Lake Placid, Adirondacks USA – Over a thousand New York State employees are expected to attend a conference at the Conference Center at Lake Placid starting this Sunday, October 22 - October 25. The event is generating overnight bookings in Lake Placid for Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. As in past years, it is expected that attendees will not only be participating in the conference, but will also be visiting local businesses during those two days. “With the conference center’s central location in the Lake Placid village, attendees can easily browse Main Street shops and experience the great restaurants. Hopefully it will expose new future leisure travelers to our spectacular destination,” said Maryjane Lawrence, ROOST’s director of sales. Below is a list of attendees' free time and meal information: NYS Public Employee Federation Sun., Oct. 22 - Wed., Oct. 25 1,000 attendees Sun., Oct. 22 Arrival - Evening Dinner on own. Mon., Oct. 23 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. 1 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on own. Tues., Oct. 24 7 a.m. - 9 a.m. 12:30 p.m. - 2:30 p.m. 5:30 p.m. - 7 p.m. Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner on own. Wed., Oct. 25 Morning - Departure. Breakfast on own. ###

ROOST Malone Regional Marketing Manager Tim Lamay visited on October 10 with 8th graders at the Malone Central School to discuss ways in which they can promote Malone as a tourist destination. The students have been assigned a project where they become "regional marketing managers" and create a blog, make brochures, produce videos, and activities related to marketing. Tim relayed what role the Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism has in promoting the area and gave them tips to help with their assignment. The students visited the Underground Railroad, met with Wilder family actors, learned about the history of the Malone Golf Course, and other historic Malone locations such as Morningside Cemetery, House of History, and Vice President William Wheeler's Home. "It was fun to see the excitement that the students had for this project. I think that this is a great way to demonstrate partnerships in the community and using collaborative ideas to benefit our growing tourism industry," Lamay said.

The Regional Office of Sustainable Tourism (ROOST) invites all interested area municipal leaders, businesses, organizations, and individuals to attend brief regional destination marketing reviews, followed by reception, in their respective regional destination. The first in the series is the Saranac Lake destination marketing review being held at the North Elba Town House, home of the Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce and the Saranac Lake ROOST office, 193 River Street, on Thursday, October 26th from 5-6:30 p.m. The agenda will include a brief presentation by ROOST staff, time for Q&A, followed by a networking opportunity with light refreshments and a cash bar. “I look forward to this casual gathering with our stakeholders," said Kelly Brunette, Saranac Lake regional marketing manager for ROOST. “It will be a great networking opportunity, and a chance to continue our ongoing dialogue about ROOST’s destination marketing strategies on behalf of the greater Saranac Lake area." All those interested in attending the Saranac Lake event are asked to contact Kelly Brunette to RSVP at kelly@saranaclake.com. The Lake Champlain region’s destination marketing review is scheduled for Thursday, November 2nd from 5:00-6:30 p.m. at the Westport Hotel, 6691 Main Street, Westport. Contact Suzanne Maye to RSVP, suzanne@roostadk.com. The two marketing reviews are the first in a series that ROOST will be hosting throughout the region this fall, including upcoming events in Tupper Lake on Dec. 7, in Malone on Jan. 11, and dates to be announced in Hamilton County, Schroon Lake, and the Lake Placid/Whiteface Region. We will announce these reviews shortly. ROOST is the accredited destination marketing organization (DMO) responsible for promoting Essex, Hamilton and Franklin counties in the Adirondacks of New York. For more information about ROOST and its team, visit roostadk.com.

October 18, 2017: By the Numbers The chart below shows the percent of each outdoor activity in the ROOST leisure travel study respondents reported participating in since 2011. The rise in hiking and paddling correlate with an increase in ROOST’s efforts to market these activities. By understanding the activities travelers are participating in during their trips to the region, ROOST staff are more able to make informed marketing decision and content creation. *There was no survey conducted for 2015 visitation

October 20, 2017 Contact: Aurora Wheeler, Oral History Coordinator HISTORIC SARANAC LAKE 518-891-4606 aurora@historicsaranaclake.org Saranac Lake, NY - Historic Saranac Lake has been awarded major grants to support the implementation of the Cure Porch on Wheels project in 2018. The New York Council on the Arts (NYSCA) has approved a $17,000 grant to support the creation of the mobile oral history booth and pop-up museum. A generous grant from the Cloudsplitter Foundation and additional private donations boost the fundraising total to over 63% of Historic Saranac Lake’s goal. In 2017, a National Endowment for the Arts grant is funding the design of the mobile exhibit space by Melissa Kline and engineer Wiley Lavigne with consultation from Adirondack White Pine Cabins builders Dan and Joe Plumb. In 2018, Historic Saranac Lake will contract with local builder Don Rumble to construct the Cure Porch on Wheels on a 16 foot trailer. The porch will be shared with other organizations and artists in order to host a wide variety of arts and cultural activities in the region. The Cure Porch on Wheels will be fully accessible to persons with disabilities via a platform lift. A collapsible stage will make it a flexible venue for musical performances and other events. “The fundraising campaign to build the porch next year is off to a great start,” said Executive Director, Amy Catania. “We can’t wait to build the porch and put it into use.” Project Director Aurora Wheeler has recently returned from Minneapolis, Minnesota, where she gave a presentation about the porch project to an audience at the Oral History Association Annual Meeting. “The porch project is designed to be a model for other organizations to develop their own mobile spaces for arts and culture,” she noted. “It’s very special to be able to share our plans with organizations that are located all over the country.” Planning ahead for the long-term viability of the Cure Porch on Wheels, Historic Saranac Lake recently submitted a major National Endowment for the Arts Our Town grant in partnership with the Village of Saranac Lake and Traditional Arts of Upstate NY to support porch programs in 2019. ####