🥌 Schenectady Curling Club gears up for Olympic buzz

Happy Monday, Capital Region! We’re sliding into your inbox like a granite stone on fresh ice. Today’s stop: the Schenectady Curling Club, a 118-year-old local gem where “sweeping the floor” is actually the fun part! 🥌

Also, we need your help to settle this 🔥 debate on The 518 team…

—Phat X. Chiem & Karley Sullivan

🥌 Schenectady Curling Club gears up for Olympic buzz

Most cities are lucky to have one curling club. The Capital Region has two. Alongside its Albany counterpart, the Schenectady Curling Club has been keeping brooms sweeping and stones gliding for well over a century.

This weekend, they’re looking to bring even more newcomers onto the ice.

Founded in 1907 on the Mohawk River, the Schenectady Curling Club has called Balltown Road home since 1955. Today it counts more than 300 members, making it one of the largest in the state. “It’s rare for a city of our size to have two clubs,” says president Chad Alojipan. “It shows how strong the interest is here.”

Every fall, the club kicks off its season with Learn-to-Curl sessions and open houses, giving newbies a chance to slide on the ice, throw a stone, and try their hand at sweeping. 

And with the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics coming in February, curling fever is sure to spike. In 2018, John Shuster’s team stunned the world by defeating Sweden 10–7 in the final, giving the U.S. its first-ever Olympic curling gold. It sparked a cultural moment for curling and a boom in interest.

Normally, new members at Schenectady Curling Club would need to wait until the fall to join. Not this Olympic year. 

“We’re running a special mid-season mini-league in April so people can dive right in after watching the Games,” Chad says.

So, how the heck does curling work? Glad you asked! Curling is played between two teams of four, each sliding granite stones toward a giant bullseye called the “house.” Players sweep the ice to control speed and curve. Each side throws eight stones per round (called an “end”), and only the ones closest to the center score. 

“People call it chess on ice,” Chad says. “It’s a mix of finesse, strategy, and just enough athleticism to keep it interesting.”

He also calls it “one of those forever sports. We’ve got players well into their 80s, and others who just picked it up last year. The mix is part of what makes the community so fun.”

If you’ve been looking to make new friends or pick up a new hobby, this is a terrifically fun activity for the winter months.

The deets: Schenectady Curling Club, 1084 Balltown Rd, Schenectady. Its annual open houses take place this Friday through Sunday. Click here to register and see the full schedule. Tickets are $20 for adults, $12–14 for kids (ages 5+), with gear included. Just bring clean sneakers. No skates required! Pro tip: The club is also available to rent for corporate / team building events.

Btw, the Albany Curling Club’s Learn-to-Curl sessions are Oct. 4-5.

💰️ As part of the governor’s $400 million initiative to revitalize Albany, $25 million is dedicated to improvements for the Empire State Plaza, long seen as disconnected from the surrounding neighborhood and pedestrians. Take the survey to let city and state officials know your ideas for remaking the plaza. [Times Union] Btw, the Reimagine St. Rose open house is also taking place this Thursday.

📚️ The Albany Book Festival returns to UAlbany on Saturday. Among the many featured authors are feminist writer Roxane Gray, the newly named State Poet of New York Kimiko Hahn and State Author of New York Min Jin Lee; Taking Manhattan author Russell Shorto, and Sandeep Jauhar, bestselling author of My Father's Brain: Life in the Shadow of Alzheimer's. Once again, the festival is free for all!

🐐This Saturday, Be Golden Farm in Rensselaerville invites you to their Farm Series: Fall Sip & Stroll. Tour the farm in the company of their adorable goats while sipping wine, for just $10 for adults and $5 for children. Not a baaad way to spend a Saturday afternoon!

🚲️ All this week, New Yorkers are encouraged to walk, bike, carpool or take public transit as part of Get There Green. Try out one of the CDTA’s new electric scooters!

Final offers are due Saturday at 5 pm on this rare Pine Hills gem. This lovingly restored Arts & Crafts Colonial balances historic charm with smart updates, including a new high-efficiency boiler, Andersen windows, and refinished hardwood floors. With three roomy bedrooms, 1.5 baths, a first-floor laundry, a family room with gas fireplace, and plenty of storage, it’s as practical as it is beautiful. Outside, enjoy a fenced yard, garden, hammock nook, powered shed, and three off-street parking spots—mere blocks away from Albany Medical Center and Russell Sage College.

