Lake George's 'Lite Up the Village' draws crowd

LAKE GEORGE | Thousands of people braved cold temperatures Nov. 27 to participate in Lake George's annual "Lite Up the Village" event — and attendance may have set a new record. Village Trustee Ray Perry, one of the judges for the holiday kickoff festival's contests, said that not only did residents of Warren County attend, but people from neighboring northeastern U.S. states were also drawn to the event. "I talked with people from all over — many of them traveled from great distances to enjoy the activities," he said, adding that residents of New Jersey, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Connecticut and Vermont attended. "It was a great showing." The event featured the illumination of 200,000 festive lights: the crowd voiced a countdown as a half-dozen village employees stationed at Shepard Park electrical outlets scrambled to simultaneously plug in the lights, prompting a cheer from the crowd. Minutes later, the crowd was entertained by fireworks over the lake. Earlier, noted area entertainers Bobby Dick and Susie Q sang holiday songs — but they were upstaged at the conclusion of their set by a half-dozen children, as young as four years old, who sang renditions of traditional Christmas carols. Meanwhile, other children were entertained at a pop-up petting zoo in front of the Lake George Historical Museum. The holiday event's Ugly Holiday Sweater Contest drew about two dozen entries, with people wearing bizarre getups. Children showed up expecting to be contestants, and when Lake George Mayor Robert Blais announced the contest was merely for adults — and the crowd reacted with groans — Blais and the judges decided to include children beginning next year. Winning the competition and earning the $250 prize was an elderly woman from Massachusetts, who elicited loud cheers from the contest's spectators. After the illumination of holiday lights, fire trucks from about a dozen fire companies across Warren County and from the Capital Region paraded down Canada Street. Festooned with holiday lights, they were cheered by onlookers. One of Lake George's four firetrucks carried Santa Claus, who waved to his admirers. The firetruck delivered Santa back to the Lake George firehouse to greet dozens of children. This year, downtown Lake George businesses were asked to decorate their storefronts, and the ones most embellished with holiday garnish include lake George Olive Oil, Cafe Vero, and Monte Cristo's restaurant. Perry said the 2021 edition of Lite Up the Village, featuring the most activities ever — had record attendance, and most all of the spectators were COVID-cautious. "Lite Up the Village was canceled for 2020 — but this year, it came back stronger than 2019, which was a banner year," he said.

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Lake George's 'Lite Up the Village' draws crowd

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