This is one of those weeks where the hard part is picking what to do. A roller rink in Clinton Square, World Cup matches on TVs all over town, food trucks and live music from the orchard in LaFayette to the island in Baldwinsville, and the St. Elias Middle Eastern Festival running Thursday through Sunday.
We spent part of last week on the Northside, at an 1897 tavern on Park Street that still draws a crowd for its rotating handwritten menu, its desserts, and its history. More on that below, with the rest of the neighborhood around it.
We're planning some Salt City Club get-togethers around town. Which area would you actually come out to?
Daily handwritten menu at Riley’s on the Northside
Here's what's on our radar.
TL;DR:
The Lineup: The St. Elias Middle Eastern Festival (Thu through Sun), Jelly Roll at the Empower FCU Amphitheater (Tue), Skate in the Square's pop-up roller rink, Flicks on the Crick at the Sound Garden, and Daniel Tosh at the Crouse Hinds.
Live Music: Harmonic Dirt at the Whiskey Coop (Wed), Jess Novak free at Soule Branch (Wed), D.K. Harrell at Funk 'n Waffles (Thu), Sean Chambers at The 443 (Fri), the free Loading Dock series at Middle Ages (Sat), and free live music from Steve Cali & Chad Mac at Beak & Skiff's tasting room (Sun).
The Tab: The Clerk's House, the Cider Mill family's new West Side bakery café — sourdough, sandwiches, and specialty lattes.
The Spotlight: Bill Berthel's climb from a paint-factory shipping department to a leadership coach's chair at Emergent, a Syracuse second-act built one reinvention at a time.
The Build: Schiller Park lands $11.5 million from the state, a rebuilt 1961 Olympic-sized pool, restored historic stonework, and a maker space for the Northside.
The Block: The Northside, Syracuse's immigrant gateway — Columbus Baking Co (the 130-year-old bakery having a viral TikTok moment), the Little Italy spine on North Salina, and an 1897 tavern on Park Street.
…and more!
THE LINEUP
Events this week — what's on, where, and how to get in.
Featured Event
The St. Elias Middle Eastern Festival — St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church, 4988 Onondaga Road. Thursday, June 25 through Sunday, June 28 (Thu 4 to 9 PM, Fri 4 to 10 PM, Sat 12 to 10 PM, Sun 12 to 5 PM). Free admission. Details
St. Elias has run this for the better part of a century, and the formula holds: homemade falafel, hot zalabye, live Arabic music, dancers, and a Souk marketplace. Bring an appetite and small bills.
Zalabye (crispy fried dough dipped in syrup) - Photo by: St. Elias Orthodox Church
This Week
Tuesday, June 23
Skate in the Square — Clinton Square, downtown. Tuesday, June 23 through Saturday, June 27 (Tue and Wed 11 AM to 2 PM and 5 to 8 PM, Thu 11 AM to 2 PM and 6 to 9 PM, Fri and Sat 6 to 10 PM). $5 admission plus $5 skate rental. A pop-up roller rink downtown; Thursday is Pride Night, Saturday is Mayor's Night. Details
Strawberry Festival and Lafayette Band Concert — Apple Valley United Methodist Church, 4389 S Onondaga Road, Nedrow. 4 to 7 PM. Strawberries and a community band concert south of the city. Details
Wednesday, June 24
Flicks on the Crick: Empire Records — The Sound Garden, 310 W Jefferson Street, Armory Square. Around sundown. Free, bring a chair. The 1995 cult favorite, screened at the record store. Details
World Cup Watch Party — WCNY Courtyard, 415 W Fayette Street. 5 to 9 PM (Scotland vs. Brazil). Free. A second party runs Friday, June 26, 2 to 6 PM, for Norway vs. France. Details
Daniel Tosh: My First Farewell Tour — Oncenter Crouse Hinds Theater, 411 Montgomery Street. 7 PM. The Tosh.0 comedian; seats were $100+ at last check. Tickets
Island Night Market — Paper Mill Island, Baldwinsville. 5 to 9 PM. Free, all ages. Part of the new Island Takeover series: vendors, makers, food, and live acoustic music on the waterfront. Details
Thursday, June 25
USA vs. Türkiye Watch Party — CNY Regional Market, F Shed, 2100 Park Street. 10 PM. Free. Wolff's Biergarten's community watch party with food and beer trucks. Details
Friday, June 26
Sip, Step & Spin — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, 2708 Lords Hill Road, LaFayette. 6 to 10 PM. $10 per person. Beginner-friendly line dancing in the 1911 Tasting Room with Two Left Boots, tavern open. Details
Saturday, June 27
2nd Annual Strides for Sight 5K Run/Walk — Willow Bay, Onondaga Lake Park, Liverpool. 9 AM. Registration required. A morning loop along the lake for a cause. Details
Foodie Fest — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, 2708 Lords Hill Road, LaFayette. 12 to 8 PM. Free, free parking. More than 30 food trucks from the Syracuse Food Truck Association, plus live music and the tasting room. Details