The deets: 3 bd, 2 ba, 1692 sf. Asking: $280,000. Days on market: 7. See the full listing here.

Our full weekend roundup publishes every Thursday. Be sure to check your inboxes!

EVENTS THIS WEEK

Call for artists to design and create a mural installation on the building at 260 Washington Ave- near Washington Pake, interested? Email aileen leventon [email protected]

🍷 The annual fundraiser for the Regional Food Bank known as the Chefs & Vitners’ Harvest Dinner has been reimagined as simply CHEFS. With expanded wine pairings, the new event promises to be the “best farm-to-table four-course meal in the Capital Region.” See the full menu here.

📚️ The Fall Book Sale at Colonie Library is this week!

🤔 Get your trivia team assembled for Monday night @ The Larkin Hi-Fi; Wednesday night @ Emack & Bolio’s Ice Cream; and/or Sunday night @ Stacks Espresso on Lark Street. All free!

🎬️ On Thursday, get to the Tang Museum for Whole Grain: Experiments in Film & Video screening of two works selected by Carrie Mae Weems, National Medal of Arts recipient and Skidmore’s 2025 McCormack Visiting Artist-Scholar Resident.

🍁 On Friday, Nine Pin Cider is hosting a Fall Foliage Train Ride, a 90-minute scenic tour through the Southern Adirondacks, departing from the Saratoga Corinth and Hudson Railway.

🎸 Also Friday, Rusticator plays acoustic covers of The Grateful Dead and Avett Brothers songs at Wolf Hollow Brewing Co.

🧱 Ever wanted to make your own brick? You can try at this free workshop hosted by Collard City Growers.

🌽 Knickerbocker Mansion serves up breakfast and lunch at its 33rd Annual Harvest Festival this weekend.

🤣 This week at MopCo Improv Theatre: Maestro pits 14 improv masters to find the winning champ! And the Swamp Lily Charity Hour brings on the LOLs for local charities.

🐎 On Saturday, alt-rockers The Spin Doctors play a benefit show for Therapeutic Horses of Saratoga on the farm!

🎃 Also Saturday, get in the early Halloween spirit at the 25th annual Great Pumpkin Challenge 5K & 10K and Kids Fun Run. And don’t miss the Saratoga Giant PumpkinFest.

🏃‍♂️ Oktoberfest 5K Albany is also on Saturday, taking off from Jennings Landing.

🍺 This weekend is for Oktoberfests around the Capital Region, including at…

• The Ruck (Fri)

• Wolff’s Biergarten (Sat)

• Druthers Clifton Park (Sat)

• Artisanal Brew Works (Sat)

🎷 On Saturday, catch the Arch Stanton Quartet at 9 Maple Avenue.

🌷Plants tulips in the beautiful and historic Ten Broeck Mansion gardens. Make art & free take-home bulb kits to plant at home.

🧑‍🌾 Join The Greenhorns at Worlds End Farm in Esperance, NY, for The Book Bountiful, a sumptuous, all-vegetarian feast celebrating the long-awaited release of The New Farmer’s Almanac, Volume 7.

🧸 On Sunday, traffic will be closed off for the annual Upper Madison Street Fair in Pine Hills. There’s a whole Kids Zone and plenty of vendors to browse!

🏃‍♀️Also Sunday is the Crossings 5K Challenge and Kids Run.

🖼️ ART ON VIEW

• Catch Compass Roses: Albany at Opalka Gallery before it closes!

• Liberation and For Life celebrates 50 years of Black Dimensions in Art, showcasing 90+ artists and 100+ works that will blow your mind | Albany Institute of History & Art

• Up to Us highlights BDA’s powerful legacy with archival materials spanning 1975 to the future | The Tang Museum

• Noel W Anderson: Black Excellence and Romare Bearden & Ralph Ellison: From the Archive | UAlbany Art Museum

🎭️ THEATER

In collaboration with Black Theatre Troupe of Upstate New York, Historic Cherry Hill is co-producing the original stage play, Tell Me You’ll Not Forget Me, inspired by the Van Rensselaer and Knapp families who resided at Cherry Hill from 1787 to 1964. Playing this week. Get tix here.

Our music listings are now published separately on The 518 website. Click here.

GET YOUR EVENT ON THE LIST 🎸

Our rolling deadline is the Saturday before your event!

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Got an awesome business, event or personality we should feature? Let us know! Contact: [email protected]