Editor’s Note: This article was published May 14. Scratch Kitchen announced its new 21 Ridge St. location would open May 18.

By Carol Ann Conover

After two years building a loyal following out of a compact cafe on Warren Street, Scratch Kitchen owner and executive chef Denver Semon is trading her 12-seat dining room for a 70-seat space at 21 Ridge St., putting her squarely in the middle of what she calls a growing restaurant hub in downtown Glens Falls.

The move, approved by the Glens Falls Planning Board earlier this year, marks a significant step for a chef who has spent more than two decades at the stoves of some of the region’s most recognized kitchens, including The Sagamore, the Aviator Restaurant in Queensbury and Flight Wine Bar & Restaurant in Glens Falls, before striking out on her own in the spring of 2024.

“I’ve wanted to open my own place for a long time, but it, you know, financially it wasn’t feasible or, you know, many reasons,” Semon said. “It’s scary to get into the restaurant business. It’s a lot, a lot of overhead and not a lot of rewards sometimes. But I’m just like, if I’m gonna work that hard, I think I’m going to do it for myself.”

The Warren Street location, while beloved, imposed hard limits. With seating for roughly a dozen and a kitchen built for one, Semon couldn’t accommodate the volume her growing customer base demanded.

“I have such a small kitchen. It was really only, only me. So it made it difficult. We couldn’t do the business that we wanted to do,” she said. “So, I knew after two years we were going to have to find something larger, which is an awesome, awesome problem.”

The new Ridge Street location had served as a restaurant for most of its history. Previous tenants include Fiddleheads, Black Watch and most recently Birch Bark Eatery, the vegan restaurant whose owner relocated to Albany, before the space was used as an event venue for about two years. The existing hood and infrastructure meant Semon’s build-out focused on outfitting the kitchen with new commercial equipment and refreshing the dining room and bathrooms, rather than undertaking structural work.

By Ann Donnelly

The Park Theater Foundation’s board of directors recently announced John Snyder as its new executive director, ushering in a new chapter for the downtown arts hub. Snyder, who relocated from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, officially took the reins March 2, bringing more than a decade of nonprofit and arts leadership to the organization.

Snyder comes to upstate New York from the Calumet Theatre, a historic venue in a remote Michigan village of 700 residents. Operating since 1900, the theater relied heavily on community support to attract talent to an area Snyder called “the end of the road.” He hopes to bring a similar community-centric approach to Glens Falls, drawing on a background that includes nearly two decades of performing in bands before he transitioned to nonprofit management.

“I come from Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, a region shaped by resilience and a strong sense of community, where the concepts of quiet determination, grit, and perseverance are a way of life,” Snyder said.

Arriving in Glens Falls, Snyder was immediately struck by the robust local arts scene, noting the impressive presence of the Glens Falls Symphony and the Hyde Collection. He has spent his first few months conducting door-to-door networking, visiting downtown business owners to introduce himself, discuss sponsorships and break through the modern clutter of digital communication.

“It’s hard to ignore somebody when they show up, and they don’t have an appointment, and that’s kind of the way I like to do things,” Snyder said.

By Paul Post

Jake Dorsey goes where the problems are, which, depending on the time of year, can be anything from bats, squirrels and mice to ticks, bees and carpenter ants.

His Hudson Falls-based Eco Haven Pest Control business, founded just over a year ago, already has clients from Kingston to Lake Placid and from western Vermont to the Mohawk Valley.

Eco Haven uses pesticides and chemicals to battle bugs and critters only when absolutely necessary, as opposed to area-wide applications.

“If there’s no target, why are you shooting?” said Dorsey, a 27-year-old entrepreneur.

The goal is to provide permanent solutions instead of repeat annual treatments.

To exclude insects and tiny rodents, for example, Eco Haven installs small metal barriers the same color as a home’s siding to keep them from getting inside.

For bat control, the company allows bats to exit safely and prevents re-entry without trapping them inside. Once out, all access points are sealed, and guano removal is recommended, if present, to prevent health concerns.

He previously worked for other firms in the industry before launching on his own. Dorsey emphasizes eco-friendly solutions because he understands the public’s growing concern about environmental safety.

WSWHE BOCES, working with SUNY Adirondack, has been named a “Champion of Change” by the New York State School Boards Association for its annual Manufacturing and STEAM Day.

The recognition, part of NYSSBA’s Champions of Change program, cites the event as an example of an innovative partnership that connects students to postsecondary options and careers in advanced manufacturing.

“We are honored to receive this recognition for a program that reflects the meaningful opportunities we strive to create for students,” said WSWHE BOCES District Superintendent Turina Parker. “Our partnership with SUNY Adirondack is a powerful example of how collaboration can open doors. Manufacturing and STEAM Day helps students see what’s possible and envision themselves in careers that are critical to our regional economy.”

The Oct. 17 event included a panel of P-TECH graduates who earned Mechatronics degrees from SUNY Adirondack and discussed the transition from school to the workforce. Students also visited regional employers including Adirondack Studios, Creatacor, Fort Miller Group and GlobalFoundries and met with industry professionals and faculty.

By Ann Donnelly

Small business owners often find themselves drowning in daily tasks, from answering repetitive phone calls to managing social media and organizing emails. Christopher Crowd, founder of the Glens Falls-based startup Severus AI, believes artificial intelligence is the key to escaping this cycle of burnout and regaining control.

Severus AI is a project two years in the making, designed to address the specific pain points of entrepreneurs. Using a proprietary platform called Ada, the company creates customized artificial intelligence agents that handle email, social media, incoming calls, website leads and complex workflow automation.

“As a business owner, your job is to scale,” Crowd says, “If you don’t, eventually you’re going to burn out. Rather than getting up in the morning and running to your desk, going through 100 emails and trying to respond to everybody, these tools allow you to get up very calmly and have a cup of coffee. It’s all fun for you.”

For many solopreneurs, hiring a full staff is financially out of reach. Crowd envisions the Severus AI workflow automation tools as acting like a micro-employee. This fractional assistant can read private and business emails, summarize them, manage calendars and send daily reports to staff.

Voice integration takes this concept a step further. Crowd detailed a scenario in which a client can simply speak to their phone during a morning commute to receive an email recap or to command the system to fix a presentation before they arrive at the office.

Late Warren County Judge John Austin left behind a collection of books and documents dating to the 1600s that is now available to the public, county officials said.

Austin, a former county judge, historian and Queensbury town supervisor, died in June 2019 at 84. He spent decades researching genealogy, local history, the Town of Queensbury and Warren County.

The Warren County Historian’s Office and Warren County Clerk’s Office organized the materials into a research library housed in the Warren County Clerk’s Office record room.

Before he died, Austin wanted the collection to be available for public use.

“John was an amazing man, and his hope before he passed was that we could find a way to make this available for the public to use,” said Warren County Historian Dr. Stan Cianfarano.

Retired Warren County Clerk Pam Vogel spent hundreds of hours organizing the material so the public could use it, Cianfarano said. Vogel died in October 2025 and left a list of remaining tasks.

Austin also left money in his will to Warren County to preserve and display the collection, officials said.

The shelves include hundreds of books, folders and other materials. Much of the collection pertains to Queensbury residents, along with documents and books related to Irish lineage, information about local immigration from Ireland, and material from the Mayflower Society.

Members of the Warren County Board of Supervisors were shown the collection April 17.