Island Foam Fest — Paper Mill Island, Baldwinsville. 7 to 10 PM. Free, all ages. Another Island Takeover night: foam cannons and a DJ on the waterfront, wear what you don't mind getting wet. Details
Monday, June 29
Harvey's Garden Fundraiser — Harvey's Garden, 1200 E Water Street. Monday, June 29, 4 to 7 PM. Free. A portion of sales supports the Syracuse-Onondaga Food Systems Alliance's Food Justice Fund. Details
Live Music
Tuesday, June 23
Jelly Roll: The Little Ass Shed Tour — Empower FCU Amphitheater at Lakeview, 490 Restoration Way, Geddes. 7 PM. With Kashus Culpepper and Sunny Black. The biggest arena show in town this week. Tickets
Wednesday, June 24
Harmonic Dirt and Friends — The Whiskey Coop, 120 Walton Street, Armory Square. Evening. A CNY roots-and-jam outfit in a small room. Details
Jess Novak — Soule Branch Library, 101 Springfield Road. 6 PM. Free. A Syracuse singer, songwriter, and violinist. Details
Thursday, June 25
D.K. Harrell — Funk 'n Waffles, 307 S Clinton Street. 7 PM. A young Louisiana bluesman in the B.B. King lineage, under the waffles. Tickets
Friday, June 26
Sean Chambers and the Savoy Brown Rhythm Section — The 443 Social Club, 443 Burnet Avenue. 7 PM. Blues-rock guitarist with the Savoy Brown rhythm section, in the 443's small listening room. Tickets
TobyMac and Zach Williams — Empower FCU Amphitheater at Lakeview, 490 Restoration Way, Geddes. 7 PM. Christian-music headliners on a big amphitheater bill, with Seph Schlueter and Jamie MacDonald. Tickets
Saturday, June 27
Darkside Skinny Dippers, Loading Dock Series — Middle Ages Brewing, 120 Wilkinson Street. 4 PM. Free, outdoor. Music on the loading dock all summer, bring the family and a pint. Details
Sunday, June 28
Steve Cali and Chad Mac, 1911 Tasting Room — Beak & Skiff Apple Orchards, 2708 Lords Hill Road, LaFayette. 2 to 4 PM. Free. Live music in the 1911 Tasting Room to close out the weekend, tavern open. Details
Coming Soon: Godsmack, with Stone Temple Pilots and Dorothy, hits the amphitheater Tue, June 30. In Cazenovia, Fellows' at Villa Estate Vineyards (the former Owera) opens in July under a well-known Syracuse restaurant crew. And the 40th Syracuse International Jazz Fest comes to Beak & Skiff.
That’s just the short list
We track way more than we can squeeze into The Lineup. Refer 2 friends to the Club, and the full calendar unlocks:
THE TAB
One food or drink spot this week — what to order and where to find it.
The Calabrian
The Clerk's House — 4219 Fay Road, Syracuse, on the Cider Mill's West Side property. Open Wednesday through Sunday, 8 AM to 2 PM.
This past January, Dan and Teresa Seeley — who've run The Cider Mill on Fay Road for two decades — opened a bakery café next door, in the little house where they once lived. The Clerk's House is the cottage version of the restaurant: a sourdough program, a pastry case, real sandwiches, and a coffee bar.
We stopped in, and the picks are easy: any sourdough loaf, the Calabrian sandwich on focaccia, and the sea salt chocolate chip cookie. The space is cozy, made for catching up with a friend, and the decor is a delight, especially the wallpaper in the powder room.
One heads-up: they sell out of bread and baked goods daily, so plan ahead if there's something you have your heart set on.
More at The Clerk's House.
THE SPOTLIGHT
A deeper look at one person, place, or project in Syracuse.
From the Shipping Department to the Coach's Chair
Fifteen years into his career at an upstate paint company, Bill Berthel built a woodworking shop on the side. He loved the craft. But one night, working on a client's entertainment center, he sat down on a five-gallon bucket and realized how alone the work made him. "I love woodworking," he says, "but it's a hobby, not a job." That Monday, a conversation at the office sent his career somewhere he hadn't planned.
Today he's a partner and leadership coach at Emergent, a Syracuse firm that develops leaders and teams. He got there the long way: nearly three decades at one company, reinventing himself more than once inside it.
Bill Berthel, partner and leadership coach at Emergent
Growing up near Binghamton, he wasn't chasing grades. "I wasn't in it for A's," he says. "I was just in it to be there." What he loved was the art room, and his teacher, Mrs. Walling, finally told him to introduce himself to Mark Golden, the man behind the artist paints she'd handed him for years.
He did, and out of high school took an entry-level job in the shipping department at Golden Artist Colors. Over the next decade and a half he climbed the technical side: quality assurance, quality manager, eventually running the research lab.
