Fireworks over the Ice Palace, 1901
The Pontiac Club was established in November of 1896. It sponsored the first Winter Carnival that was promoted ahead of time in 1898. However, a one-day event reported after the fact in the Essex County Republican as a Winter Carnival was held in the early months of 1897. It seems the Pontiac Club held a trial activity the first year, and developed it into a full-blown carnival the next year, complete with the first Ice Palace.
Saranac Lake Boys' Club Pontiac hockey team, c. 1924: Lyall Delamater, unknown, unknown, Louis Miron, Bill LaPan, Doug Bombard
From a February 26, 1994 article in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise titled "Saranac Lake's history in winter fun and games", by John Duquette
In 1896, just 20 years after Trudeau's arrival, a group of young men made up of some local enthusiasts, and possibly some of Trudeau's more ambulatory patients, joined to form the Pontiac Club. The main purpose of the organization being "the promotion of outdoor sports and games, and the encouragement of social intercourse." Their clubhouse was located beside a bay of Lake Flower nestled between River Street and Lake Flower Avenue and quite naturally it became Pontiac Bay.
Two years after the club came into being the members came up with a brand new idea: Why not a Mid-Winter Carnival to ward off the doldrums that usually occurred after the gaiety of Christmas and New Year's holidays? Putting their ideas into action during the winter of 1898 the first carnival was a huge success, and Saranac Lake was on its way to becoming a popular winter sports center. The huge Ice Palace was a major attraction which served as a centerpiece for an impressive list of activities that included competition in all of the major winter sports and games. There were bobsleds, hockey games, ski jumping, costume balls, a parade of floats and fancy skating, but most of all there was speed skating races. The Pontiac Rink played host to international speed skating events that drew participants from around the globe. To further enhance these races Saranac Lake could boast of its local son, Ed Lamy, as being the greatest champion that the sport had ever known.
From the New York Times, January 24, 1897
SARANAC'S WINTER SPORTS
Residents and Visitors Organize the Pontiac Club
SARANAC LAKE, N. Y., Jan. 23.— One of the chief attractions of Saranac Lake this Winter is the Pontiac Club, which has been organised by a number of residents and visitors for the promotion of sports, such as tobogganing, skating, snowshoeing, and hockey.
An elegant toboggan slide has been built on the high hill back of Tousley's, and the momentum received thereon is sufficient to carry one all the way across Lake Flower, and even to the skating rinks far up the bay. This large skating rink is always kept cleared of snow, and a good skating surface provided by the club. A handsome and convenient clubhouse has also been erected, and it is the purpose of the management to provide the patrons with all the conveniences in the clubhouse, for the comfort of spectators. It is confidently anticipated that carnivals and exhibitions will be features of the Winter amusements, and nearly every one in the vicinity is heartily interested in the enterprise.
The following are the names of the officers of the club: Dr. E. L. Trudeau, President; Robert H. Coleman, Vice President; Charles H. Mellon, Secretary; Y. D. Dechert, Treasurer; E. R. Young, Walter C. Rice, and Dr. E. R. Baldwin, Directors.
Electric lights have been placed around the rink and at frequent intervals along the toboggan track, and hundreds of men and maidens gather here in the evening and, cheered by the brilliant lights and the music, play games upon the polished floor which the great North King has made for them. Others, less used to the glittering skate, seek the slide upon the hillside, and, gaily decked in colored flannels, shoot on toboggans down the white path between banks of snow, shouting in joy at the glorious sport.
Usually for several months the sleighing is delightful, and almost any day hundreds may be seen driving gaily decked horses harnessed to handsome sleighs. The groves of pine on every hand contrast in the most poetic way with the leafless forests embraced in the same range of vision. The green of the former becomes more beautiful by comparison.
