Lake Placid

Over the weekend, our class went on a trip to the Adirondack Park. On our voyage around the Park (and yes, we quite literally looped the Park), we stopped at many fantastic locations including a wildlife preserve, Tupper Lake’s Wild Center, and a incredible outdoors store called The Mountaineer.  Having only been to the Adirondacks for my Pre-Orientation trip on the St. Regis Canoe Area, I had not previously had the opportunity to experience more than the most rural parts of the Adirondacks.  Of all the stops we that made on our Adirondack excursion, I was most struck by the Lake Placid area, where we spent our evening.

In Lake Placid, we stayed overnight in the Olympic Training Center.  As a child, I, like so many others, always dreamed of being an Olympian, so this was a dream come true.  After I recovered from coming to terms with the fact that this weekend was closest I will ever come to being an Olympian, we went into Lake Placid to explore to the town.  Walking around the town center, one particular aspect of the town stuck out to me: everything was related to the Olympics.  I was amazed by the apparent love and obsession the town has with its Olympic history.

On the drive home from our wonderful trip, I stumbled upon an interesting Adirondack Almanack article by the Lake Placid Convention and Visitors Bureau Communications Director, Kimberly Rielly.  In her article, Rielly discusses the effects of the Olympics on the town, with a focus on the economy:

“After the 1980 games in Lake Placid, the tourism economy has more than doubled. Since ’80, the number of lodging rooms has remained fairly consistent – but occupancy and specifically fall season leisure travel have increased steadily. This success and the quality resort experience that visitors enjoy today can be attributed largely to the investments that resulted from hosting the games” (Rielly, The Adirondack Almanack)

Walking around Lake Placid, I noticed exactly what Rielly explained in the above excerpt.  In the town center, there were numerous restaurants, shops, and hotels, all of which were quite busy on this March weekend, and to think that all of this local economic success was the result of a 9 day athletic event is fascinating.

Rielly explains that part of the lasting excitement and success of the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid, as it was the “last of the small town Olympic Winter Games” (Rielly, The Adirondack Almanack).  As a resident of a town about thirty minutes outside of Boston, Massachusetts, I was intrigued by this analysis.  For those who are unaware, the United States Olympic Committee submitted a bid to the International Olympic Committee for Boston to host the 2024 Olympics.  Since the announcement, there has been a great deal of debate amid influential Bostonian politicians, CEOs, university officials, and residents as to whether or not this would be beneficial to Boston. Before visiting Lake Placid, I had zero doubts that I supported the Boston 2024 Olympic efforts, though ever since returning from our trip, I have not been as sure about my views.  The Olympics greatly supported a small town like Lake Placid, though with Boston being such a compact city already, I am not sure this influx of new people and infrastructure would be beneficial.

Might the Lake Placid Olympic success of 1980 suggest that Olympics should be held in smaller towns, as a means of boosting economic success?

Works Cited:

Rielly, Kimberly. "The Olympics’ Impact On Lake Placid." The Adirondack Almanack. N.p., 27 Jan. 2014. Web. 8 Mar. 2015. <http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2014/01/moon-boots-miracles-olympics-impact-lake-placid.html>.