Posted by: David Giacalone | April 15, 2026

2026 is blossoming in the Stockade

I first noticed yesterday, April 14, that many of our Stockade cherry blossoms had started to pop, but knew they need one more day and some blue sky to warrant a photo-shoot-stroll.  Indeed, they were fuller and more impressive today and I took quite a few photos. But, I want to give them another warm day with at least a little sunshine before doing a full photoshoot and extensive posting. So, tonight, I am just giving you a little tease from my stroll around the neighborhood. There will be plenty more over the next few days.

I hope they will make you want to return soon. Please enjoy, and come back soon.

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.. PART II – photos taken April 16, 2026. . 

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. . the Stockade has magnolia trees worth a visit, too . . St. George’s has one (above on the left) and so does our YWCA . . Don’t miss the two magnolia trees at the rear of the Historical Society (32 Washington Ave.), nor the stately one at 26 Front Street and the impressive giant in the yard at 142 Front Street. 

. . plenty more blossoms coming to this website on April 17 . . 

. . 15 Washington Ave., the big red house, is right across from my front porch . 

Before posting my cherry blossoms, let me share the magnolia tree photos I just took on Front St.

shy giant at 142 Front St.
26 Front St. front view
26 Front St. side view (cleaned up)
24 Front St -glimpse in rear

. . above: Front St. magnolia trees (April 17, 2026) . . 

 

 Confession: I really loathe what the myriad of thick utility wires do to lovely Stockade images. After years of discipline to not wipe out those wires, I just had to clean up the 26 Front St. side view in the above square.  [Waiting has improved the Clean Up tool.) At the head of this paragraph is a thumbnail of the original version. Should I do more or less cleaning up of utility wires?

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. . above: at 2 Union Street . .

. . I may come back in a couple days to highlight some of my favorites images, but before Friday April 17 slips away, I want to memorialize my strolling-with-camera to see this year’s Stockade cherry blossoms in the following Slideshow, for those who just can’t wait to see our mid-April blossom array. . I could say “I walked around and took photos so you would not have to,” but I hope many of our visitors did come in person, and will find the Slideshow a good way to strengthen your recollection… 

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Saturday Epilogue (April 19, 2026): So soon: Earth Day breezes are thinning out our cherry blossom crop, creating Pink Puddles, which are pretty but also ephermeral:

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  . Finally, coming home yesterday evening from a visit to the grand weeping cherry blossom array at Congregation Gates of Heaven, I caught the cherry trees between 10 and 16 Washington Avenue in the glow of the Golden Hour.  Photos from the visit to CGOH should be appearing in the posting above this one later today, April 18.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | March 26, 2026

touring our tasteful Schenectady Food Coop

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Yesterday evening, March 25, 2026, I enjoyed a tour of the Wedgewood Building site of the much-anticipated Electric City Community Grocery, a/k/a the Schenectady Food Coop. The building, located at 277 State Street, at Erie Boulevard, is a registered historic site, and many of its elements are being preserved in the construction of our Community Grocery.

ECCG president Eric Johnson and vice president Richard Mausert hosted the tour of about twenty enthusiastic member-owners and curious neighbors. As usual, Elizabeth Walsh, member-owner and all-around outreach factotum, also joined the tour.

 I hope you’ll come down to 277 State Street (entrance at the rear, off Liberty Street) for one of the few remaining tours that will be available before construction begins in mid-April. See the ECCG website for more information and news, and to learn how to become a member and participate in the crucial Capital Campaign to make this community treassure a reality.

Images from the tour can be seen in this slideshow.

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For a larger version of a Slideshow image, pause on the image, right-click, and choose View in Separate Tab.

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. .  above: two renderings of the completed ECCG . . 

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Posted in Downtown Schenectady | Tags: ,

Posted by: David Giacalone | February 27, 2026

lost grocery stores

Below are images of some of the supermarkets and grocery stores we miss in Schenectady. The people of the Stockade and Downtown Schenectady, along with many other residents across the City and County of Schenectady, look forward to the arrival this year of the Electric City Community Grocery! We are, of course, grateful for the goodies, atmosphere and community found daily at Arthur’s 1795.

