We’re chatting with Cara Greenslade this week, who you may recognize as one of the owners of Sidekick Creative (remember our coloring pages last year? They were the masterminds who brought them to life!). Cara shares what brought her back to Glens Falls after college, the best spur of the moment real estate decision she made, sweet memories from her downtown wedding last summer, and more!
Tell us about yourself!
Hello! My name is Cara Greenslade. I am Business Director and part owner at Sidekick Creative, a local graphic design firm. I’m the only non-designer in our small team of four, but I love working in the creative space and working with so many other great businesses in the area and beyond. We work with a lot of destinations, events and non-profits on branding, layout (brochures, publications) and custom illustrations. Every day brings something different, we have the best team and clients, and it’s a pretty awesome feeling to actually enjoy going to into work everyday.
I live right in Glens Falls with my husband (we just got married six months ago so the word husband still sounds weird to me), Ethan, and our cat, Onyx. We both love it here and have no plans of ever leaving!
On Life In Glens Falls
I have lived in Glens Falls since I was 10. I left for college and came back to Glens Falls for what I thought was only going to be a temporary stay until I figured something else out. It was around this time that downtown Glens Falls was really coming alive again. I started to see Glens Falls not just as my childhood hometown, but as a great place to put down more roots and start a career. I think my main motive for leaving was living somewhere a little warmer, but every year I start to enjoy the four seasons a little more. And there’s nothing quite like heading downtown on the first warm spring day after a long winter and enjoying a drink outside at one of the restaurants.
A year or two after graduating, I ran into my old friend from high school and coworker from my lifeguarding days at Million Dollar Beach, and now over six years later we’re married, we both have careers we love here, and we really enjoy being within walking distance to both of our parents.
We own a multi-family home within a five minute walk of downtown. My parents and I bought it on whim around three years ago. I was renting an apartment with no immediate plans on buying a house (I had just started a business!) and we saw this house get listed at a great price. My mom and I decided to check it out and that same night we put an offer in. It was one of the craziest, but best spur of the moment decisions I’ve ever made. We live in one apartment and rent the two others and are lucky to have great tenants. The apartment we’ve been living in needed the most work and three years later we’re just putting on the final touches with A LOT of help from our parents. The house was really solidly built so the work we’ve been doing is just cosmetic for the most part, but we’ve got big plans for the other two apartments and outside for the future!
Some Glens Falls Favorites
I love the walkability, especially in the warmer months. We’re lucky to live in a part of town where we can walk to downtown in five minutes, to Crandall Park in ten and to work in 20 minutes (our studio is in The Shirt Factory). I also love the events - LARAC June Arts Fest, Taste of the North County, Fourth of July Fireworks and the Symphony in Crandall Park, and the Balloon Fest just to name a few.
I don’t think this is exactly a hidden gem, but if you don’t know about the Fenimore’s Happy Hour, you should! It’s a favorite of ours, especially on winter Fridays. Post Covid, I know it will be one of the first places we go. The staff is so friendly, the ambiance is cozy and laid back, and the food and drink are great! And there’s usually live piano or a jazz trio playing in the beautiful lobby.
A Perfect Glens Falls Day
To be very specific, it would be a warm, sunny, summer Saturday. My husband and I would walk to the Farmers’ Market to stock up on fresh veggies and cheese, grab a latte at Spektor, and head to Rude Betty to grab a gift for a friend or family member. Before heading home we might enjoy our coffee in City Park. After that my mom and I might check out some garage sales and grab ice cream for lunch at Coopers Cave, Rob & Deb’s or Sprinkles. In the afternoon, Ethan and I would most likely be heading to one of our parents houses to hang out by the pool. We’d finish out the day by meeting friends for dinner and drinks at Raul’s or Mikado, or if we were doing a date night, heading to Farmacy or Radici.
On the Past
This is a not too distant memory, but this past June, in the midst of the pandemic, Ethan and I got married with just our immediate family in attendance. After a ceremony in my parents yard, we headed downtown for photos followed by a delicious dinner at Morgan & Co. It was a beautiful day and people were taking advantage of outdoor dining and just being outside walking around. As we walked around downtown getting photos, people were clapping, yelling congratulations and honking. We were so happy, and there was so much good energy in Glens Falls surrounding us. Once we got to Morgan & Co, our families surprised us by setting up our first dance on the front lawn (something we originally didn’t plan on doing) and inviting all of our local friends and family who weren’t able to attend (because of Covid) to watch — socially distant style. No one forgets their wedding day, but I know this memory will always be there to remind Ethan and I why we love where we live.
On the Future
Some things I’d love to see:
Restaurant - Mediterranean, healthy-ish.
Business - Ethan always talks about wanting an arcade style bar/restaurant in Glens Falls so throwing this in.
Public Space - I love Exchange Street and I think any way we can make it even better, expand it or create more spaces like this in Glens Falls would be awesome.
Store - Small grocery or bodega in Glens Falls with the basics and some easy to-go or take-and-bake style meals for easy dinners.
Crandall Park - I’m throwing this in just because I feel like the park has come alive in the last few years and they are doing so many things right. New courts, ice-skating, disc golf — all of it is so great!
