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Months-long winter attraction may choose Lake Placid over Lake George

LAKE GEORGE — A “winter wonderland” attraction may not be coming to the Charles R. Wood Park Festival Commons after all because of concerns that the weather may be too warm.

Village Mayor Robert Blais had shared news in December of the attraction that was interested in renting the space for four months. The attraction runs in January and February, but time is needed to set it up and take it down.

Blais would not identify the company at that time, but a Freedom of Information Law request by The Post-Star for correspondence to the village has revealed it to be called Ice Castles.

The attraction consists of castles constructed from hundreds of thousands of icicles hand-placed by professional ice artists. The castles are illuminated with LED lighting and also have frozen thrones, ice-carved tunnels, slides, fountains and other sculptures, according to the Ice Castles website.

There are six locations in Colorado, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Utah, Wisconsin and Alberta, Canada.

Ice Castles Chief Executive Ryan Davis has been in contact with Warren County Tourism Director Joanne Conley.

Blais said Davis visited a week ago and liked Wood Park. However, Blais said Davis was concerned that the temperatures are too high in Lake George.

“He didn’t think that the weather here was conducive to making that investment and he was actually thinking about Lake Placid,” Blais said.

One day in particular it was raining in Lake George but it was 10 degrees colder and snowing in Lake Placid, Blais added.

The average temperature for the month of February in Lake Placid is 16.3 degrees compared with 21.6 degrees for Lake George, according to climate-data.org Blais pointed out Lake George made sense for this event because Saranac Lake already has an ice castle with its yearly winter festival.

Conley said Wednesday she was not aware if the company has made a final decision yet.

“I got the impression that they study the weather patterns really, really well and they were sold on coming to Lake George,” she said. “I was disappointed and a little bit surprised.”

She said she hopes that Ice Castles ultimately will come.

Conley said among Lake George’s selling points is that it is within half a day’s driving distance of the New York and New Jersey market. It is also is in driving distance of Boston.

She said Wood Park is a great asset.

“It’s a beautiful fenced-in facility with restrooms and electricity, so you couldn’t have asked for a better location,” she said.

In addition, Lake George has twice as many hotel rooms as Lake Placid.

The county also was planning to offer occupancy tax money to get this project off the ground, according to Conley.

“We were prepared to make an attractive enough offer that they would seriously consider it,” she said.

Conley said Lake George is an iconic summer destination and has built-in brand recognition.

“We thought we were a win-win and we’re not letting go of them just yet,” she said. “It would just change our entire winter economy, which is that shot in the arm that we need at that time of the year.”

Davis did not return a message seeking comment.

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