A leader in Saratoga County’s business community is cheering the economic impact of the Belmont Stakes festival.
Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce President Todd Shimkus says downtown businesses and hotels have been doing well.
This is the last year the Saratoga Race Course is hosting the Belmont Stakes. It will return to the newly rebuilt Belmont Park in 2027.
“Everybody’s already talking about, ‘So what are you going to do next June,’ right? Cause the momentum we’ve built, and the image we’ve created for this community, how do you keep that going? The numbers. How do you keep visitors coming, right? So we’ve got some challenges. We’ve got to figure out how to do that. I think the cool part is that there was a team of organizations that put this all together,” Shimkus said.
One item of note next year is Saratoga’s 250th anniversary celebration.