Adirondack Family Time™

St. William’s on Long Point in Raquette Lake offers FREE Thursday events during the months of July and August there.  Lisa Meissner of the acoustic group, Rustic Riders . Lisa and her husband Klauss will be performing at St. Williams on Long Point in Raquette Lake on August 23, 7:00 p.m.  There will be two other special events as part of the St. William’s on Long Point Thursday series, though the August 30 and October 6 events will be held at the Raquette Lake School on Route 28.

Did you know? • Bald-faced hornets ( Dolichovespula maculata)   will sting if you get in their way, but will not attack if left alone.  They are also beneficial insects. Hornets will aggressively attack  and sting any intruder disturbing the nest. • Bald-faced hornets are considered social wasp s as they live in groups. Paper wasps and yellow jackets are also social wasps. • The queen becomes active in spring. She will select a place for the nest. • The workers, queen and larvae are referred to as a colony . • Hornets' nests can be found in trees, the eaves of homes, attics, or exterior porches. It does not build its nest inside the nooks of buildings as do yellow jackets . • The bald-faced hornets' nest looks like a gray paper/clay ball . It can sometimes reach the size of a basketball. The inside is lined with individual cells, like a honey comb, where the queen will lay her eggs.  The nests are made by chewing up wood mixed with their saliva.

The Taylor Haskins Quartet will  at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts on Sunday, August 19th, 2012 at 7:30 pm. Joining Taylor for this event will be pianist Mark Shilansky, bassist Joshua Davis, and drummer Jeff Hirshfield. Taylor Haskins is being hailed as one of the most original new voices on the trumpet today. Downbeat Magazine has declared him one of the ’25 Trumpeters of the Future’, stating that Taylor displays “a probing, adroit lyricism and a gift for complex, imaginative composition.”   In 2005, Haskins won a Grammy award working with Dave Holland on the album, "Overtime," and stills plays lead trumpet with the group. 

Hoss’s Country Corner looms large at the junction of Routes 28N and 30 in Long Lake where the annual Author Night will take place this August 14 for its 28th year. Always held the second Tuesday in August the event has grown from a few to sometimes 80 authors in attendance. According to owner Lorrie Hosley, people now plan their vacations around attending this event. “This year there are 60 different authors gathered to meet people and sign books,” says Hosley. “Everyone is always under one tent.    People don’t have to buy books. They can bring their copy and get it personalized by the author. Christopher Shaw will be there along with other Adirondack singers and storytellers.” The event started when Hosley attended a Maitland DeSormo book signing at the Long Lake Town Hall. DeSormo suggested that Hoss’s Country Corner do something similar with more than one author. Hoss’s Author Night was born.

The Adirondack Reader in Inlet, NY  will be hosting its annual Authors' Fair on Sunday, August 12 from 1-4 pm. The Adirondack Reader's Authors' Fair will take place under the tent on Main Street. With many authors. Here are a few of the Adirondack authors you can meet!  The event is free and open to the public. Stop by and say hi, get lunch or go to the beach! Enjoy a beautiful day in Inlet. 

White Castle USA Slider Search in Lake Placid (updated 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016) NEW for 2017) By Diane Chase FREE White Castle USA Slider Search Comes to the Adirondacks:  Lake Placid (NY)  July 27 10 am -noon, 2-4 pm)  September 21 ( 5-7pm) The Olympic games have special meaning to Lake Placid, as hosts for the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games. With Olympic training camps, Olympic facilities, and Olympic events happening at the sites of those Winter Games, Lake Placid has proven that it will always be an Olympic town. Bringing the family to see one of the many Lake Placid Olympic sites is a wonderful opportunity. The chance to for children to actually try an Olympic sport is rare. The White Castle  USA Luge Team  "the fastest sport on ice."  has been going around the country offering free “Learn to Luge” clinics all summer. Each USA Luge Slider Search takes place  in two hours segments where children (9-13) can receive a lesson on a wheele

The Lake Placid Ironman may be over but bike riding around the Adirondacks is still very much in season. There are many places where visitors and locals alike can access the woods and enjoy some off-road trails. For smaller children or those just beginning to experience a wooded trail may want to attempt DEC campgrounds for a trail ride.   When my children were first learning to ride a two-wheeler, I wanted to take them some place where they could explore nature and enjoy a bicycle ride. I didn’t want them to go on a busy road and I felt just traveling around the streets wouldn’t keep my older child interested in the endeavor. We recently joined friends for a ride at the Buck Pond Campground. The entrance to Buck Pond is built on the same site as the old Chateaugay Branch of the Delaware and Hudson (D&H) Railroad. It was the perfect outing for our group consisting of a wide range of ages.

