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You'll find restaurants, art studios, shops that sell ev-
erything from handmade jewelry to outdoor gear, and
even a community-owned department store, one of
the only ones in the country, in Downtown Saranac
Lake. Our weekly Farmers' Market takes up residence
here for much of the year—outdoors in summer, and
indoors during the winter. When the weather's right,
downtown becomes our living room. There are two
downtown bandshells, and you'll catch acts playing all
kinds of music using them. And make sure you stop by
this July for our first-ever Street Fest, featuring music,
theater, magic and costumes.
So, yes, we're a bit of a throwback. Even the newest
things we celebrate, such as the recently restored Hotel
Saranac, are rooted in history; There are 170 properties
in Saranac Lake—including the hotel—on the State and
National Registers of Historic Places. Learn more about
the area at the Six Nations Indian Museum in On-
chiota, which tells the story of the region's first inhab-
itants, or the Historic Saranac Lake Museum, where
you'll see how visitors began to flock here in the 19th
century for our clean air and lush forests. Which, come to
think of it, is just as good a reason to visit right now.
IF YOU HAVE ANY DOUBT THAT THE CLASSIC
AMERICAN DOWNTOWN STILL EXISTS—ONE
WHERE YOU CAN GRAB BREAKFAST FROM
SOMEBODY WHO KNOWS YOUR USUAL OR
FIND JUST THE OUTFIT AT A ONE-OF-A-KIND
BOUTIQUE—WE HAVE GOOD NEWS: SARANAC
LAKE'S DOWNTOWN IS ALIVE, WELL AND
POSTCARD-PERFECT.
downtown
Hotel
Saranac
photo
by
Nancie
Battaglia
