Meet a TwinBridger: Andy McAdoo
Shenendehowa students helped with the maple syrup project.
By Richard Landers
October 2026
"I spent 10 years trying to get away from the farm and the rest of my life trying to get back," says Andy McAdoo.
Andy grew up on his family's dairy farm in Ogdensburg, near the Canadian border, one of eight children. The McAdoos bought the farm from the Van Rensselaer family in 1848, and Andy spent 10 years of his youth working it. Still, he always wanted to "see the world" beyond rural upstate New York.
His way off the farm was an internship with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW). He then spent 10 years based in Austin, Texas, working on telephone systems at military bases across the country, followed by two years in Manhattan, "still trying to get back to Upstate." Eventually he made it, returning to St. Lawrence County to manage an independent phone company, then moving to Albany in 2012 to manage the Thruway Authority's phone network. He went on to work as a telecom consultant and certified project manager throughout New England and Maryland before retiring.
Retirement hasn't slowed him down, and much of his time now goes to serving others. As a certified tax preparer in an underserved community, Andy loves meeting the people who come through the door: answering their questions, listening to their concerns and challenges, and learning about their history. He also volunteers his time refurbishing historic markers throughout the City of Mechanicville in support of the New York State Historical Marker Grant Program.
Rotary was a natural next step. "I knew some folks in the Potsdam Rotary, went to a meeting and enjoyed it," he says. "Later, I found Twin Bridges. Everyone was very welcoming." Andy speaks highly of the great work Twin Bridges Rotary does in the community, and Rotary's motto, "Service Above Self," suits him well.
For Andy, civic life extends to politics as well. He chairs the Halfmoon Democratic Committee and is a member of the Democratic County Committee. In 2022 he was a Democratic Party candidate for the State Assembly but was defeated by a Republican incumbent. When I was working in the phone industry, I thought I'd run for office after I retired," he says. "I was a bit naïve and underestimated the work involved. I knew running against an incumbent would be tough."
When he isn't serving others, Andy is usually outdoors. He works as a fishing department outfitter at Bass Pro Shops in Clifton Park. "I really enjoy that," he says, adding that his coworkers are a great group and the company treats its employees well. "The good part is it pays for my boating activities." Those activities come through Freedom Boat Club, an international club with a location on Lake George. He has taken club boats out up and down the East Coast and in Texas, though Lake George remains a favorite. Family is part of the fun, too. Andy has four children and three grandchildren, and this past summer he ran a backyard "summer camp" for the grandchildren and, occasionally, their friends.
Through it all, the farm has never been far from his mind. Andy spent a lot of time in Canada in his youth, and again years later when his children played youth sports, including hockey. He admires how the country has protected its rural character. "In Canada, they've really supported the family farm much more so than here," he says. "Just drive around Ontario. It looks like upstate New York in the 1970s, with all the family farms. It's very sad to see Canada on poor terms now with the United States."
He has watched as much of Halfmoon's farmland has given way to new development. Still, the farm boy in him found a way to take root. When he moved to his current home and saw all the maple trees, he decided to start tapping them.
It takes about 40 gallons of sap to make one gallon of syrup. Andy taps his neighbors' trees as well as his own and gives away almost all the syrup around the neighborhood. Neighbors pitch in, and the effort has grown into something more. Andy mentored the Shenendehowa High School environmental club through the entire process, from identifying the trees to bottling and labeling the finished syrup, and helped the students win school board approval to set up a syruping operation on the high school campus.
"It's a social thing in the spring," he says. "It's a sweet pastime."