Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul shakes hands with local guide Gary Marchuk at an I Love NY Oktoberfest event in Saranac Lake in 2019. (Enterprise photo — Elizabeth Izzo)

State and local officials spent the day fishing, golfing and touring Lake Placid’s Olympic facilities yesterday as part of the first-ever I Love NY Adirondack Oktoberfest, an Adirondack Challenge-style event designed to promote tourism by giving state workers a day to do tourist activities themselves.

Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul unveiled many things during an awards ceremony at the tail end of the event, including the following:

¯ A new $1 million digital ad buy designed to entice athletes to visit the Adirondacks

¯ New renderings of ongoing and proposed upgrades to local sports facilities managed by the state Olympic Regional Development Authority

¯ The introduction of former ORDA Board of Directors Chairman J. Patrick Barrett to the Lake Placid Hall of Fame

¯ The naming of Lake Placid Pub & Brewery as the Governor’s “Adirondack Oktoberfest Best in Brew,” a title that will earn the brewery a spot on tap at the Executive Mansion for the next year

¯ The dates of the 2023 World University Games in Lake Placid (Jan. 12 to 23)

¯ The unveiling of a plaque honoring former Wilmington town Supervisor Randy Preston at the Round House at Whiteface Mountain.

That ceremony also largely served as a time for elected officials to give yearbook-style superlative awards to one another.

Before that, Hochul and state Department of Environmental Conservation Commissioner Basil Seggos had gone fishing together for more than an hour aboard a small motorboat on the Saranac Lake chain.

Meanwhile, groups of other local and state officials panned out across Essex and Franklin counties to participate in a range of free pre-planned activities, including a 40-mile motorcycle ride; a mountain bike biathlon at the Mount Van Hoevenberg Olympic Sports Complex; a hike up Mount Jo; golf at the Craig Wood Golf & Country Club in Lake Placid; a tour of sites used during the 1980 Winter Olympic Games; kayaking, canoeing and paddleboarding on Mirror Lake; and gondola rides at Whiteface Mountain.

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office said there were more than 450 attendees.

At the end of the event, officials gathered at the Whiteface Mountain Ski Lodge for an awards ceremony featuring catered food, craft beer and an ax-throwing station.