentives, Saratoga has once again become a hotspot for tourists. It now offers a wide variety of enticements, with the bonus of having all the flavor of a European resort--but not necessarily with the accompanying expenses. Downtown Saratoga is a prime example of urban revitalization. Strollers can walk down the combination of modern and old fashioned streets, and window shop at both upscale merchants and unique local boutiques. Afterward, tourists can dine casually at a sidewalk café, while enjoying the sounds of a street entertainer, or visit a comedy club or dinner/movie theater. Visitors can take a carriage ride around town. They can also check out the lovely Victorian-style Congress Park, with its restored antique carousel, formal gardens and fully restored Canfield Casino museum. Even the local library is popular with tourists, offering a gourmet coffee bar and special lecture programs year-round. Art abounds in Saratoga: from sidewalk art, to galleries and museums, to art shows. Antique lovers will find a number of dealers in and around the city, as well as flea markets and town-wide garage sales. Music is a special attraction for the area. Besides the Saratoga Performing Arts Center (SPAC)--which hosts everything from famous rock bands to classical music--the city’s many bars, clubs and coffee houses offer every type of music imaginable, nearly seven days a week, 365 days a year. Excellent live stage productions can be seen at the Little Theater, located in the historic bath complex in the Spa State Park, and local musical theater is periodically available at nearby Corinth Theater Guild, in this quaint northern Saratoga County village. Dance has a permanent home in the city, thanks to the National Museum of Dance and local dance companies. There are other museums in Saratoga: the National Museum of (thoroughbred) Racing, the Saratoga Harness Hall of Fame, the children’s museum, auto museum, petrified forest, and a military museum. Outside the city, in the town of Saratoga (near Schuylerville) is the Saratoga Battlefield National Park. After all the activity, visitors can wind down at a local spa or in the mineral baths or pause for a drink from one of the public mineral springs located within the city. If it’s food you crave, you can find a huge variety of tastes to suit your palate here. From haute cuisine, vegetarian, seafood and international flavors, to American BBQ, Southern and Southwestern cooking, you can find something for everyone--even buffets, chain restaurants, local diners and junk food. But cultural and dining pursuits are not the only things drawing tourists to Saratoga Springs. Saratoga has become a horse fan’s paradise. In 2004, the local night harness racing track, Saratoga Raceway, was re-vamped into a “racino”--a combination Video lottery casino (slots), racetrack and off-track betting parlor. Re-named Saratoga Gaming and Raceway, the beautiful new facility has thousands of slot machines, as well as an upstairs video wagering parlor open 5 days a week, and nightly live harness racing four days a week. Saratoga Gaming and Raceway also offers an affordable high quality buffet as well as a slightly pricey food court. Besides the slot machines, SGR gives regular players a chance to win fabulous prizes--thousands in cash, a trip to an Irish castle with spending money, a Jeep Commander, a Cadillac and other wonderful incentives. The nightly harness racing--held Wednesday through Saturday nights--is exciting and fast-paced, with lively calls by the raceway’s new young and trendy announcer, Mike Sardella, and wire-to-wire action by top drivers and horses. A grand hotel is planned on the site for sometime in the future. The thoroughbred track, known locally as “the August place to be,” Saratoga Race Course is open from late July until the end of August. Hosting the best in thoroughbred racing for over 150 years, it has been the number one attraction for the area in all that time. Although soon to be under new ownership, the public has been reassured that the track will retain its age-old lovely class and character. Saratoga Race Course is still the high point of the season for the society set--especially the Travers Stakes (which is broadcast live on national TV) and the Whitney Handicap--two of America’s premier summer racing events. Besides racing, there are other equine events to draw horse lovers to Saratoga. Other equine attractions that draw the horse lover to Saratoga include world-class polo in the summer months, a huge dressage and carriage show (to benefit a local charity) every Memorial Day weekend, a carriage parade during the august racing season, barrel racing events and the St. Clements horse show in the spring--which brings in many top show jumpers to the area, and other local shows throughout the year. There’s even rodeos in nearby Ballston Spa and Lake Luzerne. The Saratoga County Fair, held in Ballston Spa every July, has horse breeds of many kinds on display. But that’s not all the fun for the horse aficionado. Art galleries, tack shops and western stores, as well as gift shops, display a wide variety of clothing, artwork and gifts for you to purchase. You can even go for a ride at one of the local stables outside the city, in Middle Grove, Ballston Spa or Lake Luzerne. If horses aren’t your thing, don’t worry: other activities are available in the form of golf, bowling, tennis, cycling, walking/hiking, swimming, boating, canoeing, rowing, fishing, cross-country skiing, snowshoeing and ice skating. No matter what your pleasure, chances are you can always find something going on, either in the city or nearby. If you can’t get to Europe this season, why not try the Saratoga area? Accommodations in Saratoga can be tight and quite expensive during the August racing season, so be warned and make reservations very early. However, because of its location (halfway between the capital city of Albany and the Adirondack resort area of Lake George), there are literally thousands of places to stay within a fifty mile radius. Lodgings range from upscale hotels and resorts, to most popular chain hotels, smaller local motels, bed and breakfasts, rooming houses, campgrounds and cabin rentals and even a few dude ranches in the Adirondacks. If you’re really flush, you may even find a whole house to rent. The area is easily accessible from New York City or Montreal--via Interstate 87 and the Albany International Airport, and also has bus, train and cab service readily available, as well as car rentals. Miss Golash lives in the Adirondacks with her two cats and works in Saratoga Springs. She's a graduate of Adirondack Community College, and also attended Castleton State College in Vermont. |
Other Horse Racing Betting Articles
Gambling in USA If there’s one country which could give the fullest life to gambling it has to be the United States of America. They say gambling flourishes there. The industry has crossed the figure table and has reached among the top spots. The multifold growth of gambling is probably because of the fun loving attitude of the people and a decent amount of inc ...A Plus B Equals C: A Poker Player's Worth is Judged by His Bottom Line Some poker strategies will surprise you with their simplicity. This is one of them. Write down your results, every single time you play.In common with all churches, we believe in donations. Bad players will pay your mortgage for you every month, and enjoy themselves as they lose their money to you.But how much? You must make detail ...Pinstripe your Car - Basic Customization Prior to the invention of the car, pin striping was being used as ornamental decoration on horse drawn buggies, coaches and carriages.However, the use of pinstripes to customize cars began to appear on them during the middle of the 1950’s. Even though it seems that pin striping had in fact been appearing on cars prior to this time and th ...Manchester United March On After A Convincing Victory Over Wigan Man Utd showed their championship winning composure to take a vital three points against Wigan this weekend. The Reds went down to an early free-kick scored by the emerging Leighton Baines but fought back valiantly to ensure that the pressure was maintained on last years champions Chelsea. The main talking point for the game was the performance ...Golden Rules of Horse Racing Betting Forget old wives' tales, home-spun wisdom and the advice of cabbies, says Tony Paley. If you really want to know how to punt on horses, you should engrave these 37 Commandments on tablets of stone and carry them with you wherever you go. Not literally, of course - that would be impractical.Rules. Mavericks and misfits might not like to ad ...Casinos, Gambling and Sports Betting in New Zealand The New Zealand TAB initiated the world's first Government-run totalisator betting service in 1951. The TAB (totalisation agency board) is run by the New Zealand Racing board and controls all of New Zealand’s horse, greyhound and sports gambling. They have branches set up all over New Zealand as well as at all race meets. In 1996 it added fixed ...Online Sports Casinos Online Sports Casinos, popularly known as online sportsbooks, are increasingly becoming popular with gamblers who want to place their bets on different sports. The bets can be placed on Soccer, Baseball, Basketball, Boxing, Motor sports, Golf, Ice hockey, Horse Racing, Rugby, Skiing, Tennis, Snooker, Cricket and other sports. The minimum and the ...Gambling And The 20th Century Rulers Part 1 The history of the 20th century is inseparably connected with wars, revolutions, forcible change of governments and other political cataclysms in which the leading role was often played by bright, extraordinary personalities – leaders, chiefs. Impetuous was also the history of legislative regulation of gambling games and bets. They were allowed, ...Public Relations for Horse Racetracks Sports betting is an issue, which some residents near racetracks feel brings in a bad element. With alcohol sales also some say it is just asking for problems and that it brings in crime. However, on the flip side it brings in money and folks from other areas to spend money on food, services and products. Horse Racetracks also bring in revenues ...Betting Horse Racing So you don’t live anywhere near a racetrack. No problem! Today, betting