By noon Saturday, Feb. 23, a line of more than 100 people had formed along the Lake Front Walkway at Shepard Park, all waiting to have their Styrofoam plates loaded down with chicken wing samples from local eateries. Snowmobiles and ATVs buzzed across the frozen surface of Lake George while SCUBA divers bobbed in an open area of water 100 feet off shore. Passing snow squalls and the cancellation of the weekends featured event, the ice car races, did not seem to put a dent in attendance at the final weekend of the Lake George Winter Carnival.
The Carnival, which opened on Feb. 2 and ran each weekend through the month, celebrated its closing with children’s games on the frozen lake, hay rides, diving demonstrations, and the spectacle of snowmobiles skimming over open water in the snowmobile water skip. The chicken wing cook-off gave carnival goers the opportunity to sample variations on the Buffalo chicken wing recipe from ten local restaurants and vote for their favorite. This year, Shepard’s Cove restaurant garnered the most votes, with Fire and Ice Bar and Grill coming in second, and the Fort William Henry Resort landing third prize in the annual competition.
Just south of the Shepard Park Winter Carnival Headquarters, the upstairs bar at King Neptune’s Pub was taken over by dozens of Zumba dancers. Neptune’s also hosted children’s arts and crafts and face painting.
Saturday’s activities ended with a bonfire on the beach, where the fixings for s’mores were provided free of charge, and a fireworks display over the lake.
The scheduled ice car races were cancelled last Thursday, Feb. 21, when a representative from the Adirondack Motor Enthusiast Club (AMEC), which sanctions the event, determined the ice was lacking about an inch of thickness to safely hold the races.