When in Saranac Lake, Do as the Romans Do

by Gary VanRiper

1897. That’s the year given for the launch of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival in Saranac Lake in the northeast corner of the Adirondack Park.

1898. A year later, the famous Winter Carnival Ice Palace was first featured in the event.

1954. This is the year the Ice Palace became an annual fixture. (It also happens to be the year I was born, but alas could not find any historical connection between the two events.)

Rob Russell is the vice-president of the committee helping oversee activities including the main attraction. There is a theme every year for the Carnival, and Russell revealed this year’s theme is, “Roman Around Carnival,” a play on words. “It (the Palace) is going to be a replica of the Roman Colosseum,” he said.

The blocks are harvested from Lake Flower’s, Pontiac Bay. “It takes about 7-10 days to erect a Palace,” Russell explained. Mother nature also play a key role, since the weather determines the size of each block. “The thinner the ice, the more blocks it takes,” he said, noting also that there were years they had to dismantle what had been build and start all over again.

2023. The official opening day for this 2023 Carnival is Saturday, February 4. It includes fireworks at the Palace, which is also lit every night throughout the week.

If you miss the opening fireworks display, not to worry. The Gala Parade which easily draws several thousand people the following weekend on Saturday is followed on Sunday with yet another fireworks display bringing all of the week’s many activities to close.

Russell also said those who are there that final day are also treated to “a mammoth slide show on a screen next to the Palace just prior to the fireworks going off.” The show features photos taken through the event from the ice harvest until the final hurrah.

I have known Andy Flynn for many years and actually once hosted a segment of Adirondack Journal with him as a guest on the Mohawk Valley Living television show. Currently Editor of the Lake Placid News, he is a prolific writer and is the author of the 440-page volume, Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Memories. Copies are hard to come by today*, but I have one in my personal library of Adirondack volumes. He wanted to write about the first day of Palace construction and so became personally involved early on in the process.

It was 8 degrees below zero the year he helped out. Arriving in the early morning, he signed the volunteer sheet and was handed an IPW (Ice Palace Workers Local) 101 sticker. “I felt like one of the gang,” he writes. Being an unskilled worker, he went for a pike pole which is used to guide the cut blocks of ice along a cleared channel working them to shore. By noon he was tired, but by that time many more volunteers were there to help.

I was stunned what I found out while interviewing Russell regarding this use of volunteers. “Back in the early 1900’s, they used architects to draw the Palace construction,” he said. Today? “100% volunteer, he said. “It has been for some time.” And not only the Ice Palace is run by volunteers - the entire Carnival happenings as well!

For those interested in attending, a complete schedule can be found at www. saranaclakewintercarnival.com/schedule

My wife Carol and I plan to be there this year on opening weekend. Maybe we’ll see you at the fireworks and we’ll all add another page to our Adirondack journals! •