The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, the oldest winter festival in the eastern United States, will celebrate its 108th anniversary when it returns to the Adirondack Mountain village of Saranac Lake, NY from February 4 to February 13, 2005. The theme for 2004 was "Carnival Time ". The theme for 2005 is "Adirondack Aloha."

The Winter Carnival's origins can be found in Saranac Lake's history as a world-famous health resort. In 1897, the first year of the event, the village was already a thriving community nestled deep in the Adirondack wilderness, its pristine setting providing rejuvenation for hundreds of tuberculosis sufferers drawn from all over North America. In the course of "taking the cure" here, many patients experienced a renewed passion for life, and took every opportunity - in every season - to explore the natural beauty that surrounded them. The long, cold Adirondack winters offered an array of snow-covered mountains and ice-covered lakes, begging to be enjoyed on skis, sleds and skates. Thus, to break winter's chill and to promote "outdoor sports and games", the Pontiac Club was formed in 1896, and a year later, they sponsored the first "Mid-Winter Carnival".

The first Winter Carnival was a two-day affair that sponsored skating races, a parade and an "ice tower" - features that have been, in one form or another, part of every Carnival since.

Today's Carnival - now 10 days long - still begins with the Coronation of the King and Queen. This honor is bestowed upon two local citizens, in recognition of their substantial volunteer efforts throughout the year. Joining them are a Prince and Princess, elected at the two local colleges, a Court made up of local high school seniors, Pages chosen from the elementary schools, and an Archbishop and Chamberlain, who tend to such duties as proclamations and the crowning of the royal couple.

Each Carnival revolves around a theme, which provides a framework for, among other things, Carnival decorations, the Gala Parade and the Carnival button. Since 1981, the button has sported an exclusive design donated by Garry Trudeau, the Pulitzer Prize-winning creator of "Doonesbury", and a native of Saranac Lake. Themes in the past have included "Dreams", "Cabin Fever" and "Hooray for Holidays."

The Winter Carnival still offers a fascinating array of sporting events. These include snowshoe and nordic ski races at the Dewey Mountain Cross-Country Ski Center, innertube and alpine ski races down the slopes of Mount Pisgah, skating races, broomball and hockey games at the Saranac Lake Civic Center, volleyball played in knee-deep snow, softball played on snowshoes, and a competitive display of traditional logging skills.

The Carnival now plays host to two parades. The Gala Parade, held on the next-to-last day of Carnival, sees the entire community engaged in an animated march through town, regaled in comical costumes, riding upon dozens of colorful floats, accompanied by legions of bands in a jubilant throwing-off of winter's chill. The next day, Saranac Lake's children get their chance to strut their stuff, when they march down Main Street in the colorful and enchanting Kiddie Parade.

The palace was an outgrowth of the village's ice industry, which, in the days before electric refrigerators, harvested ice from local lakes for use in ice boxes across the country and around the world. Despite some refinements in machinery, the Palace is still constructed in much the same manner as it was in 1898, the first year it was built.

Legend has it though that the Palace was created to house the Winter Carnival Mascot, Sara the Snowy Owl

About six weeks before the Carnival, an ice field is marked off on Pontiac Bay on Lake Flower; once a suitable ice thickness has been achieved, cutting with long ice saws begins. The blocks taken from the lake are two feet wide and four feet long, are anywhere from one-and-a-half to three feet thick, and weigh between four and eight hundred pounds!

These are moved onshore via a conveyor belt, and are maneuvered into place with "peaveys" - metal-tipped poles with hinged metal hooks - and ice tongs. The blocks are secured to one another with a "mortar" made of slush. While designs may vary from year to year, each palace has, on average, over 1500 blocks in it, and ranges from 70 to 90 feet in length and 40 to 60 feet in height. Within each design is an array of colored lights, that each night transforms the Palace into a vivid sculpture of ice and light!

Once completed, the Ice Palace stands as both centerpiece and symbol for the Winter Carnival: for what distinguishes Saranac Lake's mid-winter festival is that it is brought about by the efforts of its citizens, volunteering their time, energy, enthusiasm and resources so that their children, their neighbors and their guests can enjoy another Carnival.