By Diane Chase Raquette Lake comes together each year to celebrate the founder of the Adirondack Great Camp style, William W. Durant. Durant Days not only celebrates the history of the Adirondack architectural form, but brings people to the area that was the birthplace of the Great Camp design. Event Organizer Donna Pohl says, “Beverly Bridger of Great Camp Sagamore and I started this event 14 years ago as a way to gain attention for the National Historic Landmarks of Raquette Lake. One of the crowning jewels during Durant Days is the opportunity for a guided tour of Camp Pine Knot.” Camp Pine Knot , owned by SUNY Cortland was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2004, making it the first such landmark owned and operated by a SUNY institution. Now named Huntington Memorial Camp, the university has operated as an outdoor education center since 1948. “Camp Pine Knot is not usually open to the public,” says Pohl. “It will be interesting for people to go on the F

S honen Knife in Concert   Mt. Sabattis Pavilion in Long Lake Saturday July 28 Doors open at 5:00 p.m. Bring a picnic and a lawn chair. $15, Kids under 12 are free.  The all-girl Japanese Pop-Punk Band Shonen Knife recently completed  their 30th anniversary across North America and now will take a tour stop in Long Lake.  Formed in Osaka, Japan the band's music is heavily influenced by the Ramones and The Beach Boys.  Shonen Knife is the most internationally recognized name in Japanese Rock.  This project is sponsored by The Town of Long Lake and is made possible with public funds from the NYS Council on the Arts Decentralization Re-grant Program. In Hamilton County, the Decentralization Program is administered by the Adirondack Lakes Center for the Arts, located in Blue Mountain Lake.

Movies Come Back To Berkeley Green I did not know much about Saranac Lake’s movie theatre history until my husband spoke of going to see a film in Saranac Lake. In addition to Vaudeville shows and Hollywood location shoots, Saranac Lake was once the home to three movie theatres and a drive-in at various times in its vast history. The Colonial Theatre, once located at 55 Broadway, opened in 1912 with seating for 500. It was later converted to a grocery in the mid 20s with the building eventually demolished in 1974. Community Bank stands in its location now. According to the Historic Saranac Lake Wiki page, the Pontiac Theatre was built at 13 Broadway in 1917 and at one time housed the largest movie screen in Northern New York. The Pontiac burned in 1978 and is currently a parking lot.    The Berkeley Theatre opened in the late 80s near the old Pontiac site and operated until the year 2000 in the basement of Corvo Restaurant, which is now Bear Essentials Apparel.

By Diane Chase For the 3rd year Amusements of America will be coming to Tupper Lake between stops at the Saratoga and Franklin County Fair. In case anyone is wondering about these traveling fairs, Saratoga County Fair (held in Ballston Spa) is one of the oldest fairs in New York State and still organized by the Saratoga Agricultural Society while the Franklin County Fair (held in Malone) is run by the Franklin County Agricultural Society and has continued to provide this annual event for over 150 years. Now the Tupper Lake Lions Club has gotten into the carnival game. From July 25-29 at the Tupper Lake Municipal Park there will be an assortment of carnival rides for children of all ages, from rides for small children to something the parents can share like the Ferris wheel, merry-go-round or the “dizzy dragon.” I can’t tell you what the last one is because when I spoke with Maurice from Amusements of America it sounded like he was on the Ferris Wheel at Saratoga County Fa

By Diane Chase Where’s Waldo? In Lake Placid celebrating his 25 th  birthday. Don’t bother looking for Waldo anywhere else but Lake Placid for the rest of July. He has taken over 20 businesses in celebration of the 55 million Waldo books in print. The Bookstore Plus was one of only 250 independent bookstores across the country that teamed with Candlewick Press to celebrate the popular “seek and find” books. We have been searching for Waldo up and down Main Street, Lake Placid for a few days. My daughter walks into one store and easily spots the 6” cardboard cutout of the familiar cartoon dressed in red and white stripes. Some shops hide the time-traveling, world-traveling children’s book character in plain site while other businesses make the search more of a family challenge.

By Diane Chase Don't just go up these Adirondack Mountain in the winter time during ski season. Enjoy a scenic view from the summit in the summer or fall.  Take a picnic, binoculars and even a light jacket. It can be a bit breezy on top.  McCauley Mountain Summer Rates:  Adults $6, Juniors (ages 6-16)/seniors (over 65) $5, Children age 5 & under free Hours:  Open Daily except Tuesdays 9am to 4:15pm (Closed Tuesdays except holiday weeks) Whiteface Mountai n June 15 – 24  |  Friday - Sunday June 29 – September 3  |  Daily  Closed Sunday July 22  for Ironman September 7 - October 14  |  Friday - Sunday  Monday, October 8 Hours: 9 am - 3:30 pm Summer Rates = Adults (13-64)/ $19, Juniors (7-12), Seniors (65+)/$13