This week, we caught up with Avery Babson and her sweet family! She shares what brought her back to the city after college, reminisces about her favorite downtown memories from her childhood, and fills us in on the exciting adventure her family is about to embark on (spoiler alert: it involves an 1890 fixer upper!).
Tell us about yourself!
¡Hola! I’m Avery Babson, a Glens Falls Middle School Spanish teacher, drama club director, The Resolutions singer, Glens Falls Community Theatre actor/director, and Feeder Canal Trail lover. I live in Glens Falls with the most amazing husband, Steve Babson--who unsolicitedly packs my school lunches each day--and our two crazy beautiful kids. Trey, our creative and inquisitive first grader, is an aspiring stop motion lego animator, scientist, comedian, haunted house director, illustrator, and an avid Mo Willems reader. Our pre-schooler and beacon of light, Eve, sings from the moment she wakes until the moment she falls asleep. We are proud.
On Life In and Around Glens Falls
I grew up on a dead end street across from Crandall Park. It was there that I put on my first pair of skates (double blades!) and dove after fly balls in the field with my dad. As the years went by, our house turned out to be a very convenient location for a quick trip to the rec center for hockey practice. After graduating from GFHS in 2001, I retired my hockey skates and field hockey stick, packed up my bags, and flew to Bolivia where I lived as a Rotary exchange student for a year. From there, I attended ACC, SUNY Albany and then moved to New York City to study acting and musical theatre.
Through all my adventures, I always knew that I wanted to settle in Glens Falls. When the Wood Theater began to boom and more and more restaurants, breweries and cafés popped up, it became apparent that it was time to move back (not to mention, student loans and NYC apartment prices do not mix). The universe picked the right time. Shortly after I returned, I met my husband at a mutual friend’s downtown apartment. Three years later (and after completing my MA in Teaching from SUNY Plattsburgh), we shared our vows at the Charles R. Wood Theater in front of an audience filled with our closest friends and family. It was the perfect venue for two Glens Falls natives--one a singer, the other a percussionist--to start their journey as husband and wife.
This past July, we sold our Glens Falls starter home in a day (thank you, Alexis Feldbusch)! On the first day back to school, we frantically threw the last of our belongings into boxes and said goodbye to the walls that held the memories of Trey and Eve’s first steps. Being a seller’s market, the inventory was low, so we have been living in an adorable Airbnb owned by new friends (big shout-out to Ryan and Claudia Braymer!). We call the Airbnb our “adventure house” because, well, this process has certainly been an adventure! Nevertheless, our time at the adventure house will soon come to a close because a new adventure awaits in our new Glens Falls home! We are slated to close any day now and already have a team lined up to help tackle our adorable 1890’s fixer-upper. Between the massive yard filled with mature berry bushes, and the location of being conveniently close to downtown, the Feeder Canal (my absolute favorite running spot), Haviland’s Cove, and the kids’ elementary school, I think we may have found our forever home. Stay tuned!
A Perfect Glens Falls Day
Though I don’t know if we’ve ever squeezed all of the following in one day, we may have come close. So, here goes…
My perfect day in Glens Falls during the summer months starts with a morning run on the Feeder Canal Trail. The sound of the waterfall on the Hudson to my right as the morning sun beams on the misty canal to my left reminds me just how lucky we are to live where we do every single time.
Next, a walk downtown with the kids to pick up lunch and a latte at Spot Coffee would be a must. We like to take our lunch to City Park, play tag, and dance in the gazebo. Then, we walk over to visit Steve at his Edward Jones office located in the historic Smith Flatts building on the corner of Bay and Washington.
After lunch, the kids and I either spend an afternoon at Crandall Library, The GO World Awareness Children’s Museum, or swimming at my grandmother’s pool with Grandpa Bobby (my dad).
Once Steve is through with work, the chef is in the house! Steve loves cooking for his family. It is one of his favorite things….and we love his cooking. Did I say I'm a lucky wife? But, if we have a baby sitter, a date night sushi dinner at Mikado would be our go-to place, followed by a beverage at Craft on 9. Or if we time it right, a Lake Theatre show would be the most ideal!
On the Past
This is tough. There are so many memories to count! Having lived here most of my life, I think some of the simpler memories from early childhood stick out the most…like riding my bike to Cooney's Candy Store located on Montcalm Street with my cousin, Nathaniel Brochu. We thought we were so cool buying our own penny candy and snaps at 8 years old.
I fondly remember the treat of a late summer afternoon with my father and brother, Bo Clark, at the original New Way Lunch on South Street. Even as a young girl, I acknowledged just how special the place was with its chrome-top booths and ripped vinyl seats covered in duct tape. Two dirt dogs with the works, key lime pie and a cola was our staple order….and we always stayed until my father was out of change for the jukebox.
Most summer evenings were spent sitting with my grandparents on their front porch on South Street. My grandfather, Bob Clark Sr., was an English teacher and councilman who seemingly knew everyone in the community (or perhaps everyone knew him). If people weren’t stopping to talk as they walked by, they slowed their cars down to wave to my grandfather as they drove by.
On the Future
If I could wave a magic wand and bring something to the city, it would be….
A downtown playground - there were so many times (pre-Covid) that I brought the kids to the library or museum and wished for a downtown playground so they could quickly burn off energy before returning home for an afternoon nap. Oh, how I miss naps!
I would love to see some sort of extension of Exchange Street- like a GF version of Church Street in Burlington!
My kids would probably be too old if this ever played out, but a splash park would be wonderful for little ones in our community (akin to Gavin Splash Park in Wilton).
With or without a magic wand, there are so many good things happening in our community. I am hopeful that when Covid bites the dust, it will continue to flourish and grow. I just love our little city and all the stories its streets can tell.
See more from our My Glens Falls series here!
