By Maureen Werther<\/p>\n
The Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce is working with Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC) and the Adirondack Folk School to assemble a new holiday event, the Adirondack Christkindlmarkt.<\/p>\n
The event is scheduled to take place in Festival Commons at Charles R. Wood Park Friday through Sunday, Dec. 7-9. It will run 3-8 p.m. Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. that Sunday<\/p>\n
The event will be free to the public.<\/p>\n
The European-style festival translates to mean \u201cChristmas Market,\u201d according to special event and convention sales director Kristen Hanifin.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea initially came from a meeting that the executive director of ADK Folk School, Scott Hayden, and I had over coffee about a year ago,\u201d said Hanifin. She lived in Europe for 12 years and has attended several German Christkindlmarkts. The events had music, food, rides, entertainment,\u00a0 <\/span>handmade ornaments and crafts from artisans located in the region.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n \u201cSo, Scott said, \u2018Well, I have about 80 artisans at the Folk School. I\u2019d love the opportunity to have their work showcased in a unique event,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen you put two visionary people together in the same room, it\u2019s amazing what you can come up with.\u201d<\/p>\n She said that these types of festivals have been successful in driving winter tourism throughout Europe for hundreds of years. The planning team wants to turn it into a signature event and holiday tradition that will regularly bring more people and more commerce to Lake George and the surrounding region in the winter months.<\/p>\n Because the events in Europe are such an old tradition, there are permanent structures set in a defined area for vendors to set up and display their wares, as well as to provide music, food and entertainment. The event at Festival Commons will be partially tented\u2014at least initially\u2014with the goal of eventually creating a \u201cvendor village\u201d of its own. Hanifin said there will also be fire pits, holiday lights and decorations, as well as activities for children, including pony rides, horse drawn carriages and more.<\/p>\n The Lake George Chamber plans to do a lot of outreach to local hotels and resorts, enlisting their aid in attracting guests by developing lodging and dining packages.<\/p>\n Hayden\u2019s large list of artisans and makers of authentic Adirondack and Americana products from ADK Folk School will be essential in contributing to the atmosphere of the event, while also expanding people\u2019s awareness of the diversity of products produced in the region.<\/p>\n Hayden is confident the event will be an effective showcase for the school\u2019s extensive list of courses available to people wishing to learn crafts such as woodworking, blacksmithing, weaving, looming and other arts.<\/p>\n \u201cWe anticipate that approximately 6,000 people will attend Christkindlmarkt over the course of the entire weekend,\u201d said Hayden.<\/p>\n All three organizations plan to actively promote the event on multiple media platforms as they continue in the planning and implementation phases.<\/p>\n For more information about the event or to learn about participating in it as a vendor, contact Kristen Hanifin, Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce, at 518-668-5755.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Maureen Werther The Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce is working with Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Council (LARAC) and the Adirondack Folk School to assemble a new holiday event, the Adirondack Christkindlmarkt. The event is scheduled to take place in Festival Commons at Charles R. Wood Park Friday through Sunday, Dec. 7-9. It will […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n