Picnic tables in Shepard Park provide new dining option in Lake George

LAKE GEORGE | People seeking to enjoy a meal in a pleasant lakeside park can now do so in downtown Lake George. The village government has set up a half-dozen or so picnic tables in Shepard Park relatively near Canada Street, which is lined with restaurants. Lake George Village Mayor Robert Blais said people are welcome to purchase food at one of the village's many restaurants and enjoy take it to park and enjoy its ambiance. Blais requests, however, that people clean up and disinfect the tables after their use. Disinfectant dispensers are located along Canada Street. The picnic tables were set up 10 days ago or so, well before the Fourth of July weekend. Mid-week, a number of families were eating meals at the tables. Blais had planned for about two months to set up an outdoor "food court" by blocking off Montcalm Street and setting up large tents, where patrons of various restaurants could dine outdoors and enjoy a healthy open-air experience. Tables would have been set about 8 feet apart to maintain social distancing between families, and restaurant employees would be sanitizing tables and chairs between seatings. During the coronavirus lockdown, this food court was envisioned as a place to consume take out food, and when limited indoor dining was allowed in NY Forward Phase 3, it was seen as a way to expand restaurants' dining capacity. Blais told village board members at their July 1 meeting that restaurant proprietors couldn't devote their employees' time to clear the tables and disinfect them between seatings, as he had requested. Blais said the local restaurants were short-handed because of the lack of foreign workers this year due to international travel restrictions and the new limitations on J-1 visas. "There's a tremendous shortage of help this summer without the foreign students," he said.

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Picnic tables in Shepard Park provide new dining option in Lake George

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