The weather wasn’t the best for Opening Day of the 8th Annual Adirondack Wine & Food Festival, but that didn’t stop crowds from filling the Lake George Festival Commons on Saturday to sample craft beverages and artisan foods and enjoy the food competitions and entertainment at the popular festival.
The Adirondack Wine & Food Festival has been held the last weekend of June (with a two-year hiatus during the pandemic) since it launched as a premier Lake George event in 2015. It has grown over the years with the number of vendors more than doubling and the addition of live entertainment, a food truck alley, a biergarten hosted by Adirondack Pub & Brewery and other attractions.
A steady drizzle of rain on Saturday had most attendees sporting rain ponchos, but “Everyone still had a good time with the rain,” says Kathy Atherton of Atherton Arts. Atherton and her husband Dan are first-time Adirondack Wine & Food Fest vendors who had a constant stream of customers taking a seat for their caricature-drawing service.
While serving samples under the Mean Max Brew Works tent, a Mean Max crew member, whose name tag identified him as “Strawberry Creamsicle,” said that despite the rain, business Saturday “was solid.”
Sunday brought fairer skies and a Festival Commons buzzing with activity. Under the Culinary Tent, Chef Sakari Smithwick, whose culinary skills have made him an Instagram celebrity, challenged Chef Carl Weiner of Sans Succi in the finale of an Iron Chef-style competition. Each had moved into the finals by winning Saturday’s first round.
Both chefs were given a box of ingredients which included flank steak, red Argentinian shrimp, a roasted garlic spread produced by a festival vendor, and bourbon and wines, which were also vendor products. They had one hour to turn those ingredients into a meal that would impress the judges. In the end, Chef Sakari was awarded the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival 2024 Top Chef award.
Stilt Walker Jessica Black, dressed in elaborate costumes, circulated around and above the festival stopping to pose for photos and periodically stepping off her stilts to perform aerial acrobatics for the crowd. Children played yard games and stepped into the Children’s Tent to join in coloring and crafting activities.
Nearly two dozen food trucks lined Elizabeth Little Boulevard outside the Festival Commons gates offering a range of food choices from hotdogs and mac and cheese to Greek and Mexican specialties. One of the region’s newest food trucks, Meatball Planet, was in the lineup offering hearty portions of meatballs in sauces from cultures around the world.
Adirondack Festivals LLC is the presenting sponsor of the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival. The Queensbury-based organization is owned by Sasha Pardy, who is also the co-owner and president of Adirondack Winery. The festival donates a portion of ticket receipts to Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Southern Adirondacks.
Photos: Adirondack Wine & Food Festival 2024
