Several local organizations and villages received Christmas presents in the form of state grants this week as the state Regional Economic Development Councils rolled out a slate of funding for a local theater renovation in Lake Placid, rail trail signage, a regional marketing campaign, a climate change study in Saranac Lake and a bike and pedestrian plan in Jay.

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Arts Center Lake Placid

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The Lake Placid Association for Music, Drama and Art, Inc. got $1.5 million from Empire State Development toward the renovation of the 50-year-old Lake Placid Center for the Arts building and expansion of childcare programming.

“The project includes a new LEED-certified theater, a visual arts gallery, a flexible education space and a lobby for community gatherings and performances,” the application states.

It’s a “very big project,” Managing Director Jon Donk said.

“We’re really taking the building down to the studs,” he said.

The Lake Placid Center for the Arts recently rebranded as Arts Center Lake Placid.

The work on the theater broke ground in October and is estimated to cost a total of $33 million. Donk said they’ve funded $24 million of the project and just entered the public phase of the financing campaign.

In July, the center got a $1 million grant from the Northern Border Regional Commission.

Currently, crews are doing the construction inside — demolition and asbestos abatement. Donk said the work on the exterior is expected to start in the summer. The theater is slated to reopen for the summer season in 2027.

Donk said the theater was running into a point where the building had serious enough challenges in accessibility and sustainability that they needed to be addressed.

“The new building is going to feel familiar and completely new all at the same time,” he said.

When they reopen, he said they’ll be able to have higher-caliber performances. Many works cannot be presented in the building as it is currently. Donk said it’s “unglamorous” things they’re missing. They don’t have a loading dock — just a ramp with a 90-degree angle in the middle of it. This means that they cannot put on any show with major rigging.

Donk said they’ve had to turn down shows they want because they don’t have an ability to support them.

In addition to the front-of-house work, they’re also making long-needed upgrades backstage — including a “crossover” behind the curtain.

“Right now, if you’re in a performance and you exit stage left and you need to come in on stage right, you would have to run downstairs, across the theater and upstairs,” Donk said.

This is not accessible, affects timing in shows and can leave actors winded if they need to make a quick dash up and down the stairs.

“Additionally, the current educational space, which supports Head Start, will be expanded to allow for additional childcare slots,” according to the application.

Donk said the addition will allow them to host child care for the birth-to-3 age group. Currently, they offer preschool care for age 3 to kindergarten. Putting the education space on the ground floor will allow parents to wheel the very little littles in easily. Donk said childcare availability is needed “across the board.”

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Rail Trail

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Adirondack Recreational Trail Advocates got $30,298 from the state Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation to add signage, trail counters, maps, a bike repair station and bear-proof trash cans to the Adirondack Rail Trail.

The Open Space Institute Land Trust, Inc. also got $300,000 from ESD to build a new trailhead and parking area at the Lake Placid trailhead, with a pavilion, restrooms, parking, trailhead signage and bike racks.

The 34-mile, multi-use and all-season trail on a former railroad connecting Lake Placid, Saranac Lake and Tupper Lake officially fully opened in October.

Adirondack Rail Trail Association Executive Director Julia Goren said people have been wanting wayfinding signage to point visitors on the trail to businesses, restaurants and downtowns — improving their experience and bringing more economic impact.

She said the state Department of Environmental Conservation is in charge of approving any signs on the trail, since it is DEC land. ARTA is working with ROOST and the village of Saranac Lake for signs off the trail directing people around town. Tupper Lake and Lake Placid are undertaking similar signage initiatives, but Saranac Lake has the most need, since the rail trail runs directly through its downtown.

ARTA wants consistency in the appearance of the signs across towns.

Goren said they plan to install off-trail amenity signs in Saranac Lake before the summer season. The DEC plans to install its navigational, interpretive and historic signs on the trail in 2027, she said. She also said the DEC is working with the Saranac Lake village to accelerate the installation of temporary amenity signage on-trail.

In Tupper Lake, the rail trail terminates into the Junction Pass trail connecting people to uptown and already has signage. In Lake Placid, she said the town and village’s bikeable communities committee is identifying bikeable routes and working with the state Department of Transportation on signage.

The bike repair station with an air pump and wrenches could be built in several places. Goren said the owner of Charlie’s Inn in Lake Clear has offered the restaurant as a location. It could also be in one of the three towns. She said the DEC is looking into where makes the most sense to place the station.

The trail already has a couple of trail counters. The grant will fund more.

Goren said the counter in Saranac Lake had between 150,000 and 160,000 passes for the year, until the end of November when it was vandalized. The Tupper Lake counter came online in early November. Goren said between Saranac Lake and Lake Placid — which got counters first — there’s a 60/40 split in the amount of traffic. She also said these are all undercounts, depending on where people get on the trail.

The trail also has several trash cans. Goren said they haven’t had any problems with animals yet, but they don’t want them to be an animal attractant.

Goren said she loves being on the rail trail and seeing a variety of people using it — from Ironman athletes and people with mobility disabilities, to the very young and the very old.

She said the economic benefit is being expanded, but the community joy on the trail is just as good.

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Marketing campaign

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The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism got $50,000 from ESD for a marketing campaign aimed at increasing visitorship in Essex, Franklin and Hamilton counties.

The campaign will promote outdoor recreation, agritourism and cultural attractions through digital advertising, curated itineraries and distribution of a regional print guide.

Chief Operating Officer Mary Jane Lawrence said ROOST is preparing to launch its new website: Adirondacks, USA. ROOST runs several websites for different regions of the Adirondacks, but some of their tourism marketing campaigns cross regions and they haven’t had a solid catch-all for their entire network.

“We have campaigns that cross many of our different regions, but we don’t have one place that represents all of the regions,” Lawrence said.

Their previous website is not very active, she said. This new website will drive visitors to different landing pages for different regions and experiences.

Lawrence said ROOST is aiming to target new visitors to the Adirondacks, as well as getting people who have been here before to try something new. They’re focusing on getting repeat visitors to travel to new regions of the North Country and trying to encourage extending stays to a couple of days, instead of just one or two.

The website will be marketed by this grant-funded campaign. The site will include information to get people thinking about traveling here, information on Leave No Trace principals and things like curated itineraries encouraging multi-day stays in towns around the region.

Lawrence said there were tourism challenges going into the spring this year. It didn’t hold up to 2024 — which had seen large numbers due to the total solar eclipse that passed over the Tri-Lakes — and the summer season felt the impact of reduced Canadian tourism, due to America’s tariff war with Canada. Lawrence said they still are feeling that effect, but local visitorship is up a bit from last year currently.

It’s been a decent year for Adirondack tourism, she said, all things considered — adding that there’s been a lot to consider.

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Climate change study

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The village of Saranac Lake got $72,000 from the DEC to assess its vulnerability to climate change and make a plan to adapt to the shifting climate.

“Climate change threatens the town’s outdoor focused tourism economy, economic well-being, public health and long-term sustainability,” the application states. “These plans will be created to bolster our climate preparedness, social cohesion and economic longevity.”

Bikes and pedestrians

The town of Jay got $30,000 from the DEC for a townwide biking and walking street plan.

“The town of Jay will develop a complete streets policy and a biking and walking plan to improve transportation safety, accessibility and sustainability,” the application states.