Thousands attend the Adirondack Wine & Food Fest in Lake George

The Adirondack Wine & Food Festival, held this weekend in Lake George, may just have the distinction of drawing the largest crowd to date of any event held at the Charles R. Wood Festival Commons, which opened its gates September 2014. As of Saturday morning, 4,700 tickets were sold for the two-day Festival, with more than 3,600 checking in by Saturday afternoon, according to Sasha Pardy co-owner of Adirondack Winery, the event’s host. Another 2,500 are expected to attend on Sunday. “Our vendors are ecstatic,” says Pardy. The event debuted last year, attracting 2,500.

“Every booth has something for every palate, dry to sweet,” says Festival attendee Lori VanAken. VanAken, who recently moved to the area from Rochester, says the Festival was well worth the price of admission. She has made several wine and cheese purchases “…and I’m not done yet.” More than 60 vendors, including wineries, distilleries, cideries and artisan food producers offered unlimited free samples from their booths, which were spread out over the two-acres of the Wood Festival Commons. “I will definitely return next year,” VanAken adds.

For bride-to-be Danielle Beliveaue of Vermont, the Festival was the setting for a get-together with her bridesmaids. The group of young women, all wearing “Cheers, It’s Danielle’s Bachelorette” tank tops, worked their way along the line of tasting booths. Beliveaue’s Maid of Honor said she got the idea when she saw the Festival advertised on the Adirondack Winery website. Lines were long at the tasting booths during the peak hours between noon and 3 p.m. Saturday, but as the crowd thinned, attendees were able to spend less time waiting and more time tasting. Four “take a break” tents were set up on the grounds offering tables, chairs and shade.

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Under the Culinary Tent, students in the SUNY Adirondack Culinary Arts program demonstrated recipes ranging from Braised Pork Belly to Spiced Dark Chocolate Soup. Culinary Arts instructor Matthew Bolton explained the program emphasizes the use of locally produced foods. Students harvest fresh herbs from an on-campus garden and incorporate produce grown under the college’s Sustainable Agriculture Initiative. Recipes demonstrated at the Wine and Food Festival included meats and produce from local farms and were paired with wines from wineries represented at the Festival.

The Festival gave culinary arts students the opportunity to demonstrate a newer trend in the industry — molecular gastronomy. By whisking together olive oil (from Lake George Olive Oil Company) with tapioca maltodextrin, students created olive oil powder, which they used to top a sliced tomato and mozzarella salad. A portion of the Festival’s proceeds will benefit the SUNY Adirondack Foundation.

The Adirondack Wine & Food Festival is a Taste of New York event. The grant program is an initiative launched by the state aimed at promoting New York’s craft beverage industry.

Craft beverage aficionados Jordan Simkins and Carolyn Sundberg of Glens Falls, who attended the Festival on Saturday, say they are well acquainted with wines and beers produced in the Glens Falls/Lake George area but haven’t traveled to other parts of the state to try the products of distant producers. “Now we get to see what we like without having to travel,” says Simkins. Sundberg agreed, saying, “It’s nice to sample from places all over the state.”