The 2022 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival fills Wood Park

A line of people stretched along West Brook Road outside the Lake George Festival Commons Saturday morning for the opening of the 2022 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival. Festival Manager LeighAnn Loftus says Saturday tickets sold out, but after several years of running the festival, they knew how to quickly register ticketholders and keep lines moving. Sunday’s attendance was also strong.

This is the sixth year for the festival, which was launched in 2015 but took a two-year break during the pandemic. More than 120 vendors from across the region participated in this year’s event, which provides a venue for small craft producers to showcase their products. Ticketholders were able to sample wines, spirits, hard ciders, meads, craft non-alcoholic beverages and artisan foods at this try-before-you-buy event.

Festival attendees also had the opportunity to shop at dozens of specialty merchandise booths that were selling products such as handmade soaps and lotions, intricately pieced cutting boards and framed works of art. For those who wanted a larger-than-sample meal, the Festival had more than a dozen food trucks on the grounds offering Mac and cheese, barbecue, fish tacos, empanadas and more.

Vendor Kathy Miller of Love is on Lake George, a boutique of Lake George and Adirondack-themed gifts, says that sales have been good, and she noted that the festival gave a boost to small businesses, not only retailers but also area hotels and restaurants. The location of the festival, just a short walk to the Southern Shore of Lake George, adds to the festival’s appeal. It was a warm weekend, and Miller says she tells attendees they can step outside the festival grounds and dip their feet in the lake’s cool waters.

At a pre-festival press event, festival founder and owner Sasha Pardy said that in 2014, she and her husband Mike saw the potential for a festival in Lake George. “There’s so many amazing things that are made by our small family-owned businesses in New York that this gave us the opportunity to highlight that at this amazing festival grounds, which is just steps away from the Fort William Henry and the Steamboat Company and the beach. The fact that people can walk to all these things after attending the festival, they can walk to their hotel, they can go to Adirondack Brewery after and have a bite to eat…There’s so much more to this Festival than just these two days.” The festival has grown exponentially since its inception and attracts visitors from across the Northeast.

While wine and craft beverages dominated — attendees are given a souvenir tasting glass upon entry — there was plenty for foodies to savor. Under the culinary tent, festival attendees gathered to watch cooking and mixology demonstrations and competitions. On Sunday, Chef Eric Hudson of Hudson Private Chef Services and Chef Adam Savage of the Queensbury Hotel displayed their creativity and skill in a mystery-basket Iron Chef-style competition.

*Chefs Eric Hudson (left) and Adam Savage compete in a mystery box cooking competition at the 2022 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival.*

Each chef was given an identical basket of ingredients selected from festival vendors, and they had one hour to create a dish. Working with bacon, hamburger meat, a garlic-dill cheddar and other ingredients, Hudson produced a breakfast burger while Savage made an open-faced summer burger. Three judges scored the finished dishes using criteria such as taste, aroma, visual appeal, creativity and use of vendor ingredients. According to the Master of Ceremonies, the final scores were close, but Chef Savage won Sunday’s competition.

The 2022 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival also had entertainment beyond the culinary tent including performances by the Dynamics Dance Works, a dance competition team affiliated with the Dance Center of Queensbury and Vibraphone player Derek Skala of Gansevoort, New York.

The Adirondack Wine and Food Festival is held the last weekend of June each year at the Festival Commons in Wood Park. The event is produced by Adirondack Festivals, LLC. Adirondack Winery is the presenting sponsor.