The first Adirondack Wine & Food Festival
in Lake George attracted about 2,500 people on
June 27 and 28, despite poor summer weather
conditions, organizers said.
“We are very pleased with the outcome,”
said Sasha Pardy, co-owner and president of
Adirondack Winery in Lake George and developer
of the festival.
The event is already being planned for next
year.
When the event was announced in April, officials
said they hoped to attract 3,000 people.
The festival celebrated craft beverages
and locally made foods that the Lake George/
Adirondack region has to offer, at Charles R.
Wood Park.
Most attendees came on Saturday, which had
little rain. Sunday there was rain aplenty, Pardy
said.
“On Sunday, the ground was wet, but it was
just misting rain from 12-3, so we had many folks
willing to come out and they enjoyed no lines at
the vendor booths,” she said, noting that only a
small percentage of people who were issued pre-sale
tickets did not show up.
“The reports from vendors has been more
than we could have hoped for,” Pardy said. “Our
feedback from vendors has been that many sold
more product than they have at many festivals
they’ve attended across New York and that our
attendees were very engaged in learning about
the craft beverages, many were foodies, and they really wanted to purchase their favorite products
to take home with them.”
A purchase drop-off/pick-up tent made it easy
for people to buy products and have their bags
and boxes held until they were ready to leave
the festival.
“It’s great to see that our attendees supported
the small family businesses our local craft beverage
and food makers run by not only tasting their
products, but buying them to take home,” she said.
“Vendors told us that they loved the space and
were happy with the logistics. I am also proud to
say that many vendors told us that they thought
this was one of the best organized festivals they
have ever been a part of.”
She praised festival coordinator Stephanie
Ottino for doing outstanding work.
Pardy said she also got good feedback about
the SUNY Adirondack culinary tent. Chef Matt
Bolton and his students performed cooking
demonstrations and sold food samples.
She said the festival will donate a portion of
the ticket sales proceeds to the SUNY Adirondack
Foundation.
Pardy said learning from this year, next year’s
effort will include more staffing and inventory for
vendor booths.
“We think that if we had a good weather
forecast two days in a row, we would have had no
problem drawing 4,000 attendees,” said Pardy.
“We’re pretty proud of that, whether it’s a first
year festival or not.”
Photo Courtesy Adirondack Wine and Food Festival