One Of America's Oldest Winter Carnivals Is A Thrilling New York Lakeside Event With Unique Activities

Hidden in the Adirondack Mountains, one of New York's gateways to the outdoors, is the charming and chilly town of Saranac Lake. This community is all about the winter season, with plenty of opportunities for cross-country skiing, snowshoeing, sledding, and enjoying the snow. The town itself is a perfect place to go shopping for the holidays (don't miss a trip to Goody Goody's Toys and Games if you have anyone young or young at heart on your Christmas list!). Its most impressive offering, however, is the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival. This incredible event dates back to 1897, making it one of the oldest in the country, and it's just as fun today as it was when it first began more than a century ago.

The Winter Carnival is a thrilling 10-day event, packed with winter games and sports, from snowy classics like skating to unconventional winter activities like volleyball and ultimate frisbee. From live music and dancing to elaborate parade floats, you'll find plenty to keep your attention at Saranac Lake — but the most incredible is definitely the Ice Palace, an enormous ice-sculpted castle, inhabited by the King and Queen of the festival.

It's obvious that Saranac Lake is one of the most magical destinations in the northeast, but at one time, that peace and quiet was considered more than relaxing — it was supposed to be healing. For a secret little lake town in the Adirondack Mountains, Saranac Lake has a fascinating history. In addition to logging and carving ice out of the local lake and selling it to cities for rudimentary refrigeration, in the late 1800s, the town became a place for people with tuberculosis to convalesce while the disease was studied. People with this terrible disease were advised to rest and relax and enjoy recreational activities in nature while they were ill.

To combat the dark nights and frigid temperatures of Saranac Lake's winters, the community put together a winter celebration. Someone had the brilliant idea to use the huge ice blocks to build a tower — a tower that could grow and become more elaborate over time, until it became the medieval-style ice fortress you can visit today. The ice palace has been a staple of the Winter Carnival ever since, only taking a brief break during World War II.

The exact schedule for the winter festival changes every year, but you can read about what to expect on the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival website. There are several events every day of the festival. You can count on a coronation for the new year's Carnival Royalty (a pair of residents of Saranac Lake who have significantly contributed to the town that year) toward the beginning of the festival. In addition to all the contests and games, some of the most exciting events in the lineup are  watching the ice palace being built and then celebrating with a vibrant fireworks display when it's finished.

This event is put on by volunteers and is free to attend, so if all you want to do is see the ice palace, take part in the scavenger hunt, or try to win a contest, you won't have to pay a dime. If you do want to take advantage of the opportunity to go holiday shopping, you'll have a good amount of options while you're there. In previous years, there was a book fair. People paid $5 for a bag and filled it up with all the books they could fit inside.