 

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Posted by: David Giacalone | February 14, 2026

flamingos keep crushing on Lawrence

Since 1887, Lawrence the Indian has stoically presided over a tiny traffic Circle in the heart of the Schenectady Stockade Historic District. Despite his quiet personality, Lawrence has earned many admirers. For more than three decades, he has in fact inspired loyal devotion from a special flock of pink plastic flamingos, who show their affection annually with a colorful Valentine’s Day visit. We’ve memorialized their visits at this website since 2010, with postings listed in the archive of our Valentine Flamingos Category.

The tradition continued for Valentine’s Day 2026, with the flamboyance arriving late on February 13 and staying until dark on the 14th. This slideshow has two dozen photos from today’s Valentine party in Lawrence Circle, including the images above.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | November 9, 2025

Stockade-athon 2025 from Cucumber Corner

. . [L] Lead car on Washington Ave. [Below] Group of runners right behind the leader, Grant O’Connor [BIB 1347], who came by in a blur hidden a few feet behind the lead car, and finished in 1st Place.

. . BIB 24 Nicholas Andrews (finished 2nd Place); BIB 29 Jack Huber (3rd Place); BIB 35 Chris Verstandig 9th Place); BIB 11 Devin Ackerly (6th Place)

 Thanks again to HMRRC for posting Race results, awards, statistics, etc. You can search for BIB numbers, age, gender, home city of all who completed the Race. Click for their coverage for Stockade-athon 2025:  Results , Awards , Merged Results ’94-2025 , Event History , Teams – Age Graded

Stan Hudy has 16 photos from the race at the Daily Gazette site, where he shows both Grant O’Connor as the first place winner in the Men’s Division and Cara Udvadia winning the Women’s Division, with each breaking the tape at the finish line. 

OVERALL WINNERS

MEN: 1st Place, GRANT O’CONNOR, who finished 2d last year; 2nd Place, NICHOLAS ANDREWS; 3rd Place, JACK HUBER, who also finished third last year.

WOMEN: 1st Place, CARA UDVADIA, who was also 1st last year; 2nd Place, AMY TORTORELLO; 3rd Place, KAREN BERTASSO.

. . 1164 runners finished the race. IMHO they are all winners. . 

. .use this shorter url to cite this post: tinyurl.com/2025StockadeRace ..

 The feared and forecasted rain stopped before the starting gun went off, and competitors in the 2025 Stockade-athon 15K Road Race seemed in good spirits despite the gray cloud cover. The Race volunteers at Washington Ave. and Front Street, across from Cucumber Alley were also in good spirits (see thumbnail at right). I was again stationed there, at “Cucumber Corner”, with my camera and monopod, and wished that the runners coming at me in a rushing stream were not so close together (clumped together) as I tried to commemorate their race. 

. . . . 8:30 am at Front St. and Washington Ave.

  . . escort mortorcycle .. 


BIB 10 Austin Turner (10th); BIB 19 Miguel Bento (13th); BIB 1184 Noah Valvo (31st)
BIB 9 Karina Bolton (F6)
BIB 918 Lauren Philbrook (F5)

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. . click on a square tile for a full version of the image . . 

Rayond Lee, Jr. ?

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. . . . BIB 480 Nicole Grout & BIB 623 Martin Kittell persevere .. 

. . I hope you’ll find your favorite runners in this Slideshow, and I apologize to all those I missed. [For a larger version or to save an image in the Slideshow, Right Click on it and choose desired option.]

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. .  . Want to see more Stockade moments from prior Stockade-athon races? Our 2024 coverage had many more photos (and memorable faces) than this year’s. As did our postings going back to 2009, which you can binge on with the links on our Stockade-athon Category page.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | November 1, 2025

still nostalgic for our Old Play Lot

. . Encore of our posting a decade ago this week, “Already Nostalgic for our Play Lot“, which had been removed on Nov. 1, 2015 to “improve” our Riverside Park . .

