In the land of 44 lakes, Fulton County officials are preparing for well more than 44 summer tourism options.
Towns and cities throughout upstate New York thrive off the tourism boom as temperatures rise and visitors come to the Adirondacks to enjoy nature.
Gloversville Mayor Vincent DeSantis, a Democrat, says this summer will mark a return from the COVID-slump.
His city’s summer season will begin with the Southern Adirondack Wine and Food Festival in June.
“It gets bigger every year and this year it’ll be the biggest ever. Several wineries even some from the Finger Lakes Region are here and every year they almost always sell out, so word gets around and then every year we get more vendors,” said DeSantis.
DeSantis says this summer will also be about promoting the city as an arts hub.
“Because not only do we have performing arts, but we have visual arts. We have [the] Micropolis Gallery, and several other visual art things that we’re doing with our local Glove City Arts initiative,” said DeSantis.
Major construction projects will turn the city’s St. Thomas Square into an expansive greenspace with space for a farmers market and the South Main Street Plaza into a public space with room for movie screenings and concerts.
Gloversville is the recipient of $10 million in Downtown Revitalization Initiative funds. DeSantis says this summer is a chance for his city to re-introduce itself.
“The Glove Theatre is being—an actual $4 million restoration to the theater which will increase its capacity to do so many other things. And that theater can become, really, one of the anchors of downtown. The other anchor is our food co-op. The food co-op gets better all the time and it’s a great place for people to meet and have coffee. So it creates that buzz of activity,” said DeSantis.
On the other side of Great Sacandaga Lake, organizers are preparing to host the 100th anniversary of the Northville Placid Trail beginning at the end of May.
Julia Goren is with the Adirondack Mountain Club.
“It is so fitting that Northville is really kicking off this summer season of celebration of the Northville Placid Trail as the southern terminus and as a town that has really embraced that as part of its heritage and culture,” said Goren.
The NPT’s centennial kick-off weekend coincides with National Trail Day, the first Saturday in June. Northville clerk Wendy Reu says the weekend will be filled with music, volunteering opportunities, and, of course, NPT-celebrations.
“We’ve been working on this for well over a year. Northville, as I said, we’re a place or festivals and community celebrations so it seemed only natural to use this to our advantage,” said Reu.
Reu adds there’s plenty more in store for the summer.
“We continually have events every year. Our big one typically is the DOINS which is a three-day event in July around the 4th of July. This year it’ll be July 4th, 5th, and 6th. We have fireworks, we’ll have bands, music, food, entertainment. We just try to create activities in the community that will draw people to the community so they can then shop in our districts. The merchants benefit, the restaurants benefit, and it’s good for all,” said Reu.
