Josh Clement and Ed Kanze (Photo provided)

SARANAC LAKE – “Curiously Adirondack,” the Adirondack video series that reaches the world via Facebook, YouTube, and Mountain Lake PBS, invites viewers to attend a celebration and reception at Saranac Village at Will Rogers.

The event will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. Saturday, July 14, and is free and open to all.

Refreshments will be served, videos will be screened, door prizes will be awarded, and producers Josh Clement and Ed Kanze will discuss how Curiously Adirondack got going and where it is headed.

One door prize, donated by the beautiful and welcoming High Peaks Resort in Lake Placid, will entitle the winner and a companion to a free two-night stay at the Resort’s unique Lake House, overlooking Mirror Lake.

As increasing numbers of viewers turn to the internet for the video entertainment that used to be the exclusive province of broadcast TV, they “stream content” from a variety of websites. Foremost among these are Facebook and YouTube. It’s no coincidence that these are the sites where a majority of Curiously Adirondack viewers from Tupper Lake to Taiwan to Thailand find the series’s home-grown Adirondack human interest stories. Once produced, the videos are delivered to the world, free of charge.

Who pays for production? Viewers and business sponsors do. “Curiously Adirondack” organizers said they are proud to have Adirondack Health, Guide Boat Realty, scores of generous viewers on the team as it gears up to produce Season Four. For the series, weeks of fundraising via the crowdfunding website Indiegogo will conclude on July 16. On Indiegogo, viewers and fans learn more about the series, make contributions small, medium, and large, and secure gifts that include Curiously Adirondack buttons, coffee mugs, tote bags, a beach towel, a throw blanket, and more.

The web address is www.igg.me/at/curiouslyadirondack.

Twenty-five episodes of Curiously Adirondack have been produced to date. They’ve been watched just about everywhere on Earth, from the Maldives to Manhattan, from Australia to Argentina, from China to Japan, and from the USA to England, France, the Czech Republic, Malaysia, Indonesia, and Zimbabwe. Each video is a free-range, short documentary averaging five to ten minutes and featuring a unique human-interest subject.

“Curiously Adirondack” has featured the lingering echoes of Saranac Lake’s history as a place for treating, and sometimes curing, tuberculosis; a moose calling contest in Indian Lake; a Bloomingdale sawyer and his sawmill; an Ausable Forks artist who took up painting after World War II service to settle his nerves; a hike up Ampersand Mountain; a trek into Avalanche Pass; fishing for bullheads; a historic general store; an Old Forge quilting group that has been meeting since Harry Truman was President; the joys and agonies of heating with wood; giant beavers that may or may not exist; and backwoods lock-tenders who help boats navigate from Saranac Lake village to the Lower and Middle Lakes.

Born and raised in the heart of the Adirondacks, Josh Clement, formerly Interactive Producer for Mountain Lake PBS, runs Josh Clement Productions, LLC. He has produced videos for Paul Smith’s College, the Adirondack North Country Association, and other clients. For each production, Josh wears many hats as cameraman, sound engineer, video editor, sound editor, and photo researcher. He also manages the series’ far-ranging presence online presence via Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, and more. An Adirondack native, Josh is widely known as a musician and songwriter.

Seventh generation Adirondacker Ed Kanze is a naturalist, writer, photographer, and licensed Adirondack guide. A former National Park Service ranger and writer, he writes a column for each issue of the newsmagazine Adirondack Explorer and is a frequent contributor to Adirondack Life, Bird Watcher’s Digest, and Natural History magazines. He was named Birder of the Year 2017 by Bird Watcher’s Digest and Swarovski Optik. Ed’s column, “All Things Natural,” has appeared for 31 years in downstate and Connecticut newspapers.