Amy Cheney-Seymour and the other Road Runners dance with Soma Beats in the 2026 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival gala parade Saturday afternoon. (Provided photo — Lou Reuter)

SARANAC LAKE – There’s just a couple of days left to submit theme ideas for the 2027 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival.

A list of the around 55 themes suggested so far is included below.

On Tuesday, the public can attend a meeting at 5:30 p.m. inside the Elks Lodge at 30 Bloomingdale Ave. to vote on narrowing this list down to five choices. These five will be presented to the public to gauge reactions and will be voted on at an April 28 meeting at 5:30 p.m. inside the Elks Lodge.

All committee meetings are open to the public to join and participate in.

To submit ideas, email them to theme.slwintercarnival@gmail.com.

“A good theme is family-friendly, it can’t be any copyright infringement, something that people can really get into for the parade,” Carnival Committee Chair Jeff Branch said. “Something that really drives the imagination.”

Themes also cannot have been used in the past 20 years.

On Tuesday, supporters of themes can give a brief presentation when pitching ideas.

Attendees will get to vote for three themes in the first round of voting with a goal of reducing it to 10 choices. People will then get to vote on their two favorite themes during the second round with a goal of selecting the five finalists.

There will be no last-minute suggestions allowed at the April 28 vote meeting.

In the final selection meeting on April 28, attendees will get to vote on their top two favorite themes to narrow the list down to three, and then one final vote, with the theme getting the most votes becoming the 2027 Carnival theme.

The Winter Carnival executive committee will have the final say, including the right to change, omit or disqualify any theme choices.

The dates for next year’s Carnival have been set for Feb. 5 through 14. Branch said they are having the closing weekend on President’s Day weekend again next year. This gives the ice one more week to grow as the Ice Palace Workers 101 construct the Ice Palace.

The 2027 Carnival will mark the 130th year of Saranac Lake’s Winter Carnival.

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Suggested themes

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90’s, Nineties Nostalgia, Neon Nineties

Adirondack Flora (plants, shrubs, trees, flowers, etc.)

Adirondack Hermits

Adirondack Pioneers

America 250, America the Beautiful, Patriots of the USA

Arcade, Arcade-ival

Around the Campfire, Camping/Glamping/Tramping

Beloved Pets

Black Flies (a tribute to a necessary evil of living here)

Carnival 1/Indy 500 (car racing)

Carnival Games (game shows/video games)

Cats

Children’s Books

Disco Daks, Disco Fever

Down on the Farm

Egyptian

Enchanted Forest

Food Glorious Food/Let’s Eat (tribute to all things edible)

Frosted Fairytale

Game On (all kinds of games)

Get your kicks on the 46 (tribute to the high peaks)

Hair-nation

Holidays Hometown Proud — Health, Healing & History

Hungry, Thirsty in the ADK

It Crawled from the Lake (all things related to our beautiful lakes)

Keeping it Weird

Lego

Let’s Fly! (flying, flights, birds, above the trees)

Let’s get Loony (tribute to loons)

Miracle on Carnival (Olympics)

Monsters in the ADKs (not so scary)

Movie Classics

O Canada!

Out of this World!

Outdoor Fun (get outside)

OzFest in the Adirondacks

Raptors

Remember When?

Saranac Lake Live (Saturday Night Live)

Saturday Night in Saranac Lake

Sci-Fi

Shrek

Snow & Ice Sports, Winter Sports Legends

Soaring Above Carnival (bird themed)

Sportsball

Sugar Shack (all things maple/syrup — ADK tradition)

Summer Vibes, Pretend It’s Summer

Sweet Carnival (sweets, candy, etc.)

Take me to the Prom

Toy Fair (name is copyrighted so would need variation if chosen)

Vintage Victorian

What’s your Sign? (Astrology)

Year 1 (recreate 1st carnival 1897 to celebrate 130 years)

Zoobilee Carnival (animals)

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Past themes

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Below is a list of the past 20 years of Winter Carnival themes:

2026: Cartoonival

2025: Music Legends

2024: Creepy Carnival

2023: Roman Around Carnival

2022: Totally ’80s

2021: Masquerade

2020: Myths and Legends

2019: Prehistoric Park

2018: Adirondack Festival

2017: Adirondack Wildlife

2016: Superheroes and Villains

2015: The Groovy ’60s

2014: Celtic Carnival

2013: Under the Sea

2012: Space Alien Invasion

2011: Medieval Times

2010: Adirondack Cowboy

2009: Pirates of the Adirondacks

2008: Hooray for Hollywood

2007: Fabulous ’50s

2006: The Roaring ’20s