Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer
Lake George Mayor Ray Perry proposed the village bring Albany’s former Capital Holiday Lights, in storage since 2022, to create a walk-through winter attraction at Charles Wood Park’s Festival Commons.
Mayor Perry pitched it at an Aug. 30 village meeting. He told The Chronicle the concept has been “pretty well received among the few people I’ve shared it with.”
The Police Athletic League in Albany owns the lights, and Mayor Perry said they’re receptive to the idea.
He said the village would likely have to pay to lease the lights. He doesn’t yet know what the cost would be. He foresees that the town and village would work together to set up and take down the lights.
Mayor Perry said it could still be called Capital Holiday Lights. “We are part of the Capital Region,” he said. “So they may not even have to change the name.”
He said it could be a good way to augment Winter’s Dream, which he said is “not as successful as we had hoped.”
“I think it could be a good pairing,” he said. “I’m just looking to bring people to the village.”
Mayor Perry said that in a perfect world there would be one ticket price for both Winter’s Dream and the Capital Holiday Lights attraction, but “we don’t really live in a perfect world. We’re under contract with Moment Factory [the Winter’s Dream creator] and there’s a non-compete element that would have to be discussed.”
Speaking of ticket prices, he’d like to see them lowered for Winter’s Dream, “especially in this economy, in an election year, with high inflation.”
“It was $30 a ticket,” he said. “That’s $120 for a family of four.”
Mayor Perry also urged making Winter’s Dream more visible and enticing to passersby. “There’s some talk of making it a little more noticeable from the road and more welcoming,” he said.
Mayor Perry noted that “Winter’s Dream did move the needle last year with a 9% increase in hotel rooms and 22% increase in AirBnbs that Warren County saw over last winter. And we hadn’t done anything different except for Winter’s Dream and Winter’s Realm.”
Meanwhile, “Essex County went down. So we did do something right,” he said.
He said weather had a role in Winter’s Dream not being as successful as hoped
“The rain really just hurt us last year pretty terribly,” he said. “I think January had 16 days of rain. It wouldn’t have mattered if it were snow. But rain’s different. That really just chases everybody away, especially cold rain.”
He said the village should persist in its quest to get people to Lake George in the offseason. “You wouldn’t know success if not for failures,” he said. “I don’t want to call anything a failure, but at the same time you have to keep trying and pivoting and trying new things, and eventually you’re going to find something that works.
“Everybody’s got an idea. Everybody can tell you what you should be doing. It’s the ability to carry the ball across the goal line that’s different.”
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