The 2017 Holiday Match charity program conducted annually by Stewart’s Shops raised $1.89 million for local children’s organizations.

Company officials said the fund drive set a record for the fourth consecutive season.

From Thanksgiving Day through Christmas Day, Stewart’s customers donated $945,000 to the program, which is an increase of approximately $19,000 over last season. Each individual donation is matched penny-for-penny by Stewart’s Shops.

There are no administrative costs and 100 percent of the funds benefit local, nonprofit children’s organizations.

“This program is proof that your small change can really add up and make a big impact on local kids,” said Stewart’s Shops President Gary Dake. “Teaming up with our customers to support our communities is just another reason why we say we are closer to you.”

By Jill Nagy

A group of financial planners, formerly under the MassMutual banner, is now the team at Halliday Financial Services.

In January, the team left as a group and joined Halliday, a small independent broker dealer in business since 1982. About 80 percent of their clients moved with them, according to Jeffrey J. Jones, senior vice president and financial advisor.

The team has had several identities in recent years. They were originally a MetLife outpost. In July 2016, MetLife sold the team to Massachusetts Mutual.

“That was not a good fit,” Jones said, largely because they were “captive agents,” limited in the financial products they could sell to their clients.

After a landmark year that expanded the Museum’s focus to include modern and contemporary art, the Hyde Collection announced its 2018 exhibition schedule.

The lineup offers contrasts to historic Hyde House and the selection of modern art exhibited in Feibes & Schmitt Gallery, including the sinuous lines of art nouveau, graphic prints from an Adirondack artist, the works of female Impressionists, the annual High School Juried Show, and a much-anticipated showing of the Nuremberg Chronicle from the permanent collection.

The exhibits include:

• Alphonse Mucha: Master of Art Nouvea in the Wood and Whitney-Renz galleries, Jan. 14 to March 18.

The exhibition examines the pivotal role of Alphonse Mucha (1860-1939) in shaping the aesthetics of French art nouveau at the turn of the 20th century. The artist’s posters and graphic style popularized this international movement. Later in his career, the Czech nationalist depicted the history of the Czech lands and people.

Master of Art Nouveau spans his career, including a panel from his Slav Epic series, and bank notes from his homeland. Mucha’s exploitation of the new medium of the advertising poster helped shape the aesthetics of French art at the turn of the twentieth century and formed the cornerstone of the international Art Nouveau movement.

By Maureen Werther

Since moving to the area full-time from New Jersey, Greg Gross, owner of the Whitehall Athletic Club and Whitehall Field Club, has invested more than $2 million to date in the purchase and renovations of the historic Whitehall Armory and the former golf course located 1.5 miles from the club.

In 2009, Gross bought and incorporated the local golf facility, renaming it the Whitehall Field Club. Gross then bought the historic armory from New York state at auction in 2011 and re-opened it as the Whitehall Athletic Club in January 2012.

“We were operational right away,” said Gross, adding that the restorations and updating took 14 months to complete.

“We re-plastered, re-painted, and installed new hardwood flooring,” said Gross.

By Jill Nagy

A proposed economic development plan for Lake George envisions a year-round community with more commercial and residential development, a convention center, and a commerce park.

According to Dan Barusch, director of planning and zoning for the Town of Lake George, the plan gives an economic focus to the comprehensive plan adopted in 2015

“There is a lot of good stuff in that [2015] plan, but it has no economic focus,” he said. The comprehensive plan includes a history and background of the region and some general recommendations, he said.

He said it pinpoints areas ripe for development and makes specific recommendations for making some of those areas more attractive to developers.

For example, the plan suggests two possible sites for a commerce park: Route 9 near Northway Exit 21, going north toward Canada Creek; and a 32-acre site along Route 9N, near the southern Northway exit to Lake George, formerly a motel and vacant lot.

The Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce  in November honored two businesses and its office manager with STAR awards.

Each year the chamber honors organizations or individuals that help grow the tourism economy. STAR stands for Supporting Tourism Around the Region. The awards were presented at the 65th anniversary Sapphire Gala at the Sagamore Resort.

State Sen. Elizabeth Little was the keynote speaker at the gala. She has worked tirelessly to improve the tourism economy in the region. Michael Consuelo, who retired as Chamber executive director in September, was also honored at the gala.  Little presented him with Senate proclamation that commemorated his work on tourism in the region during his career.

The Sagamore Resort was one of the STAR honorees. It was given an award for its Ice Bar & Lounge, which pioneered the ice bar trend in the region that has helped grow the winter economy.

The Sagamore Ice Bar & Lounge transforms 18,000 pounds of ice into an outdoor lounge that brings thousands to the area in January, Chamber officials said. It will return for the last two weekends of January. The Sagamore was the first to open an ice bar, and many other resorts and restaurants followed suit, spurring a new winter tourism trend. Sagamore general manager Tom Guay accepted the award.

by Susan E. Campbell

A new $500,000 funding source has been established to help fill a niche for small businesses in Warren and Essex counties.

“We are open for business,” saidEd Bartholomew, president of the EDC Warren County, which oversees the fund. “The fund launched in late November and we are already in discussions with some businesses.”

Half of the loan funds comer from New York Empire State Development Corp., with a match from four area banks: Glens Falls National Bank, Adirondack Trust Co., NBT Bank and Ballston Spa National Bank, he said.

EDC Warren County is working in conjunction with the Lake Champlain-Lake George Regional Planning Board to make loans available to a broader geographic base.

Bartholomew said the agencies expect to take applications from smaller businesses seeking $25,000 to $50,000 per loan for purposes such as working capital, buying equipment, acquisition of land or buildings, software upgrades and office technology.