Adirondack Wine & Food Festival’s popularity continues in its 7th year

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The 2023 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival filled the Wood Park Festival Commons in Lake George this past weekend, June 24-25, attracting visitors from across the Northeast. Two dozen wineries, several cideries, distilleries and specialty soft drink producers along with local artisan food producers offered samples and sales.

This year, the Wine & Food Festival spilled outside the Festival Commons’ gates to create Food Truck Alley, a row of 15 food trucks with food options that included Middle Eastern cuisine, Jamaican Jerk, Mexican favorites and traditional American foods and snacks. Set up along Elizabeth Little Boulevard, Food Truck Alley was open to the public and provided tented seating areas where people sat to enjoy their food. The addition of multiple food trucks is something people have been asking for, says Festival Owner Sasha Pardy.

Food trucks at the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival
Food Truck Alley along Elizabeth Little Boulevard is a new feature for the 2023 Wine & Food Festival.

 Also new for the 2023 Wine & Food Festival, in response to patrons’ request, was a biergarten inside the festival grounds where guests could purchase full pours of Adirondack Winery Wine, Mean Max and Adirondack Brewery craft beers. Abigail Redmond of Adirondack Brewery says that despite a rainy start to the festival on Saturday, the biergarten was packed with people from noon until closing. Sunday afternoon also saw full tables under the biergarten tent.

Patrons gather under the biergarten tent at the Wine & Food Festival.

The Northwest corner of the Festival Commons was dominated by the Culinary & Cocktail Tent, which held culinary and cocktail creation competitions between local chefs and mixologists and cooking and cocktail demonstrations using ingredients found at vendor booths throughout the festival grounds.

Chef Eric Hudson dishes up servings of his sweet rhubarb crumble at the Culinary & Cocktail Tent.
Jenn Berry-Youngs of Mixaritas Mobile Bartending Service demonstrates how to prepare a Maple Manhatten using ingredients from festival vendors.

The Wine Fest is billed as a family-friendly event. Entry into the festival is free for children aged 15 and younger and a tent filled with children’s games and activities was provided to keep them amused. Throughout the weekend, musicians entertained on a public stage and roaming entertainers performed between rows of vendor booths.

Stilt walker and Aerialist Jessica Black was a roaming entertainer at the festival.
Guitarist and songwriter Thom Powers performs on the stage at the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival.
Children play yard games at the Kids Activity Tent.
Children color at the Kids Activity Tent.

A portion of Wine & Food Festival ticket sales benefits Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Southern Adirondacks. BBBS volunteers manned the Drop-off/Pick-up Tent where attendees could leave purchases throughout the day. The volunteers also sold bottled water and raffle tickets for a chance to win one of several baskets made up of goods donated by festival vendors.

Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Southern Adirondacks raffled baskets of goods donated by festival vendors.

The Adirondack Wine & Food Festival was launched in 2015, and except for a two-year hiatus during the pandemic, has been held each year on the last weekend in June. It has grown to be one of the largest wine festivals in New York State and is a premier event for the Lake George Region.

Photos: Adirondack Wine & Food Festival 2023

  • Painted Pail Wines from the Central New York Region offered samples of their sangria, which they package fresh in 1.5-liter pouches.
  • Several artisan soft drink producers participated in the 2023 festival.
  • A woman tastes wine at the Pale Moonlight Wines booth.
  • Attendees sample beer from Mean Max Brewery.
  • Event In A Tent provided hammocks.
  • Specialty vendors and artisan food producers round out the vendor list at the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival.
  • House of Cork
  • Hidden Hollow Maple
  • Specialty vendors and artisan food producers round out the vendor list at the Adirondack Wine & Food Festival.