SARANAC LAKE — Put your records on and crank it up to 11! The theme for the 2025 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival is “Music Legends.”

In a vote on Tuesday, the Carnival Committee faced the music and decided it’s time to pay homage to the artists who inspire generations, fill concert halls and form the soundtracks of our lives.

Music is always a big part of Carnival, from the fireworks shows, to the parade, the concerts and playlists all over town. With decades to pull from, and countless pop stars, rock icons, folk heroes, rap geniuses and classical luminaries to hear from, music will be in the air at the 10-day festival at the start of February.

Music Legends has been in the running for Carnival theme for several years now.

The vote was well-attended, with a large contingent of Parrotheads showing up to support the second-place finalist “Cheeseburger in Paradise.” Local artist Mike Burpoe pitched this theme to celebrate the late musician Jimmy Buffet.

There was quite a bit of discussion at the meeting around if the theme would violate any copyright or trademark law.

In the first round of voting, Music Legends and Cheeseburger in Paradise took the top spots. When the two went head-to-head, Music Legends took 28 votes and Cheeseburger in Paradise took 17.

There was some discussion after the vote about the possibility of a Buffet-themes float in the Gala Parade this year, celebrating the tropical music legend.

The Carnival Committee meets next in September. For now, everyone’s going to play it by ear.

Carnival Committee Chair Rob Russell also chose to not seek reelection to the position at the Tuesday meeting. The committee elected Jeff Branch, who was the chair from 2016 through the 2023 theme meeting.