SHAC The SoHo of Hudson Falls
In the same vein of reinvention as it’s downstate counterpart, the Sandy Hill Arts Center is re-energizing a once dormant urban area. WRITTEN BY MEGIN POTTER | PHOTOS PROVIDED
A century ago, Hudson Falls thrived as a prosperous manufacturing center. From 1900 until 1903, a huge hydroelectric dam was built at the border between Saratoga and Washington counties, powering entrepreneurs to get the town humming. They started the mills that successfully churned out a variety of products and filled the landscape with Greek Revival, Queen Anne, Italianate, French, and Colonial Revival style architecture. In 1901, the five-story brick building on Main Street was constructed. A former Masonic temple, it lay dormant for 30 years before becoming the Sandy Hill Arts Center (SHAC), which (contrary the homonym its acronym suggests) is an architectural jewel of the Hudson Falls Historic District. A HAPPY HAPPENSTANCE This May, SHAC received the Washington County Historical Society’s Preservation Award. The building’s two-year, $2 million renovation preserved much of its character while reimaging the space in a way that spurs new economic growth. “Everyone involved is from Hudson Falls, so there’s a passion that is consistent throughout, which helps,” said Kendall McKernon, owner of SHAC’s longest tenant, the McKernon Gallery. Like its neighbor, the Strand Theatre (a building that too was once going the way of the wrecking ball but has since been renovated and reopened), SHAC is attracting major talent. “It’s such a cool, intimate venue, major acts love it. They love the crowd, the venue, the acoustics. They love the whole thing,” said Kendall. 90 | SIMPLY SARATOGA | SUMMER 2022
AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE OF FUN This spring, artists Fran Bull and Robert Black were enthralled by SHAC’s unique, adaptable, third-floor exhibition space. Boasting impressive two-story arched windows and newlybuilt wrap-around benches, the room’s brick walls and dark woodwork is offset by an impressive white vaulted ceiling. It proved to be the perfect backdrop to premiere the “Frobertan” collaborative venture, “We’re All at a Party Called Life on Earth,” featuring figures with madcap expressions who determinedly crusaded to carry us through the first years of Covid on a vivaciously joyful current. ENCHANTING REMEMBRANCES Bill Nikas purchased the SHAC building in 2015, and Kendall McKernon, an interior designer for 40 years, opened the McKernon Gallery on its first floor the following year. “I fell in love with Hudson Falls back when we started to spruce things up. It really isn’t for us, though, it is for the future,” said Kendall. Today, the store has become an award-winner and a place where Kendall would like to shop himself, he said. Its rooms are filled with things you didn’t know you wanted until you saw them; including Kendall’s poignantly beautiful photography prints and unique functional items, as well as wearable art, jewelry, specialty foods, gifts and souvenirs. “It’s all been organic. What’s developed is this wonderful space with wonderful texture,” said Kendall. saratogaTODAYnewspaper.com
