There are some first-time events in Winter Carnival 2010.
Ice builders designed a jail, a corral and a stagecoach alongside the Ice Palace at Pontiac Bay. The palace will be lit at 7 p.m. Saturday.
The Winter Carnival Committee has opened a museum for carnival season in the storefront next to Lakeview Deli across from the Ice Palace, showcasing Winter Carnival memorabilia and photos. Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Friday, Saturday and Sunday, and Wednesday, Feb. 10, through Sunday, Feb. 14.
A new Sporting Events Champion will be named with the highest combined scores in the Ice Palace Fun Run; White Stag Ski Races; snowshoe races; inner-tube and cross-country ski races.
Registration forms for all events and a complete schedule are available online at www.saranaclakewintercarnival.com. Some events are free and others charge admission.
For more information or to buy decorative Winter Carnival buttons at $3 each, contact the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce at 193 River St. or by calling 891-1990.
Of skates and skis, a palace of ice and a royal court, Winter Carnival begins Friday on its 113th caper, a call to Adirondack Cowboys.
There are 10 days of wintry fun ahead that will culminate in one signature gathering.
Since the midwinter celebration was organized by the winter-sports-minded Pontiac Club in 1897, the Gala Parade has unrolled in an afternoon like a string of well-kept secrets.
Antique photographs in the Adirondack Research Room of the Saranac Lake Free Library and historic accounts divulge traditions long past, among them trumpet calls across the village, bough arches over Broadway, streets trimmed with evergreens and the storming of the ice palace in the final hour.
ELEMENT OF SURPRISE
Some traditions faded with time. The inaugural procession of fur-laden sleighs and horse-drawn floats turned to motors and marching.
But even now, little is said for weeks before about floats under construction.
Jeff Dickson, chairman of the Winter Carnival Committee, chuckled at the prowess of local imagination, not to mention the hoards that will stand for hours no matter what weather to witness its work.
"A lot of the floats were probably started months ago," he said. "For the most part, people keep their plans pretty secret. And the information we get from people is sparse — we get an entry form, and the only thing it says is, 'We have a float.'"
Much of Winter Carnival parade intrigue is the element of surprise.
"For sure, most of us on the committee are just as surprised at what people come up with as the crowd is," Dickson said. "It's absolutely true — that is part of the fun."
The 2010 Adirondack Cowboys theme spurred interest this year, judging by the number of float entries for the Feb. 13 event.
Everybody seems to be having fun with the idea.
"Garry Trudeau gave us his concept of it," Dickson said, referring to the artist's Winter Carnival button design with a snowmobile-rider mid-jump.
Even a giant bear carved from a stump on the edge of town gained an oversize cowboy hat two weeks ago.
"Just what is an Adirondack Cowboy is perhaps something we're waiting to find out," Dickson said.
The parade roster is still building, said Eric Foster, who volunteered to coordinate the lineup this year.
The final date for entries is Feb. 10.
AN EMPTY SEAT
In Foster's first season, the legacy is daunting.
"To appreciate the tradition of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, think of all the events that have taken place in the world and in our own extended families over the last 113 years," he said. "Across that time, multiple generations have gathered together to enjoy the winter season in Saranac Lake. The Gala Parade is one of the features that people look forward to every year. Last year, when Don Duso, longtime Winter Carnival chairman and parade coordinator, asked if I could take on the parade, I was honored and more than a little intimidated."
With well-tuned support from the Winter Carnival Committee and everyone who helps organize the parade, it is coming together in fine tradition, he said.
Traditions change hands over time.
"We are all deeply saddened by Don's recent passing, and only hope we can continue in the spirit he established," Foster said.
Though Duso died Jan. 10, he will hold a special place as grand marshal in the community's collective memory this year.
An empty seat at Winter Carnival events and on the grand marshal's float will mark his decades of volunteer work going back to the 1940s.
Throngs will gather for the parade on Main Street and Broadway, stretching nearly from the shores of Lake Colby to Lake Flower. Watchers will cheer and make merry the days of winter as thousands have done for more than a century, setting aside work for play, trading hardship for kinship, self-reliance for reunion.
The march goes on.
E-mail Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com
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