The Village of Lake Placid was incorporated in 1900 and is located in the Town of North Elba in the Adirondack Mountains in Essex County, New York. As of the 2000 census, the village had a population of 2,638. Lake Placid is best known as the two-time site of the Winter Olympics, in 1932 and 1980. In the United States, the village is especially remembered as the site of the 1980 USA–USSR hockey ga
me, the so-called Miracle on Ice, when a group of American college students and amateurs upset the heavily favored Soviet national ice hockey team 4–3 and two days later won the gold medal. Another highpoint during the Games was speed-skater Eric Heiden winning five gold medals. During the 1932 and 1980 Winter Olympic Games, the trails outside of the village served for the cross-country skiing events and the cross-country skiing part of the Nordic combined event. Moritz, Switzerland, and Innsbruck, Austria are the only sites to have twice hosted the Winter Olympic Games. Lake Placid is also home to one of only three year-round United States Olympic Training Centers and periodically host world-class competitions in downhill and Nordic skiing, biathlon, ski jumping, luge, bobsledding, skeleton, speed skating and figure skating. In a setting offering incredible views of the Adirondack Mountains including New York State's highest peak at Mt. Marcy, Lake Placid provides a plethora of outdoor activities from downhill skiing on Whiteface, the Olympic Mountain, to cross-country skiing, year-round hiking, fishing, ice-climbing, cycling, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, and snowmobiling. The Village of Lake Placid annually hosts the Empire State Games in February, the Lake Placid and I Love New York Horseshows in late June, and the Lake Placid Ironman in July. In addition, the Village of Lake Placid offers outstanding dining experiences at its many restaurants, hotels and resorts, unique shopping experiences along its picturesque Main Street and many cultural activities. The Lake Placid Center for the Arts offers year-round music, dance, theatre, film and family programs. The Lake Placid Sinfonietta is a summer chamber orchestra whose musicians come from larger orchestras and university faculties throughout the country. For six weeks in the summer the Sinfonietta offers weekly classical performances at the Center for the Arts on Sunday evenings, in Mid's Park on Main Street on Wednesday evenings, and at various locations in the Adirondacks. The Lake Placid Film Forum was co-founded in 2000 by author Russell Banks, former New York Daily News Critic Kathleen Carroll and artist Naj Wikoff and is an annual mid-June event which, like a film festival, exhibits a series of films and often features the filmmakers and cast members who attend the screenings. The Lake Placid Institute creates opportunities for learning, sharing, and enjoying the cultural life of the Adirondacks. A small town with a big city feel, the Village of Lake Placid is a great place to raise a family. Both public and private schools offer a well-rounded education to our children at the Lake Placid Central School, North Country School and Northwood School. Excellent health care facilities are provided by Adirondack Health with emergency services, outpatient services and primary and specialty care services.
