Merchants along Broadway in Saratoga Springs are excited for the boost in business they will receive in what would typically be a slower time of the year.

In the elaborately decorated windows and all up and down Broadway, there are the signature green colors of the Belmont. 

“I think the town is ready,” said Celtic Treasures owner Paul O’Donnell. “We’ve been prepping for months and months and ready to bring on a great big showcase for Saratoga.”

Common Thread owner Doreen Kamen couldn’t wait for the Belmont fun to begin.

“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to introduce people to our city,” she said.

Kamen said it’s not a stretch to say horse racing and knitting go hand in hand.

“A lot of people don’t have a yarn shop where they live, so I become their summer yarn shop,” she said. “We get a lot of people coming in here and saying they found out about us because they saw people were sitting in the stands knitting or crocheting and say ‘where’d you get that stuff?’ And they find us.”

Her shop even offers its own Belmont-themed merchandise including a Belmont Stakes cowl kit, which has been hand-designed by a local designer and the yarn has actually been designed locally as well.

“So it’s a great souvenir,” she said, “and you could wear it all winter long to remind people that you were here for the Belmont Stakes.”

Every Wednesday afternoon, there is social knitting at Common Thread.

On the day of the Belmont, it happens to be Worldwide Knit in Public Day, so when 50,000 people are at the track and thousands of others are at watch parties, there will be a big crowd gathered on Broadway to knit.