Wine and food later in June
LAKE GEORGE, N.Y. » Event-goers will be able to once again enjoy the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival, which will be held Saturday, June 23, and Sunday, June 24, at Charles R. Wood Festival Commons, in the village of Lake George.
Officials said the fourth-annual, family friendly wine and food tasting event will feature more than 85 of the finest New York state wine producers, craft beverage makers, artisan food vendors, food trucks and more. Organizers said they are expecting more than 6,000 people to travel to Lake George for the festival, which last year broke all previous attendance records and had more than a $1 million economic impact on the greater Lake George region.
“We are thrilled to once again bring exposure to the amazing locally-made wines, craft beverages and foods produced all across New York state, including those made right here in Lake George,” said Sasha Pardy, founder of the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival and co-owner of the Adirondack Winery in Lake George. “This event has quickly become the premier wine and food tasting event for our region, complementing established festivals in the Finger Lakes and Hudson Valley areas, and our research shows visitors are willing to travel a long way to taste the diverse products New York has to offer.”
New attractions at this year’s event include a new VIP Ticket experience including early and dedicated entry and a festival goodie bag. Under the popular Culinary Tent, the Festival welcomes a new chef: Finger Lakes Celebrity Chef William Cornelius will conduct hourly culinary demonstrations using his own handcrafted sauces, locally sourced foods, and will be both cooking with and pairing his recipes with Adirondack Winery wines and Adirondack Brewery beers. Area bartenders will be mixing up cocktails with locally made wines and liquors available for purchase at the festival, and each day will end with a “Fest Taste Test” of smoked meats cooked on Big Green Egg grills provided by Culinary Tent Sponsor, Marcella’s Appliance Center.
Organizers said that an attendee survey from the 2017 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival showed 58 percent of festival attendees drove more than one hour to attend the two-day wine and food tasting event. These visitors came from 31 states and Canada and booked an estimated 3,380 hotel room stays in the Lake George region. About 90 percent of 2017 festival attendees ate at a local restaurant and 75 percent shopped or visited local attractions. The festival is also popular among millennials. An estimated 55 percent of attendees were born after 1977.
This year’s festival will feature 25 wineries, 12 distilleries, five breweries, seven cideries, a meadery, 10 food trucks, 30 artisan food vendors and eight specialty vendors. With a tasting ticket, visitors are given a souvenir wine glass, which they can use to sample wines, beers, spirits, ciders, and other unique food products. Guests can also utilize a convenient Drop-Off / Pick-Up Tent, where they can store their purchases until they are ready to leave.
Designated driver and underage tickets are $15 and include food sampling, a bottle of water and a souvenir wine glass upon the guest’s exit. Admission for children younger
mulch” will be put down in the tot area. The playground presently has pea stone throughout.
Equipment being considered includes an octagonal apple tree house, play facades which look like Hollywood exterior sets, double slides, mushroom hops, low money bars, balance beams, an arch bridge, and benches.
“We focused on this area because there are things that are not working there as they once did,” Barrett said. “Once this is done it might spur interest in replacing the entire park.”
A thick paint stain is to be used on those parts that will need painting which should give the equipment some longevity where upkeep is concerned. The improvements will also meet ADA requirements.
One of the questions that came up early in the discussions was what to do with the individually engraved bricks that form walkways around the playground. The bricks were sold as a way to finance the purchase of the park equipment.
During earlier presentations on the project Barrett noted that some of the bricks were no longer level or stable in some places. Options that were considered at the time were returning them to their owners or finding another use for them.
However, after discussions with a committee formed to consider the improvements and hearing from residents Barrett said the town will work to level and improve the pathway and replace the bricks where they are.
“We understand there’s a deep connection to the park,” he said.
In other action at the May 21 meeting, the board approved a $50,000 NYSERDA contract and Clean Energies Community grant to replace the lights in the Prestige Services Arena with LED lighting as well as the lights on the Common’s basketball courts.
The new lighting is expected to improve the experience for hockey teams and ice skaters as well as indoor lacrosse, and summer day camp participants in the ice arena and basketball leagues and recreational users at the courts.
“By changing all the lights in the (ice) arena we’ll save a lot of money,” Barrett said, “And by exchanging the bulbs at the basketball courts and installing a new lighting control system we’ll have opportunities for night basketball past regular closing hours. I know there’s some interest in playing there at night and if we can offer that I suggest we do it.”