Yes, many people were swirling samples of wine in their souvenir glasses at this year’s Adirondack Wine & Food Festival. The annual festival, held this Saturday and Sunday at the Festival Commons in Wood Park, is presented by the Adirondack Winery, and wine is central to the event, but even those not much into wine found plenty to taste, plenty to see and plenty to do this year at the popular Lake George event.
Licensed Massage Therapist Kathleen Goutos was working a man’s shoulders as he straddled her massage chair. “I’ve been going non-stop,” she said, her wide smile indicated she enjoyed the steady stream of business. Behind her chair hung an assortment of intricately tie-dyed shirts, the products of 4D Gallery, her boyfriend’s business.
Under the Kids Tent, Timothy Estill of Charlton, New York wielded an oversized wand dipped in liquid soap to create large, iridescent bubbles. Timothy’s father had received festival tickets for Father’s Day. The Estills were enjoying their first time at the Wine & Food Festival. “We are drinking wine and making bubbles,” said Timothy’s mom.
“I’m glad to see the beer-drinkers are out,” says Jill Walls of Mean Max Brew Works as she served up samples of Lower Wolfjaw double IPA. This is the Glens Falls brewery’s first year at the festival. “The response to our beer is overwhelming,” she said. “We ran out of beer yesterday.”
Mean Max was one of five breweries at the festival. Ten distilleries, seven cideries and two dozen wineries filled out the beverage selections. A full complement of artisan food producers, food trucks and food demonstrations kept the foodies busy.
Vendor David Van Pelt II of Homestead Heritage Cheese describes himself as a stay-at-home dad and cheese maker. Working from a sixth-generation, organic-certified dairy in New York’s Thousand Island Region, Van Pelt travels to festivals selling his fresh cheese curd, which he explains is young cheddar. “I just made these Thursday,” he said of his samples. Lighter than aged cheddar, his curd is similar to Mexican queso fresco, “fresh cheese.”
Those looking for a show needed to go no further than the Demonstration Tent at the West End of the Festival Commons. Chef William Cornelius and his crew, with Mike Morrill and his team from Marcella’s Appliance Center, demonstrated recipes with a lively stream of puns and jokes. Chef William Creations, a line of sauces, mustards and salsas, is based in Watkins Glen on Seneca Lake. “The middle finger of the Finger Lakes,” he tells his audience. Chef William is a local celebrity, hosting cooking shows on national television.
Chef William and Morrill prepared concord sloppy joe crazy dogs, salted caramel bread pudding and bourbon bacon chicken wings using appliances from Marcella’s, notably a combination grill, smoker and oven called the Big Green Egg. Their creations incorporated locally produced products found at the festival. As he whipped up sauces, Chef William did some off- the- cuff creating, reaching for wine, spirits and bottled sauces to add to his dishes.
“This recipe has been in our family for about four or five seconds,” he said while pouring a generous amount of Springbrook Hollow Farm Maple Moonshine into his wing sauce. He grabbed a lighter and set the pan ablaze — “This is why I became a chef,” he said, “to work with fire and knives and wear pajamas to work.”
Between food demonstrations, Lake George Beach Club Bartender Erica Lewis made a batch of Beach Club Mules, a Lake George version of the Moscow Mule cocktail. Lake George Steamboat Company bartender Diana Johnson demonstrated how to make a Mohican Martini, a drink served on the Company’s ships.
The history of the Wine & Food Festival — it debuted in 2015 — has always been one of warm and sunny weather, yet the passing showers that plagued this weekend seemed to have no effect on attendance or vendors’ sales. Founder of the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival Sasha Pardy says that her vendors reported their sales on Saturday exceeded last year’s sales for the entire weekend. “It’s been humbling to see how well the festival did this weekend despite the rain.” More than 4,000 attended Saturday and Pardy estimates another 2,500 came on Sunday.
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