The aquarium got sharks and Melo bought a CNY farm

Hello, Syracuse

Somebody check the forecast twice, because the week before Halloween weekend is about to hand us seven straight days of sun with highs in the 60s. That is either a gift or a sick joke. As long as I am not out trick or treating in the rain next week (like last year) I will take it! Also in here: the Harborview Aquarium has live sharks in the tanks, which makes the whole thing feel real for the first time. Carmelo Anthony quietly picked up 60 acres in Madison County and named it Stay Melo Farm, and Toggenburg Mountain is coming back from the dead after a multi-year court fight. Let's get into it.

What is actually swimming in the Harborview Aquarium

The county's aquarium at the Inner Harbor has been sharing more info on the fish that they will have on display and we finally have a look at the species list: pufferfish, tangs, gobies and sharks. The big shark tank is the one built around a 60,000-pound acrylic panel, the piece that held up construction earlier this year.

The Cracked Bean's second shop is close to opening

The Cracked Bean quietly ran a soft opening at its new 719 E. Genesee St. location over the weekend. If you have been watching that storefront and wondering whether anything was happening in there, the answer is yes. No full opening date has been announced yet but we wanted to keep you in the loop.

Nine donors, one private room, and a steep price of entry

When President Trump came to the Oncenter on Oct. 9 to stump for Republican gubernatorial nominee Bruce Blakeman, the public rally was only part of the itinerary. Before the speech he sat down privately with nine donors, and a seat in that room did not come cheap, est. $100k donation per person.

Micron and Lockheed turn up on the White House ballroom donor list

Leaked documents behind the $330 million raised for President Trump's new White House ballroom put a few familiar Syracuse-area employers in the mix. Micron is down for $2.5 million and Lockheed Martin for $10 million.

Hundreds turned out across CNY for the No Kings rallies

The Oct. 17 No Kings day of action brought crowds to intersections across the Syracuse area. This round came with a specific ask attached: vote early. Organizers timed the national event to the start of early voting ahead of the midterms.

Toggenburg Mountain is coming back

The Fabius ski hill has a new owner, and it is a family that used to own the land before it sold in 1953. The Wheeler family of Countryside Excavation is aiming to run the resort for the 2027-28 season, opening the restaurant first while they work out which lifts, pumps and piping can be salvaged. Toggenburg went dark after Intermountain bought it in 2021, which left Syracuse skiers with only Intermountain-owned hills and prompted Attorney General Letitia James to sue under the Donnelly Act. A judge sided with her in March 2025, finding the purchase and closure had squeezed out competition.

The Westside pump track versus the police parking lot

The pump track on Syracuse's Westside sits just to the left of Lipe Art Park, on the exact patch of ground the city wants for a police car lot attached to the new Public Safety Building. The city's plan is to move the track somewhere nearby. Some neighbors who pushed the original bike track project want it left where it is. City councilors meet Oct. 21 at 5:30 p.m. to talk through what happens next. If you want to support keeping a 3rd space open go make your voice heard.

Syracuse has a nightlife coordinator now

Mayor Sharon Owens appointed Drechir Whitfield to the city's first-ever nightlife coordinator role. The job is part economic development and part translator between bar and venue owners and City Hall.

SU biologists found a creature that lives at 145 degrees

Syracuse University researchers Angela Oliverio and Beryl Rappaport pulled an amoeba out of a stream at Lassen Volcanic National Park that keeps dividing at 145°F and forms dormant cysts at 158°F. Biologists had long assumed complex cells give out somewhere around 140. They named it Incendiamoeba cascadensis, fire amoeba for short, and published the find in Cell. The practical payoff is heat-stable enzymes for industry, and the less practical payoff is a better idea of where to go looking for life on other planets.

Carmelo Anthony bought a farm in Madison County

Melo now owns nearly 60 acres in Brookfield, about an hour southeast of Syracuse, bought for $680,000. The property came with an early-1800s farmhouse, a couple of cabins, and a stocked pond with a sandy beach, a diving board and a slide. His son Kiyan says the plan is a family retreat his dad can pass down, with a basketball court possibly on the way. Anthony is calling it Stay Melo Farm.

3326 Oak Brook Rd, Baldwinsville - $659,900

4 bd | 4 ba | 3,518 sqft

A Radisson house with room to actually spread out. The first floor has a big kitchen and living room combo with a breakfast bar and eat-in dining, a butler's pantry that runs into a formal dining room with a tray ceiling and wainscoting, and a mudroom plus first-floor laundry with folding space that will quietly improve your weekends. Upstairs there is a loft for whatever you decide it should be, two bedrooms sharing a Jack and Jill bath, a third with its own bath and walk-in closet, and a primary suite with a sitting area, a fireplace and two walk-in closets. Refinished hardwood runs through the place, and outside you get a three-car garage, a fenced yard and a deck.

The Landmark Theatre is said to be haunted by three ghosts

@syracusesocialite went through the ghost stories this week, and the Landmark has picked up three of them over the decades. Watch the reel and pick which story creeps you out the most. I know this won’t leave my memory and next time I am there for a show I will be on alert for a ghost sighting.