Altamont mixes the old and new
Community is what provides throughline in day at the village
If every person who lives in the city of Schenectady went to the Altamont Fair during its six-day run in August, that would barely be enough to equal the fair’s average annual attendance of more than 60,000.
Should the approximately 1,700 residents of the village Altamont wish to fill up their fair all by themselves, that impossible task would require each of them to pay admission six times daily for every day the fair is open.
Such is life in a place rich with history and community feel that gets deluged several times a year by outsiders drawn to events at the 173-acre fairgrounds, more than a quarter the size of the village.
Altamont is a small, cozy place, where almost every business of note is on or a within steps of a few blocks of Main Street, a librarian hosts morning story time in the same park where a strawberry festival will be held hours later, and another park, which replaced a soda-bottling plant, has a labyrinth made with stones gathered from the nearby Bozen Kill.
Altamont’s connection to its past, and to its role as a hub for the rural agriculture that surrounds it, is most evident in its Museum in the Streets history tour. Each of the nearly 30 stops hosts an information plaque, and a large, handsome sign in the strawberryfest park next to the library offers an overview of the selfguided walking tour.
Filling a day in Altamont might be a challenge if you’re not also going to the fair or other events there, including the Old Songs Festival in June or the Scottish Games in September. The only place for a morning nosh every day of the week is at a grandly expanded Stewart’s Shop (hours: 4:30 a.m. to midnight) that was unveiled in November 2020 at
the village’s biggest intersection, where Main Street meets three other roads before it heads out of town. From that corner, Altamont Boulevard goes to Voorheesville (7 miles); Helderberg Avenue lasts for about a quarter of a mile before it rejoins Main Street and both turn into BerneAltamont Road on the way to Knox (6 miles), Berne (8 miles) and Thacher Park (9 miles); and the short Prospect Terrace will take you to the local Agway store and a few houses before dead-ending.
As proud as Altamont is of its past, the village and its residents will embrace the new. A florist and its liquor-store sibling replaced the village pharmacy. The longtime site of a hotel is now home to a plaza with a tattoo parlor and three restaurants: pizza, Chinese and Pakistani, the latter so well received that it’s adding more indoor seating and patio dining after barely more than a year and a half in business. The venerable, military-themed Home Front Cafe may have closed but just down the block Farmhouse Tap + Tavern, a gastropub, last year took over a Main Street building where two wine bars had each struggled for a few years. The new venture seems to be thriving on a farm-sourced menu that ranges from the conventional ( jalapeno poppers, mac-n-cheese, burgers) to the progressive, including pizza with caramelized onions, blueberry jam, smoked ricotta and arugula. Demand for tables is such that a credit card is required to make a weekend reservation, and limits are imposed on how long diners can stay.
Headed east on the way out of the village, you’re on Main Street, also known as the same Route 146 that, on a circuitous, 30-some-mile route north, brings you to the heart of Clifton Park. About 1,500 feet past Village Hall, on the north side of the road, is a commercial strip where you can get your hair fixed, or your car.
Right across the street is the big sign for the front entrance to the Altamont Fair. It will be swarming from Aug. 16 to 21, you can be sure. But the fairgrounds gates are also open every day for walkers or runners. They’re people from the village, people like Porter Bidleman, a World War II veteran who moved to Altamont in 1957 to take over a funeral home that he went on to run for more than 40 years. So devoted was he to walking the fairgrounds that he was still doing it in 2020, at age 94, with his walker, two laps a day.
“He loved to stop at our raised bed gardens and weed for a little while, as it reminded him of his childhood,” said fair manager Amy Anderson. Bidleman died in November 2020.
In Bidleman’s honor, the fair created the Porter Challenge, asking people to walk their own two laps every day during June, for a total of 60 laps. Last month, 66 people participated, walking a combined 1,069.5 laps, including one dog that was an official entrant. Seven people completed the challenge and will receive free admission to the fair.
“We’re seeing more people move in with kids specifically because they want a village feel where you can walk around, your neighbors are close, and there’s a different feel from the spread-out suburbs,” said Kerry Dineen. Altamont mayor since 2017 after a dozen years on the village board, Dineen has also been a music teacher in public schools for nearly 30 years.
Among the newcomers is Jordan Nagelschmidt, who was at story time in the park one day last month with her son, Reiss, 2½ years old. Not coincidentally, that’s how long the family has lived in Altamont.
Said Nagelschmidt, “He’s a big reason we moved here. It’s a place we wanted him to grow up.”