SARANAC LAKE — They will trade practice warm-ups for sequins and winter rink hats for elegant coiffure and step under the lights on ice.
Athletes with the Saranac Lake Figure Skating Academy are ready to perform their annual Winter Carnival extravaganza.
In its 25th year, the Meineker Memorial Ice Show promises a heartfelt tribute to shared ice, community and every skater's dream.
RAISING THE RINK
Tammy S. Lalande is coach and founder of the academy — a chartered member of U.S. Figure Skating, the governing body for the sport in the United States.
"The Saranac Lake Figure Skating Academy metamorphosed out of the Meineker Memorial Show," Lalande said.
It was Lalande's father, Philip, who helped initiate fundraising to build what has become their home rink at the Saranac Lake Civic Center.
The building and the Ice Show were established after the untimely deaths of Timothy and Jeffrey Meineker, teenage brothers who drowned in Lake Flower on a June night in 1969.
"And in the 25th year, we wanted to pay tribute to the show coming full circle from the tragic loss of the Meineker boys years ago," Lalande said.
This year's ice show theme will tell a love story, she said.
FAVORITE EVENT
"My dad, Philip Lalande, was a hockey player from Canada, and he started the Pee Wee program, and then it was his idea and dream to have a civic center. They sold cement blocks for the Meineker Memorial — that is what literally built the walls of the civic center.
"It is a love story between the humble setting of the rink and the community that built it. Out of this, we have found home at center ice as a skating family.
"And through the years of performing at Winter Carnival, we have fallen in love — not only with the building and the ice surface — but the many friends that continually come back to support us and cheer us on.
"It is my skaters' favorite event on the entire calendar."
SYNCHRONIZED SKATING
On tap Thursday is a colorful series of figure-skating programs and performances, including numbers from the academy's synchronized skating teams.
"Synchro has become one of the most popular areas of U.S. Figure Skating. And we have two teams performing this year," Lalande said.
"The advanced Synchro team is made up of academy skaters, as well as members of the Skating Club of Lake Placid, a combined team of excellent skaters. Our number is a tribute to finding love in unlikely places."
OPEN TO ALL
The academy draws from 60 to 100 skaters to the ice every year, giving all youths a chance to pull on a pair of skates.
"Our mission statement as an academy has always been to keep it cost effective so that figure skating is not limited to a privileged few," Lalande said. "We want to be able to enable any local child the opportunity to pursue a dream on ice."
Email Kim Smith Dedam at: kdedam@pressrepublican.com
