Champ Day returns for 39th year

PORT HENRY | On Saturday, Aug. 3, the North Country's favorite mythical plesiosaur will once again be celebrated in grand fashion as Champ Day kicks off at Port Henry Beach. With free admission and open to the public, the event is Moriah's main midsummer spectacle that aims to bring the community to the lakeside to enjoy the beauty of Lake Champlain. The event typically draws upwards of 500 people, both residents and area visitors alike, and each year organizers aim to grow the celebration more and more. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., believers, skeptics, and those who just want a good time will gather at Port Henry Beach for a day of vendors, food trucks, children's games (including the traditional cardboard boat race), and this year will also feature the Champ Challenge Regatta at Bridgeview Harbour Marina at 9 a.m., with cruising and J24 class prizes to be awarded. Champ has a long and lustrous history in the area, with early accounts extending as far back as the Indigenous Abenaki and the Iroquois, who held legends of a large horned serpent. In 1819, Captain Crum claimed to see a black lake monster that resembled a sea horse nearly 200 feet in length in Bulwagga Bay. In 1873, three sightings of a monster in Lake Champlain were reported, and in 1945 passengers aboard the S.S. Ticonderoga claimed to have set eyes on a sea creature. By the early 1990s, 180 sightings were documented, with many photos of the supposed prehistoric being on record. A "Champ sightings" board is even located at the southern entrance to Port Henry on Route 9N listing the names of people who have seen the lake monster. And in 2024, Champ seems to be just as, if not more so, relevant and popular than ever before. For the third consecutive year, "Lucy & the Lake Monster" co-authors and filmmakers Richard Rossi and Kelly Tabor will be on hand to meet guests, sign books, and discuss all things Champ-related at the event. "We shot the film version in the Lake Champlain region in the summer of 2022," Rossi said. "We have been editing the movie the last couple years and it will be finished this year. We love during this entire creative period to meet fans of Champ and be a part of this wonderful community activity. The thing that warms our hearts the most are meeting the children and seeing their smiles and the light in their eyes when they meet us and talk to us about Champ. I think the main thing is it brings joy to the hearts of a lot of children." And that is truly what Champ Day is about- simple and wholesome family time that provides memories and laughs while celebrating the idea of a creature who resides far beneath the surface of Lake Champlain, and somehow has managed to survive decades, centuries, and millenniums. For those interested in becoming vendors for Champ Day, contact the Moriah Chamber of Commerce at 518-250-1050.

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Champ Day returns for 39th year

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