Glens Falls Chronicle Serving the Glens Falls/Lake George region; Warren, Washington and northern Saratoga counties since 1980
By Ben Westcott, Chronicle Staff Writer
Lake George Mayor Ray Perry says it was a good summer for tourism. The Village says parking revenue for June-July-August was up 15.5% from 2025.
“It’s a weird economy right now,” Mayor Perry told The Chronicle. “I’m understanding of that. But I still think we drew a lot of people into the area based on just visual observations as well as factual ones. The streets were well attended, the concerts were well attended once we finally got going. I think people really still came.”
He estimates that Canadian tourism represents about 5-10% of summer business. He said it was up “by far.”
“They’re all over the Northway. I see them in every hotel parking lot. So they’re definitely back,” said the mayor.
He said the Shepard Park stage has been “the talk of the town….It has really shown so much promise. The performers are excited to play here for the first time.”
Fort William Henry Hotel President Sam Luciano said the hotel had its best July ever and August was about even with last year.
“I think people were traveling more this summer, at least in July,” he said.
Mr. Luciano said Canadian bookings were down just 0.5% from 2025. He said they typically account for 2% of stays.
“I didn’t run into anyone not coming down because of political or tariff reasons,” Mr. Luciano said.
“The Canadians I spoke to, the ones that are VIPs at the hotel, look at both countries, both political parties as needing to grow up.
“They’re still going to come, they still love the area. Unless the prices get crazy. The political bantering back and forth did not affect their decision to come down and vacation in the United States.”
Lake George Village Mall co-owner Joe Mondella said, “We had a great summer. We’ve heard various different accounts on how it’s been, but for the most part we’ve heard it’s been good.”
His co-owner Mark French said, “We definitely saw more people from Quebec and stuff coming here. We didn’t see a downtick.”
Warren County Tourism Department data indicates hotel occupancy is up 1.9% year-to-date and short-term rental occupancy is up 1.2%, and that the county saw a 7.3% increase in visitor Visa spend in the first six months of 2026 vs. 2025.
Contacted for comment, Andrew Burggraf, now president of The Great Escape, said, “We do not publicly share attendance numbers,” but said it’s been an “important” and “exciting” season under new owner Enchanted Parks.
Not everyone calls the season strong.
Tandoori Grill posted on Aug. 31 that it will close on Route 9 in Lake George, citing a “poor tourist economy in Lake George” and “sky high food prices.”
“We are making plans to re-open in Glens Falls later this year,” the post said.
Car show, Jazz, Winter
“Right now the fall is very, very busy” says Lake George Village Mayor Ray Perry. “We’re almost booked every weekend right now.”
“Car Show is coming right after Labor Day…Some people hate it, some people love it. I actually think it’s done really well on the grounds of the Fort William Henry.
“We try to keep the ruffians in check with the Sheriff’s Department, and I believe (Sheriff) Jim (LaFarr) has done a really good job so far.
“We get overrun, and it’s not something that we can even control, because even when Car Show got cancelled during COVID, people still showed up and acted like jerks. Not all of them, just about 5%. I have a 5% jerk rule that I refer to.”
Mayor Perry said “I’m very much looking forward to Jazz [at the Lake] in a couple of weeks, because that is by far the biggest event we have in Shepard Park.
“And I’m excited for Light Up the Village, although I hate winter.”
Speaking of winter, the mayor said, “I did talk to the folks at Ice Castles, seeing if they have an interest in coming back, because they invested over $110,000 in infrastructure to support themselves, and then they left the next year, so there’s no return on investment. They say ‘Yeah, we know we left money on the table. We might be back.’ But it would be like 2028.”
For the upcoming Adirondack Balloon Festival, Mayor Perry said, “We were trying to organize a Lake George Moon Glow, but received radio silence from the team over there…We talked about it last year and it was a go, but I guess it’s just not going to happen this year. So we might just put on our own next year.”
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