Dmitry’s Feast of the Peaks and Music Festival is Aug. 31
- Dmitry Feld, left, poses with Adam Wild during the 2023 I Love BBQ and Music Festival. (Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)
- The new logo for Dmitry’s Feast of the Peaks and Music Festival. (Logo provided)

Dmitry Feld, left, poses with Adam Wild during the 2023 I Love BBQ and Music Festival. (Enterprise photo — Andy Flynn)
LAKE PLACID — Many in the North Country mourned the passing of Dmitry Feld in January, among those staff and athletes at USA Luge, where Feld served as longtime marketing manager. The grief was also felt at the Shipman Youth Center, where Feld founded and organized the I Love BBQ and Music Festival.
The yearly event benefited the youngsters who frequent the youth center, raising some $350,000 over the 17 years of the festival. Feld had created a three-day event and worked tirelessly in the months leading up to it.
Now the Shipman Youth Center, after months of thought and meetings, have decided to continue his legacy but have rebranded Feld’s concept into the one-day Dmitry’s Feast of the Peaks and Music Festival, to be held on Saturday, Aug. 31, at the North Elba Show Grounds in Lake Placid. The new festival will run from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Among the changes that attendees can expect is the elimination of the entry fee. Instead, a donation to the youth center can be made.
“We miss Dmitry dearly and we want to be able to honor him and the festival that he cared so much about and worked tirelessly for each year while supporting the Shipman Youth Center. Dmitry loved people and he loved food,” said Mike Durham, festival director for the youth center. “We want to make sure this is a success, not only for the kids who attend the Shipman Center, but to also continue Dmitry’s legacy.”

The new logo for Dmitry’s Feast of the Peaks and Music Festival. (Logo provided)
Barbecue, pulled pork and the like were staples of competition in the Feld organized festival. The 2024 event will strive to continue that but also open up to other types of appropriate foods.
“Our goal this year is to have a competition, but for the competition to be all people’s choice,” added Durham.
Among the day’s highlights will be:
¯ Foods from area restaurants to see who can pull in the Best of the Peaks,
¯ Joe Ferris drawings and caricatures,
¯ Sue Delamarter face paintings,
¯ Bounce house and water slide,
¯ Paul Smith’s College woodsmen’s exhibition,
¯ PAC professional wrestling,
¯ Raffle tickets with grand prize of $10,000.
Gordy Sheer, USA Luge sponsorship and marketing director, along with Jim Cushman Studio, Peter Thompson and Jeremy Preston, will secure a musical lineup of the top regional entertainment in upstate New York.
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Aug. 31 schedule of events
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¯ 10:30 a.m. — Gates open at North Elba Show Grounds
¯ 11 a.m. — National anthems of the United States and Ukraine
¯ 11:05 a.m. to 2 p.m. — Food tasting
¯ 2-3 p.m. — Woodsmen’s competition
¯ 3-4 p.m. — Cornhole
¯ 4-5 p.m. — Woodsmen’s competition
¯ 5-6:30 p.m. — Professional wrestling
¯ 6:30 p.m. — Closing remarks, raffle drawing, category winners, grill raffle and 50/50 raffle (Live on the Shipman Youth Center Facebook page.)
Interested sponsors and competitors are encouraged to reach out to Durham at msd914@gmail.com, call 518-524-5657, and log on to www.shipmanyouthcenter.org.
The Shipman Youth Center was the creation of Lake Placid police officer Thomas Shipman, Sr. Feld felt the need to extend Shipman’s legacy serving the community’s youth with needed funds. Now the Shipman board of directors will carry on with both missions.