Kindness IS Trending Thank Saratoga NY and THIS Guy!

 I need to shine a light on Saratoga NY one of the kindest places in America.

 That’s where the idea for a viral event that took place across the country this year called “Leap of Kindness Day’ emanated from. It was held on …you guessed it…Leap Day!

I love Saratoga. Been there enough times to know I could live there.

 I invited Todd Shimkus the President of The Saratoga Chamber of Commerce, and originator of the kindness idea, to join me on The Debbie Nigro Show to talk about ‘The Kindness Movement’ they started in 2016.

 Leap of Kindness was such a great idea, that 250 other Chambers of Commerce in the US and Canada joined in the movement this year to encourage the spread of meaningful kindness vibes and deeds.

 It’s always worth my time to showcase people on this planet doing beautiful things because most people are good, and I know we sometimes forget that because the world we live in is tough.

 Speaking of good things, Todd shared all the cool stuff coming up in Saratoga, NY this year.

 “Oh my God, we have so much going on in our community, especially as we head into this summer. You know, the New York City Ballet is coming back to SPAC, the Philadelphia Orchestra, we are their summer home. They've got some extraordinary performances there. We've got the Universal Preservation Hall, which is new coming out of COVID. It's a fully restored church that was acoustically designed to allow people to perform and the sound to be just amazing for musical events. Cafe Lina, which is one of the oldest venues you'll find for music as well is here. And then of course the Saratoga Racecourse, and our casino. We are hosting the Belmont Stakes Saratoga on June 8th for the first time ever. And it's sold out for Saturday, June 8th.“50,000 people will be at the racecourse that day. There's still tickets available for Thursday and Friday and Sunday around that. And we expect a week-long celebration of that just amazing event, especially if there's a Triple Crown potential for one of the horses.” 

 That Saratoga Racecourse is special. Sports Illustrated named it one of the  world’s greatest sporting venues. As I kid I remember that every Summer for years and years, my parents and all my aunts, uncles and their friends would go to Saratoga in August and always stayed at place called The Gideon Putnam, and always left all us kids home. 

 It was decades later that I finally went there myself and got to see what all the fuss was about. It’s an incredible place. I was so annoyed they never took us kids all those years! LOL

 Saratoga Racecourse is a Thoroughbred horse racing opened in 1863 and is considered to be the oldest major sporting venue of any kind in the country but is actually the fourth oldest racetrack in the U.S. according to Wikipedia. You will feel the nostalgia there and you get to see all the beautiful horses up close. There’s a lot more too in Saratoga that captured my soul and I’ve gone back a few times to enjoy the food, the music, and the beauty of this charming place.

 And Saratoga has active mineral springs. I just learned there are currently 21 public mineral springs in various locations throughout Saratoga. Most of the springs are naturally carbonated and no two springs taste exactly alike. That’s because each spring has its own distinct mineral makeup and flavor profile. There