Featured Saratoga Living Insider: Ashley Salvadore
The professional fun-pusher shares news of this year's USA Mullet Championship, intel on this fall's Mocktail Mommy meet-up and deets on next weekend's Washington County Bounty Tour.
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You may remember Ashley Salvadore from our 2023 Celeb Shot interview with her. Or maybe from the mullet breakfast she threw for her husband, two-time USA Mullet Champ Scott. Or maybe from our recap of her second-ever Mocktail Mommy event at Kindred. Maybe, you have no idea who the fun-pushing, mocktail-sipping, Instagram-influencing, Ohio-born dog mom is. Well, it’s about time you found out.
We interviewed you back in 2023—what's new since then?
I just celebrated a year on air with 99.5 The River—Ashley's Awesome Always Amazing Activities And Adventures Around Albany airs every Thursday morning on The River Morning show with Kevin & Tracy. I also went full time as a creative director with SwagHouse Productions, a marketing/event planning company. So, basically, I’m the boss of all things fun! (DREAM JOB, ACTUALLY.)
Tell us about Mocktail Mommy.
I’m coming up on two years of no alcohol. My friend Kyle and I started Mocktail Mommy at the beginning of this year, and host fun, sober events for ALL ladies (not just moms!) in the 518. So far we’ve popped up at The Delaware, Kindred, Fix Wellness & Beauty and Toro Cantina. Kyle just became a real mommy this week (we love you Baby Finn!), so we’re hoping to host a cozy Mocktail event later this fall. Connecting ladies who want to have hangover-free fun has just brought us so much joy. Because, hey, you don’t need to drink to have a good time! Come to one of our Mocktail Mommy events—we’ll show you. (Follow Ashley on Instagram for news on the next one.)
What's Scott's current Mullet Champion status?
Well, Scott is the first person to ever win the USA Mullet Championship two years in a row—he’s a back-to-back champ! He was really trying for a threepeat, but it didn’t happen this year. The guy who placed ahead of him raised $20,000 (winning is based off a combination of votes, judges scoring and money raised). Scott beat everyone by a landslide in votes (3,739 to 2,387) but money won in the end. He changed his license plates to 1 MULLET, so I think the mullet will stay a little while longer….*heavy sighs.* I just want my dry shampoo back! It’s expensive!
You've been working with the County Bounty Tour. Tell us what that is.
This has become a bit of a passion project for me. I consider myself a fun-pusher: I’m always in search of a hidden gem or something fun to do. I recently discovered Tiashoke Farms—a GLORIOUS family farm with an impressive farm store, event space and Insta-worthy photo opportunities—that’s only half an hour from Saratoga. I found out they’re one of the businesses on this amazing thing called the Washington County Bounty tour, where you drive from farm to farm petting farm animals and eating embarrassing amounts of cheese samples. It’s now my life’s mission to make sure everyone around me knows about the hidden gems in Washington County. The people, the food, the land…There’s just so much going on over the bridge! The County Bounty Tour is a great way to get a taste of what this area has to offer.
What do we need to know about the Tour?
It’s going on next weekend—September 7 and 8—from 10am-4pm, and it’s FREE. It used to be called the Washington County Cheese Tour, and while it still boasts tons of free cheese samples, this year they wanted a new name to reflect that it’s about more than just cheese. It features nine beautiful family farms and small businesses, with each stop offering something unique (think live music, food trucks, farm animals, antiques, face-painting and kids activities). Head over to countybountytour.com to start planning your route.
What other clients are you working with these days?
We just helped coordinate an employee appreciation day at Saratoga Race Course for Metroland Business Machines, which is celebrating 50 years in business. We work with Bowled Co, a healthy food company in the Capital Region (Malta, Latham, Troy, Schenectady, Scotia, Albany and Amsterdam, plus Myrtle Beach and Venice Beach), as well as The NY Women’s Expo in Albany. We will have availability starting in October for some more clients, so if you have a grand opening, need some social media assistance, your email marketing has been lagging and/or your online presence needs a little swag, We are your girls! Yes, it’s a woman-run company! Shoot me an email: ashley@swaghouseproductions.com
What’s next?
Scott and I just closed on our first home this month! It’s on 15 acres not far from Saratoga Lake in Stillwater. I’m basically a farmer now. I have big plans for Ashley’s Aussies (Australian Shepherd breeding), a flower farm and maybe a pony rental business. Idk. Scott said we should move the couch into the house from the garage before we start anything else, but we have big plans for the property. We’re overjoyed to finally have a place of our own, and of course, to move just a LITTLE bit closer to Saratoga Springs.
—Natalie