Noelle Ellithorpe, of Lake Clear, sits on a cornhole board at the 2023 Mountain MudFest at Mount Pisgah in Saranac Lake. MudFest returns on Saturday.
(Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)
SARANAC LAKE — The fourth annual Mountain MudFest is returning to Mount Pisgah on Saturday, with a lineup of local bands, beer, food and games.
After experimenting with the event at the Saranac Lake Civic Center last year, the festivities are returning to the mountain.
Along with being held at a later date than before, the free-to-attend festival, organized by the Saranac Lake Women’s Civic Chamber and Bloomingdale-based Hex and Hop Brewing, will also start at a later time. It has now shifted to 1 to 6 p.m.
The event is rain or shine. Currently, the National Weather Service is giving a 50/50 shot at rain on Saturday, meaning the event may live up to its name. The temperatures are expected to be in the low 50s with a light wind.
Julie Walsh, a WCC member and one of the MudFest organizers, said they like leaning into the muddy theme of the event.
Cornhole competitors Kate Mazdzer, right, and Kate Snyder play cornhole at the first-ever Mountain MudFest in 2022. MudFest returns to Mount Pisgah on Saturday.
(Enterprise photo — Lauren Yates)
“This is for the Adirondackers,” she said. “We know it’s mud season. So come anyway.
“If we call it ‘MudFest’ and then if it’s muddy, people won’t go ‘Oh my gosh it’s muddy, let’s not go,’” she added. “If it’s muddy, it’s already supposed to be!”
The event started after Hex and Hop owner Ethan Mikesell emailed Walsh as the WCC recording secretary and asked if they had a mud season event for local businesses to bring in a bit of extra money.
Walsh said it’s exciting to see the event in its fourth year, gathering a following of people looking for muddy fun. She’s personally a big fan of the event.
“I think it’s a real community-building event,” she said.
She loves seeing kids running around the mountain.
“I love a good music festival,” Walsh said. “And if I can be on a hill listening to music — I don’t know why it has to be on a hill, but hills help — I just think that part of it is really wonderful.”
The music will start with High on the Hog, featuring fiddle and guitar player Tyler Dezago coming back to town to play some old time string music with his friends. Next, the Midnight Stargazers will bring their cosmic country sound to the MudFest stage for their fourth Mountain MudFest. Closing the day will be Strange Cereal, playing funky rocking originals.
There will be no cornhole tournament this year, but there will be cornhole games to play. The tournament was drawing aficionados in from all around the region to compete for the trophy, Walsh said, and families who paid to enter were getting knocked out in the first round.
There will be gaga ball, volleyball and face painting. There will also be a pickleball instructor at the courts at the mountain. This session costs money.
Several community organizations will be providing entertainment and information at MudFest.
The Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department will bring a fire truck for a “touch-a-truck,” Search and Rescue of the Northern Adirondacks will bring their “tools of the trade” and the Saranac Lake Free Library is bringing a button-making machine.
Other organizations include the Girl Scouts, the Adirondack Carousel, Franklin County Public Health, the Saranac Lake Rotary Club, the Saranac Lake Youth Center and the Saranac Lake Fish and Game Club.
There will be food trucks, with Duke’s BBQ and Tony’s Fried Dough and Confections registered to be there. Hex and Hop will provide the beer.
Walsh said MudFest is never a money-making event for the WCC, but that they do it for the community. The event is run by volunteers, many from the WCC, and Walsh said they are always looking for new members.
