Wednesday, October 29, 2025

Ed Deso

‘End of an era’: Ballard family of Fort Ann served 94 years, four generations, at Great Meadow

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

What’s the impact of a prison closure?

For the Ballard family in Fort Ann, it’s the end of a very long era — 94 years during which four overlapping generations worked as Corrections Officers at Great Meadow, the maximum security prison in Comstock that will officially close on November 6.

With the closing date nearing, Donald M. Ballard, Sr., who lives where he grew …

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Tales behind the music: Gary Gallucci, 80, piano tuner to the stars

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

Small framed, casual and a little quirky, in a baseball cap and muscled arms, speech measured but intent, Gary Gallucci isn’t the stereotypical 80-year-old (whatever that is).

Piano tuner to the stars — make that “piano technician” — Mr. Gallucci is something of a quiet legend among those who know or employ him, locally famed as much for the stories he can tell as …

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Winter’s Dream put on pause; ‘we’ll deliver a first-class event in 2025’

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

Winter’s Dream at Fort William Henry has been cancelled for this winter, with plans to return for next winter’s season, beginning in November 2025.

“As in baseball, this is only a rain delay,” the Warren County Coalition, which sponsored the attraction created by Moment Factory in Montreal, wrote to the Warren County Board of Supervisors.

“When we retake the field in 2025, it will …

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Rich Schermerhorn buying Kingswood Golf

By Mark Frost & Zander Frost, Chronicle Editor & Staff Writer

Closing is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 21, for Rich Schermerhorn’s purchase of the Kingswood National Golf Club.

“My full intention is — I’m going to get the course back to where it used to be 15-20 years ago when it was at its peak,” the real estate develeoper told The Chronicle.

“It needs a lot of love,” he said.…

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Adk. Theatre Festival joins Proctors family

The Adirondack Theatre Festival in Glens Falls has signed a memorandum of understanding with Proctors Collaborative, based in Schenectady.

The plan is a three-year agreement “to expand shared services and explore how the two will partner more significantly over the long term.”

The announcement was made via email from Proctors Collaborative PR person Jessica Sims.

“The goal is to imagine and deliver ever-better professional theater with ever-more stable means and …

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