Adirondack Wine & Food Festival owner Sasha Pardy announced the sad news today that the popular festival that typically kicks off the summer in Lake George will be put off until 2022. Here’s what the event organizer had to say, when the next festival is slated for, and how you can donate to the event’s nonprofit beneficiary.
Mark Your Calendars for the 2022 Festival
“We would rather wait for the COVID-19 situation to improve than put on an event that cannot meet the expectations of our attendees, vendors, and the community,” Pardy said in a statement.
The annual event was originally scheduled for June 26 and 27 of this year. It will now take place June 25 and 26, 2022.
Although the COVID situation has arguably improved drastically in recent months, with the vaccine rollout, restaurants moving up to 75% capacity, and other developments, current regulations require the Festival to limit attendees to 1,000 people per day; this would have resulted in a lower attendance than the first festival in 2014.
Other reasons cited for the pivot include additional costs of security, crowd control, cleaning, and other related regulations.
“The safety protocols in place discourage touching products, risk of cross contamination, standing in lines, congregating, etc.,” Pardy explained. “These protocols also increase vendors’ expenses and would severely change the flow and feel of the event that our attendees have come to know and love over the years.”
The 2020 Festival was rescheduled from June to September, before ultimately being cancelled. We have no doubt the 2022 Festival will culminate in an epic return!
How You Can Support an Important Nonprofit
Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Southern Adirondacks is the beneficiary of the Festival, and they were set to receive a portion of every ticket sold from the event, as well as proceeds from water and merchandise.
Fundraising for the group amounted to over $15,000 in 2019, the last time the Festival took place. That’s a lot of money for a nonprofit to miss out on two years in a row.
Feel free to donate an amount you deem appropriate at adkwinefest.com/bbbs/.
Keep an eye out for the 2022 Adirondack Wine & Food Festival tickets to go on sale around the 2021 holiday season.
