Milt Adams and Nancy Hurteau have mentored the youth, cared for the sick, supported the elderly and brought joy to people all around Saranac Lake.

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King Adams

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Winter Carnival Queen Nancy Hurteau was crowed at Coronation on Friday. (Enterprise photo — Aaron Marbone)

Adams said when he got the call from outgoing Queen Patti Sauvie telling him that he was nominated as King, he was immensely honored.

“It’s one of those things that you think about but you don’t dwell on or expect,” he said.

He looks back at the roster of all the previous royalty and said he’s proud to be in such good company.

“He has been described by many as kind, caring, cheerful, great sense of humor, quiet leadership, joy in giving and willingness to help,” his biography says.

Adams was born in Colonial Heights, Virginia and attended SUNY Alfred and SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry.

When he and his wife Christine moved here in 1995, they wanted to get involved in the community. They opened up the newspaper and saw a listing for a Winter Carnival meeting. They attended, introduced themselves to Katie Morgan Fobare. She immediately told them they’d be helping her organize the Grand Marshall Reception and Royalty Dinner. He’s been doing it ever since.

Adams said he loves staying active in the community, which is easy, because everyone’s looking for someone to help out and every business has a volunteer aspect to it.

“There are so many volunteer organizations out there,” Adams said. “Open up the Enterprise, look at the calendar of events and see what organizations are meeting.”

He’s spent 29 years on the Winter Carnival Committee, including several as a trustee on the Executive Board. He’s been a member of the Ice Palace Workers 101 for 13 years, literally building the glue that holds the Palace together.

His bio sarcastically refers to the slush pit as “the most glamorous position there is,” but he loves the crew down there. They build a “slush lounge” every year and create plenty of mischief as they make slush for the blocks.

This year, he sported a bright yellow safety vest reading “Fire Boss.” Adams always tends the fire at the Family Night gathering to keep people warm, so Elle Finocan gave him a custom vest. He said he might be wearing it under his robe.

He also volunteers as an Ice Palace Host, showing people around the IPW’s creation.

Adams is looking forward to the fireworks this week. He’s the chairperson for those colorful shows. On Saturday, as the crews set up the explosives, he tried helping out like he usually does, but was stopped by other volunteers telling him the king’s assistance was rejected.

Saturday was also the Ladies’ Fry Pan Toss — an event he’s never seen, but always heard the cheers from, as he helped set up the fireworks. Adams grinned as he watched the ladies hurl pans as hard as they could in sub-zero temperatures.

Adams has worked a lot in environmental education. He volunteers at the Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center leading guided hikes and paddles through the woods.

He’s been a Cub Scout and Boy Scout leader for Troop 12 for years. Though his boys, Matthew and Jacob, aren’t in Scouts anymore, he still takes the new members out on camp-outs.

Adams said it’s more than just teaching the wilderness skills that build confidence on the trips. It’s about developing young men and women into being better humans and community citizens.

Adams has been a Saranac Lake youth soccer coach, a Salvation Army bell ringer, a member of the Northern Lights and St. Bernard’s choirs, a dedicated volunteer for the annual Holiday Helpers toy drive, the 2023 FISU World University Games in Lake Placid, Ironman, the 3P races and numerous ORDA events.

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Queen Hurteau

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Hurteau said she was “taken away” when she was told she’d been nominated as Queen.

“I cried,” she said.

Hurteau grew up in Elizabethtown and moved to Saranac Lake when she enrolled in the North Country Community College nursing program and graduated in it’s first Practical Nursing Class. It was during her college years that she took notice of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. In February 1971, she and several members of her nursing class entered a float in the parade. A picture of that float is in the History Hut next to the Ice Palace.

Hurteau has always been looking to lend a helping hand. A nurse by profession, she said the job requires compassion and a desire to help.

After graduating from NCCC in 1971, she worked for 25 years at Adirondack Internal Medicine, now part of the Hudson Headwaters Health Network.

She loved it so much, she still works part-time at the hospital in the medical records department.

Hurteau moved away for a time, but missed the Tri-Lakes. She moved back to Bloomingdale with her husband and best friend Dick.

Immediately, she started volunteering with the American Red Cross.

Her list of volunteer efforts is long, but she said she always makes time for it.

“It’s easy to get involved,” Hurteau said.

There’s so much help needed and organizations are always looking for new members.

Her personal favorite organization is the Moose Lodge, which she’s been a member of for 30 years, saying it was “one of the best decisions” she ever made. She was asked to join the Saranac Lake Women of the Moose, Chapter 1909 in 1998 and has served in every chair position and earned all possible degrees.

She oversaw two Women of the Moose state conventions when she was appointed Deputy Grand Regent for New York state in 2014 to 2015.

The organization does a lot of community service, she said, raising money and sponsoring high school scholarships.

At the Ladies’ Fry Pan Toss on Saturday, Hurteau was hanging with the King, and the Carnival Prince and Princess.

“We’ve had so much fun just today, and today’s only day one,” Hurteau said on Saturday. “The four of us hanging together. … Those two kids are so enlightening and interesting.”

Princess Ella Rejiba is from England and was recruited to play soccer at North Country Community College, where she’s a sophomore.

Prince Connor Howell, a Paul Smith’s College senior, is planning to go fight forest fires in Montana after he graduates.

Hurteau was the first person to serve as “Sara the Snowy Owl” — Winter Carnival’s official mascot — after her friend Fobare asked her one day. Hurteau danced and flapped as “Sara” for 23 years. She said no one knew it was her until she passed on the role. The owl head started to get heavy, she said with a laugh.

She joined the Saranac Lake Women’s Bowling Association in 1983, sat on the organization’s board for 30 years and is now board director after its merge with the Northern Adirondack chapter of the U.S. Bowling Congress.

Around the same time, Hurteau, her husband and other community members established the Saranac Lake 5th Quarter Club to support the local high school football teams.

She’s the secretary and treasurer for the Saranac Lake American Legion Auxiliary Unit 447, which she joined in 1998, and first vice president for the Franklin County American Legion Auxiliary.

She was awarded the Winter Carnival Trudeau Award in 2022 for exemplifying the Winter Carnival spirit.