“Fifty dollars an hour,” Dyer said. “She’s free,” she added, gesturing to her daughter Kathy, who has been climbing under and over boats to set up paddles, yokes and ornamental loons in the windowsills.

The mother-daughter pair, the energetic organizers of the Willard Hanmer Guideboat and Canoe Races, have lavishly decorated two vacant storefronts on Main Street and Broadway with historic boats, replicas of boats being built, historic photos and guideboat memorabilia, turning the blank windows into public museum exhibits, as well as promotion for the upcoming races on July 6.

The race originally began in 1963 in honor of Saranac Lake guideboat builder Willard Hanmer. It ran for 50 years and was brought back by race organizers Sue and Kathy in 2022 following a 10-year hiatus.

This year, the Saranac Lake Kiwanis Club is sponsoring all contestants age 16 and under to enter the race for free. Several people have also donated boats for racers to use.

Sue and Kathy Dyer stand with a historic guideboat, paddled by the first two women to compete in the Willard Hanmer Guideboat Races, in the Loomis building on Broadway. The educational and artistic storefront display also promotes the Hanmer boat races coming up on July 6. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Sue, who previously led the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce, said empty storefronts make her sad. If there’s not going to be a business in there, then she believes they should be dressed up to look nice and make the space look like a viable storefront.

Kathy said her house is filled with guideboat ephemera and photos.

To the Dyers, the big blue Loomis building on the corner of Broadway and Woodruff Street is a shining example of what hard work can do for the downtown. Taimim Li of Long Island bought the long-vacant building last summer and Katie Stiles, the broker and owner of the Adirondack Stiles Real Estate Company who facilitated the sale, has been decorating the corner shop windows with artifacts and memorabilia. Stiles allowed the Dyers to turn the uphill windowspace into an ode to guideboats.

Behind a sign declaring “Almost Hanmer time!” sits a 100-plus-year-old Anderson boat donated from the Forestmere Camp, painted in blue and green.

This boat was paddled in 1971 by Susan Norman and Pauline Anderson, the first women to compete in the Hanmer race. At the time, it was an all-male race. The two were required to get verbal permission from their husbands before race officials allowed them to enter. In the boat is a photo of the pair.

At the former Post Office Pharmacy on Main Street, owned by Jim Bevilacqua, is a six-foot, half-built guideboat. This boat is at one-third scale and was donated by Chris Woodward of Woodward Boat Shop. It’s half-finished to show the process of building one of these iconic boats. He even donated heaps of tacks, hammers and wood curls shaved off by hand planers.

“The model shows the delicate placement of ribs, gunnels and the start of planking set on a special frame,” the Dyers said in a press release. “The model demonstrates the exact process that guideboat builders use during the creation of a full size boat.”

A placard next to the boat says a full-size boat takes around 1,500 screws and 3,500 tacks.

“Also in the window is a plank cut from spruce roots which shows the patterns used for the ribs of a boat,” the Dyers said.

Woodward also donated paintings and a T-shirt from 50th annual Hanmer in 2012.

At this window, there’s a bit of history about the Adirondack guideboat, which was first created in the mid-1800s, potentially at Martin’s Hotel on Lower Saranac Lake. Backcountry guides developed the boat for bringing wealthy sportsmen into the wilderness, rowed by oars.

The boats are light enough to be carried by one guide but sturdy enough to carry gear for several people for several weeks.

“A 16-foot-long guideboat weighs approximately 75 pounds and can hold up to 800 pounds of people and gear,” one placard says.

To register for the July 6 races in advance, go to tinyurl.com/mvhvrtm7. Advance registration costs $20; registration on the day of the race costs $25.

More information on the races can be found at tinyurl.com/4nncph8z.