In light of current social distancing guidelines revolving around the COVID-19 pandemic, Adirondack Festivals LLC has rescheduled the 6th Annual Adirondack Wine & Food Festival to the weekend of Sept. 26-27.
The festival is normally held the last weekend in June. The decision to reschedule was made to help protect the health and safety of festival attendees and vendors, while providing an alternative date in 2020 with favorable weather, said Sasha Pardy, owner of Adirondack Festivals LLC.
“Nothing is more important than the well-being of our attendees and vendors,” said. “But we remain hopeful that come September, we are able to host our festival barring any federal, state or local regulations that would prohibit it. We are treating this pandemic very seriously and we will do everything we can to make our event as safe as possible for everyone in attendance.”
The festival will continue its support of Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Southern Adirondacks. This is the third consecutive year BBBS is the beneficiary of the festival. Last year, the festival raised $15,000 for the organization.
The Adirondack Wine & Food Festival features 120 of New York’s wineries, breweries, distilleries, cideries, artisan food vendors, food trucks and more. The festival is a try-before-you-buy farmer’s market style event that also has a positive economic impact on the Lake George region.
According to festival officials, last year’s festival generated a $3.5 million economic impact, with over 4,000 hotel room nights generated in the area. This year’s festival attendance was expected to surpass 7,250. Survey data shows 85 percent of festival attendees plan their trip to Lake George specifically around the dates of the festival.
“The Adirondack Wine and Food festival is one of our region’s premier annual events,” said Lake George Mayor Robert Blais. “We are extremely grateful that they have chosen to reschedule the event until September rather than cancel for 2020.”
State Sen. Betty Little said the festival “has been a wonderful success, an event that will continue to grow in popularity. Rather than simply cancelling, deciding now to reschedule the event for later this year is the right move. This gives everyone plenty of time to plan for an early autumn event and to have something to look forward to.”
Gina Mintzer, executive director of the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce said the festival “has become a model event for use of the Festival Commons at Charles R. Wood Park. We have enjoyed watching this fun weekend event grow to the point of generating more than 4,000 room nights, bringing tourists with higher than typical incomes to the area. Late September will provide a beautiful autumn backdrop for this premier festival. Fall is a great season to visit the area as it can be less crowded than the summer yet provide great weather. Many of the same activities people enjoy in the summer can be enjoyed in the fall in Lake George.”
Joanne Conley, tourism director at Warren County Tourism said the festival “is a premier event that significantly impacts our early summer economy. Sasha and her team have given careful consideration to rescheduling and we are thrilled she has decided not to cancel. We look forward to welcoming back guests who have enjoyed this as a June event and a new audience who will discover a September Wine & Food Festival.”
Ticket holders will be contacted about the change in dates. More information about ticket sales for the September dates will be provided on social media and adkwinefest.com. Newsletter subscribers will also be notified of the changes. People can sign up for the newsletter at adkwinefest.com/signup