While on the road, we tend to bump into some pretty cool history.  Take “The Mayfield Grill” for example, a host location for the Mohawk Valley APA, located just inside the southern border of the Adirondack State Park of Upstate New York.  League Operator Scott Packard (pictured left) introduced us to The Mayfield’s owner, Kevin Chaffee (pictured right).  Chaffee is a proud APA member, host location owner, and an amateur historian with a story to tell.<?xml:namespace prefix = o /?>

He recently renovated the upper level of “The Mayfield Grill”, once a 250-seat movie theater in the early 1920s, a fact confirmed by a certificate of compliance discovered in a wall during recent construction.  In addition to showing movies for as little as 15 cents a ticket, a stage was erected from time to time for professional boxing matches!  Chaffee recently turned this room into a banquet hall that doubles as additional space for APA weekly league play.  His goal was to retain and highlight the room’s previous life as a movie house, so he refinished the hardwood floors, made of locally milled maple, and paid homage to the cinema with posters and drapes recalling the classics—John Wayne photos even make an appearance or two on the walls of this cozy old room with a view. 

The first floor is filled with a history all its own.  Chaffee proudly displays an old photo of the bar beside a shelf filled with APA trophies and team photos.  During the time of prohibition, from 1921 through 1933, a game room was in full swing with, you guessed it, pool tables!  The pool tables have come and gone over the years as a variety of owners fulfilled their varied dreams for The Mayfield.  We’re happy to report that Kevin Chaffee’s dream includes pool tables and lots of APA members enjoying the sport of pool.