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– on a foggy morning, ghostly images pass by now-defunct playground equipment (21Sep2011) –

25feb2011-gliders The new equipment and layout at the Riverside Park “playground” may turn out to be adequate, and even fun. (See the New Equipment installation Slideshow, and this posting of the completed play lot.). I’ll be watching and listening to the reactions and assessments of kids and parents over the next few seasons, and seeing whether the new arrangement is as photogenic in the fog and snowstorms. Nonetheless, whatever the verdict may be on the McCarthy Administration “improvements,” I plan to be nostalgic about the Kiddie Lot that I came to know and love over the past two decades for as long as my memory and/or this website is functioning, and to be grateful that the pre-existing Slide has survived the big eviction.

Share this posting with this short URL: http://tinyurl.com/PlayLotNostalgia

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This Slideshow has about 50 photographs of the former Riverside Park Kiddie Play Lot that I’ve taken over the past six or seven years. (For a larger version of a Slideshow image, pause the Slideshow on the image and right-click on it; then choose Open Image in New Tab. Click directly on the other photos in this posting for a larger version.)

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above: April 2010

 

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another day in the Park for Jennifer

18Mar10-spinLoraineabove: Devin & Loraine will miss the “merry-go-round”

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. . shorter URL for this post: https://tinyurl.com/StillNostalgic . .

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Posted by: David Giacalone | October 18, 2025

Seneca Chief replica visits Schenectady (with Tree Planting update)

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 On October 14, 2025, the Erie Canal Boat Seneca Chief made Schenectady the 20th stop on its Erie Canal Bicentennial trip from Buffalo to New York City. [click on thumbnail at the head of this paragraph for its Itinerary and Map.] The Seneca Chief docked at Schenectady’s Mohawk Harbor Marina, but this posting shows its approach on the Mohawk River as well scenes from its welcome ceremony at the Marina. 

ON THE MOHAWK 

. . just past the CSX-Amtrak testle . . 

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with the C.L.Churhill Tugboat
County Sheriff’s Boat

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AT THE MOHAWK HARBOR MARINA

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. . use this shorter URL to cite this posting: tinyUrl.com/Erie200Schdy

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PLANTING OF THE WHITE PINE TREE OF PEACE

The crew of the Seneca Chief brought a gift for each city on the interary of its Erie Canal Bicentennial journey: an evergreen tree that they called a White Pine of Peace. On Sunday November 9, 2025, the Tree given to the City and the County of Schenectady at Mohawk Harbor on October 14, 2025 was planted in a community event on the West Lawn of Schenectady’s Riverside Park, near Governor’s Lane along the Mohawk River. The meaning of the event, which was organized by Electric City Food Co-op, The Schenectady Foundationand Inner Bliss NY , was explained on the Facebook page of the Food Coop (reproduced in this screen grab):

This planting honors the Great Tree of Peace — a powerful symbol of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, the world’s longest enduring participatory democracy.
 
Beneath the original Great Tree of Peace, once-hostile nations buried their weapons and united under the Great Law of Peace — a sophisticated system of shared governance that later inspired the U.S. Constitution.
 
The planting invites us to remember that the power to build a more peaceful world begins with each of us, rooted in respect for one another and the Earth.
 
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The images below of the special Tree of Peace were taken on Monday November 10, 2025. Click on an image for a full, larger version of the photo.
 

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. . .. Click this link to learn about the Haudenosaunee Confederacy and the U.S. Constitution.

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Posted by: David Giacalone | October 15, 2025

October Rose Garden Bonus

 Alluring early October Facebook postings at the Schenectady Central Park Rose Garden got me back for another enjoyable visit to one of Schenectady’s very special places. As expected, the flowerbeds no longer had the gorgeous, giant arrays that I so enjoy photographing. But the October 6th survivors made the trip very worthwhile. Here are some of the images I brought home in pixels.

. . the pond and entryway staircase were most inviting. .

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