Plea from LG events: ‘We need help!’

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

The Warren County Winter Coalition hosted a meeting last Thursday, June 20, at the Queensbury Hotel, in large part to address concerns over challenges they said face several long-term shoulder season events in Lake George and beyond.

“We’re requesting someone to somehow help us out,” Erin VanVeghten of Adirondack Nationals Car Show told the gathering of about 50 business representatives, elected officials and others.

“Any sponsorship would be appreciated,” Mr. VanVeghten said. “We don’t want to keep raising rates. We’re kind of stuck. We don’t know where to go or who to turn to.”

Moderator Sam Luciano, a leader of the Winter Coalition and President of Fort William Henry Resort, said he called the meeting after two concerning events:

Adirondack Nationals renewed its commitment for just one year, rather than a multi-year lease to return to the Fort after this year, “because things are really tight.”

“Then, two weeks later we learned that Ice Castles will not be back for the 2024-25 winter season,” after experiencing losses in each of their three years here.

“We just can’t let these events erode from us,” Mr. Luciano said.

Vinnie Crocitto III, representing the Winter Coalition and its Winter’s Dream attraction, as well as his Holiday Inn Resort, added later, “Imagine Lake George without the car show or Americade, so vital to our business community.”

The goal, Mr. Luciano said, was to brainstorm with the crowd and “come out of here with 10 good ideas.”

He said that while Winter’s Dream, the new light and sound experience at Fort William Henry, received $3 million in county occupancy tax funds in its start up year, and reportedly cost $6 million total to create, most events receive no more than $50,000 in occupancy tax funds — “and that’s not a lot of money to pull off and plan for an event.”

Panel speakers included Christian Dutcher of Americade, Jessyca Darrah of the Lake George Winter Carnival, Mr. VanVeghten and Ken Williams of Adirondack Nationals, and Mr. Crocitto.

They cited similar issues: Decreased attendance; lack of volunteers; winter events’ dependence on undependable snow and cold; dwindling outside corporate sponsor budgets; increasing insurance and other costs.

Mr. Dutcher said Americade attendance “started to wane going into the early 2000s,” with “the greatest shrinkage” in 2008. They went from 12 full-time employees to just three, and cut the schedule from a week to five days.

Specific challenges, he said, include changing demographics of motorcycling and increasing independence of travelers making their own plans.

“We’ve met with some success” in efforts to attract a younger demographic with new programming, Mr. Dutcher said.

But he said, “We are very reliant on available blacktop” for vendors and motorcycle events. “We use 100 percent of what’s available,” and that he’s found, if they try to hold events even nearby but not in Lake George, they don’t draw.

Ms. Darrah noted that Winter Carnival, at 64 years, is the longest-running Lake George event She said new demands on social media and changing technology are especially hard on the all-volunteer committee, and that they only started taking credit card payments last year.

The tension, she said, is “keeping everything as it was and adding to the event, catering to what families want today,” while also not relying on ice or snow.

They aim also to get let summer visitors know “there’s something to come back for in the winter,” she said.

Adirondack Nationals regularly fills its capacity of 1,500 registered vehicles, Mr. VanVeghten and Mr. Williams said, but spectator admissions are dwindling while costs go up. They said, “We haven’t gotten back to pre-Covid numbers yet,” even as “we fill every room in town.” Mr. Luciano said, “They’re really dependent on the $15 admission fee” for spectators.

Mr. Crocitto said Winter’s Dream “didn’t sell as many tickets as we hoped to, but we are very confident the event is capable.” He said, “There’s robust demand. People want things to do here…

“Our main priority is to bring out a sponsorship program and pre-sell guests. There’s a void between summer and winter guests to the region.”

Sara Mannix, also a member of the Warren County Coalition, said confusion between winter offerings may be relieved since Ice Castles and its “Winter Realms” won’t return.

Suggestions from the crowd included coordinating with the Arts District in Glens Falls; events’ pooling resources; appealing first to the 65,000 Warren County residents and their friends and families; a “Plan for Winter Now” campaign to summer visitors; and engagement programs where employers pay staff to help with events rather than simply provide cash funding.

Some people offered criticisms of admission fees or timing of events.

Queensbury Ward Two Councilman Harrison Freer asked, “Are we looking at trends in tourism and people’s interests?” He cited pickleball fast rising popularity as an example.

“Just hoping to keep things around that have been around forever is not a good strategy,” Mr. Freer suggested.

Copyright © 2024 Lone Oak Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved