Shake, Rattle & ready to Roll

Chronicle Editor Mark Frost writes: Literally for years, locals and passers-by at one of Queensbury’s busiest intersections have watched slow, seemingly uncertain progress of a handsome new restaurant building (and a market building) at the corner of Routes 149 and 9L.

It’s totally the vision of Dale Baldwin, the Fort Ann concrete contractor who owns this 25-acre property and knows what he wants to do with it. For one thing it will display some of his colossal collection of auto-oriented antiques, including signage and gas pumps. “No repro’s here,” Dale says. All originals. He can tell you where virtually every piece came from.

The restaurant will serve hamburgers and ‘Hound Dog’ hot dogs with his “Mother’s Meat Sauce”) plus french fries and salads. The walk-up ice cream window ranges from cones and sundaes to floats and banana splits using ice cream from Schuylerville’s King Dairy.

Two years ago February, The Chronicle ran an article that ‘Shake, Rattle & Roll’ was coming in May (2023!). Dale was optimistic. Two-and-a-half years later he still is. The ice cream has been ordered, chairs are assembled, the grill’s fire suppression system is installed and ready for its balloon test. Shake Rattle & Roll will open any day now, Dale says.

He seems fine whenever it does. Dale is not a man in a hurry. On a Saturday I find him mowing his vast tract with a basic sit-down mower. I ask, how long does it take you? “About seven hours.” He said he does it in a single sitting.

Dale still operates the Baldwin & Sons Concrete Contracting business. “We’ve been pretty busy. So my boys are doing it, they’re gonna take it over, I just do the figuring and gettin’ the jobs.”

Dale’s father Ken did the business, too, which led to his building Hillbilly Fun Park in nearby West Fort Ann in 1989 with its two miniature golf courses and ‘Milken Parlor’ ice cream parlor that was operated by Dale’s late mother Milly. The business continues to operate under different ownership.

One gets the sense that Shake, Rattle & Roll is Dale’s legacy project as Hillbilly Fun Park was his parents’.

No rush. He sees it with a long-term perspective.

Next-door, the Farm Market won’t be ready when the restaurant is, but again Dale talks about it in express detail. It will sell “fruits and vegetables and pies and cider donuts, cookies, you know, jelly and maple syrup and honey, that kind of stuff.”

He said the restaurant hours will be 11:30 to 8:30 seven days a week. On a table are mock-ups of the food and ice cream menus which incorporate a rendering of the building as well. Dale notes, “My daughter (Amanda) did all the painting and staining and my son (Travis) did all the carpentry work.”

Mention any of the classic decor and Dale gladly fills you in on the detail. “The Coke sign on the end of the building is 1920,” he says. He said he’s been collecting “about 30 years. I got a lot more stuff at home.” And plenty here.