Then came that night in the woodshop. The next week, the HR director, Nancy Root, called him in: she was retiring, and she wanted him as her successor. He'd never worked in HR, but he was the one on every committee, and she'd pegged him as a people person. He ran HR for about twelve years, and somewhere in there got certified as a coach. It turned into something bigger. "I was in an amazing career," he says, "and I found a calling in coaching."
About ten years ago, he made it the whole job, contracting with Emergent for a year before moving his family to Syracuse and joining as a partner. The decade since, inside organizations all over Central New York, has given him a wide read on the place: salt-of-the-earth, slow to change, but shifting in a deliberate, promising way. One line sticks. "There's something beautiful and sacred about tradition," he says, "and we all need to embrace some change."
For a man who climbed from a shipping department to a coach's chair by paying attention to people, that's not a tidy slogan. It's his life's work.
THE BUILD
Construction and development around the city, in plain English.
Schiller Park Is Getting a Major Overhaul
Schiller Park, the 115-year-old anchor of the Northside, is getting an $11.5 million makeover from the state. The centerpiece is the pool: Olympic-sized, 10 lanes, and built back in 1961. It's getting a full rebuild, and the rest of the money restores the park's Depression-era stonework, adds a new HVAC system and a 3D-printing maker space to the community center, resurfaces the parking lot, and upgrades the mini-soccer pitch.
Friends of Schiller Park celebrate upgrade project funding
The funding came through Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie's annual statewide tour, carried by Northside assemblyman Bill Magnarelli after the city's parks commissioner flagged the pool's needs. The volunteer Friends of Schiller Park, who keep the place going with years of fundraising and cleanups, helped make the case. Board member Paige Morrow (a Salt City Club reader!), who worked on the proposal, called it "a great collaborative effort."
The pool stays open this summer. The rebuild starts next year at the earliest and will close it for at least one season, so this is the summer to go.
Congratulations to Paige and the whole Friends of Schiller Park crew.
Coverage from syracuse.com; park details via the City of Syracuse.
THE BLOCK
One neighborhood at a time — what's there, what's changing.
The Northside
If Syracuse has a front door for new arrivals, it's the Northside. A century ago it was the city's Little Italy, and the spine of that is still North Salina Street. Walk it and you pass Italian bakeries older than most of the city around them, layered now with the next wave: Vietnamese, Somali, Ethiopian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern.
Inside Columbus Baking Company (Photo by Holly Mosher)
Start with the bakeries, some of the oldest in Syracuse:
Columbus Baking Company — 502 Pearl Street. Italian bread out of the same oven since 1895, now the third-generation Retzos family; ask for a "flat" like the regulars. Baker Caleb Lucero is having a TikTok moment, with "day in the life" videos from one of the country's oldest bakeries.
Biscotti Cafe and Pastry Shop — 741 North Salina. Run by the same family since 1998, rebuilt after a fire.
Di Lauro's Bakery and Pizza — 502 E Division. Italian bread out of a brick oven for over a century.
Nino's Italian Bakery — Lodi Street. The cookies and the cannoli cake.
Watan Bakery — Park Street. Fresh Middle Eastern bread.
Then the restaurants:
Francesca's Cucina — 541 North Salina. The sit-down Italian anchor, more than 2,000 reviews deep.
New Century Vietnamese — Kirkpatrick Street. Thoi Trang's place, the pho house we spotlighted a couple of weeks back.
Isir's Somali Cuisine — 656 North Salina. Goat suqaar and chapati from Isir Farah's kitchen.
EthioEritrea Restaurant — 505 N State Street. Authentic Ethiopian and Eritrean cooking.
Mr. Bigg's — 658 North Salina. Jamaican jerk and oxtails.
Tu Casita — 605 North Salina. Puerto Rican and Dominican comfort food.
Stella's Diner — 110 Wolf Street, Washington Square. The Betty Boop diner since 1998, big breakfasts and homemade desserts.
Just off the spine on Butternut Street, Lombardi's Imports has been selling Italian imports and making subs to order for fifty years.
And on the east end, in a residential pocket by Sedgwick Farm, is Riley's at 312 Park Street. The address has been a tavern since 1897, when it opened as a Haberle Brewery saloon, and it still draws a crowd for an eclectic, daily-rotating menu and a serious dessert program. We had dinner there last week and loved it.
If there's a place on the Northside you think we missed, hit reply and tell us. There's far more here than one edition can hold. The Northside has its own neighborhoods within it, and we'll keep coming back to explore them.
THE CLUB
Your space — reply and join the conversation.
The World Cup feels like it has the whole city watching. There are official watch parties downtown this week, but the best spots are usually the ones we don't know about yet.
This week's question: where are you watching in CNY? The bar with every screen on the match, the brewery with the projector, a buddy's backyard. Hit reply and tell us where the good crowd is, and we'll run the best answers next week.
THE VIEW
One photo from the week — from us, or from you.
Critz Farms Summer Solstice celebration this past Saturday
Every Tuesday, in your inbox and at saltcityclub.com.
Join the club.
— Salt City Club Team