horse racing online at tracks around the world has never been easier. The sites we’ll talk about are well-established, legal, secure, and can provide much of the same experience you would get if you were at the track…without leaving home!The basics of betting horse ra ...Online Casino - General Legal Issues The increasing growth of online gambling industry surpasses all the expectations when compared with land-based casinos and betting places. From the times when Internet Casinos, Inc., the first virtual online casino started operations back in 1995 until nowadays, not only the effects of online wagering on the established land-based industry came ...How to Win at Poker - Tips for the Beginner Poker is one of the few games where a player is judged a winner based on how much money they have won, not by the number of hands that they have won. While Poker is very much a game of acquired skills and not luck, this doesn’t mean that a beginner can’t also be a winner. This is what makes poker such a popular card game.As a beginning ...Gambling Myths 101 Myths and rumors come with every gambling game. However undesirable, they can be a good source of recreation. The major cause of these beliefs and tales is the uncertainty related with gambling.Slot machines were first played in the late nineteenth century. Since then the machines have changed with more reels and increased number columns ...Churchill Downs and Historic Horse Racing The history of Equestrian Sports in America goes back generations and there is no greater horse racing event then the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, KY. It is horse racing at its finest. The annual running of the Kentucky Derby has a long history of the greatest horse race in human history.The buildings still look like s ...Guide to Betting Horse Racing Anyone who says horse racing isn't exciting hasn't been to a good racetrack yet. Once you understand the terms and processes in racing horses, betting becomes an intoxicating event. While horse racing has been called the sports of kings, it doesn't take a pile of gold to play and win good money at it. Today, I am going to run over the basic term ...Don't Panic Just Yet Met Fans The last few days have featured some of the Mets worst baseball of the season. With Pedro likely headed to the DL for the 2nd time this season, joining Cliff Floyd, the Mets have dropped their first two games at Philadelphia by a combined score of 24-4. Pedro only lasted one inning before being removed with an injured calf and El Duque set a Met ...Halftime Wagering Part 2 Examples of pre-game research are to see how the teams play in the first half compared to the second half. Look at their stats and points scored for each half and make charts for when they are behind and in front at halftime. Some coaches play close to the vest during the 1st half and then come out and throw every play at the opposition in the s ...Dark Clouds over Nascar Freezing temperatures and dark, cloudy skies that threatened to dump the valley's first snowfall of the winter hovered over Las Vegas Motor Speedway Friday night as NASCAR veteran Greg Biffle grabbed the pole for Sunday's UAW DaimlerChrysler 400.He will be joined in the 1 1/2-mile oval's front row by 2005 Nextel Cup winner Tony Stewart an ...Soccer Betting - An Introduction Lawmakers have been thus penned down to make tough new measures to crack down on corruption in sports related betting. Bets are placed on individual player’s performances, the winning team, scores in the game, etc.Technology aids availableToday you can bet on the Internet, at casinos, through national lottery and also on cell phone ...How To Place A Bet Online Placing a bet for the first time online can be a little scary. Each gambling web site is set up a little different. Most will ask a person to register before placing a bet on any sports or playing in any of the card games. Registration is usually free and is used to maintain accurate records of who is gambling online and how many times a day or ...Preview Of August's UK Horse Racing If Wimbledon in June means strawberries and cream, then racing in August can only signify Goodwood and York, two flagship festival meetings that dominate the month’s action beginning with five exciting days on the Sussex slopes.As popular as ever, Glorious Goodwood offers some top-class action and is often a meeting that puts profits in p ...Gambling Heroes Gambling is one amongst the most eminent sources of entertainment today. It is also the cause of livelihood for many people. Gambling is all about wagering money usually to acquire more wealth or even things of material significance. Nowadays the enticement of gambling is at a surge. This is why apart from ordinary people it is commonplace to se ...Slot Machines - Does Location Make a Difference? Books have been written on this subject and the debates and arguments about where the "hot" machines are placed in a casino are still raging – 60 years after slots were first installed in casinos.The classic rule is that the best slots were placed just inside the door of the casino, so that people walking by would see jackpot winners a ...
|
