Well, that was as about a perfect Memorial Day weekend as we could hope for. On the east side, neighbors who hadn’t seen each other since Labor Day greeted one another with “Happy New Year!” And Memorial Day is truly the beginning of another year on Lake George. Hope everyone got out on the water, did some grilling and enjoyed the parades.

After we put the paper to bed Tuesday night, we all headed down to Cate’s where we saw Cate, Buddy and Jesse, Diamond Point Grille owners Peg and Mark Turner, Sothebys realtor Rachael Zuckerman and Happy Jacks owner Jeff Strief. Jeff hosted a cocktail party on Wednesday for Jay Jordan, visiting from Florida, where we saw David from Trees, David and Chad from George’s and Megan from the library. We wanted to see the changes Jim and Sally Rypkema have made to the Hague Market, so on our way down the lake on Thursday we stopped in, meeting Amy and John Macionis and Bob DuBuys on the way in. Later in the day we attended a ribbon cutting ceremony in an unexpected place, the Fun World Arcade. Owner Doug Coon was debuting his new lazer maze for the Adirondack Regional Chamber of Commerce. Bob Gunther and Dan Molella, who worked at the arcade when Mayor Bob Blais owned it, stayed on when Doug took over, and they were there, along with Village clerk Darlene Gunther, Kim Winchell from the Lake George branch of the Glens Falls National Bank, and, of course, Mayor Blais, who helped cut the ribbon. One thing about the Mayor, he’s game. He even tried the maze. After the event, they said he was heading to a function at the Georgian; we had to head toward North Creek to see Reuben Smith’s new wood boat shop. On our way back to Bolton Landing, we stopped at “the meat store of the north” – Jack Toney’s, in Warrensburg, to pick up some steaks for the weekend. On Friday evening, we attended the benefit for the Lake George Music Festival, where we met some of the young musicians who will be performing in the Village in August. Lake George chamber of commerce director Michael Consuelo was there, as well as the Reverend Julie McPartlin from St. James, Betsy Birchenough from Cleverdale and Frank and Linda Cappabianca from Glens Falls. Villa Napoli, the Italian restaurant in Bolton Landing, opened for the season that very day, so we stopped there for dinner. Joining Rose and Damian at the restaurant this summer is their daughter Elena, who just graduated from Villanova. She’ll work in Bolton for a couple of months before pursuing a career or graduate work in public policy. Among those dining were Victor and Yvette Hershaft and their family and Ashley Sweeney with hers. A slow (but far too quick) cruise on the lake on Saturday and then on to Sweet Pea Farm for the annual reception for Chrissy’s Chairs, which raises funds for local charities by auctioning off artist-modified Adirondack chairs. Hosted by Mark and Linda Perry and their daughter Megan Diehl, the event was attended by Jane Gabriels, Ike Wolgin, Michelle Pollock, Buzz and Cheryl Lamb and Jennifer and Ed Scheiber, among many others. Sunday we attended a Memorial Day ceremony at the Welcome Park in Lake George, (where we saw Town Councilmen Vinnie Crocitto and Dan Hurley and Town Judge Mike Stafford and his wife Nancy) before celebrating the holiday in a very old-fashioned way with friends. That put us in the mood for Bolton Landing’s old-fashioned Memorial Day parade, which passes our office before it concludes at Veterans Beach.

Our first stop this week will be Shepard Park, where the annual Elvis Festival kicks off on Thursday at 7 pm. Dozens of Elvis look-alikes in one place still strikes me as richly, deliciously weird. Our favorite event of the festival is the Opening Night Party held at John Carr’s Adirondack Pub and Brewery, which starts at 9 pm. Get crazy with the Elvises!

On Saturday and Sunday, St James Episcopal Church will host its annual “Spring Fair” from 9am to 5 pm. A variety of handmade crafts, antiques and collectibles and annual and perennial plants will be sold at the fair. Food and beverages will be available. St James Episcopal Church is located at 172 Ottawa Street, at the intersection of Montcalm Street.

Vintage Raceboat Regatta

The Lake George Association will host vendors, landscapers, plant nursery owners and contractors  at a Lake Friendly Living Open House on Saturday, June 2 from 10 am to 2 pm at the LGA headquarters in Lake George. Call 668-3558 for more information.

On Sunday, Eliot Cohen, the author of Conquered into Liberty: Two Centuries of Battles Along the Great Warpath that Made the American Way of War, will  speak at Fort Ticonderoga at 2 pm.

In Conquered into Liberty, Cohen assesses the influence that warfare along the 200-mile corridor between Albany and Montreal had on how Americans wage war as well as why they, and when, they go to war. (Our editor took a class with Cohen in graduate school; he said he wrote a paper on Civil-Military Relations in the Byzantine Empire. Sure would have loved to read that.)

The big event of the weekend is the Vintage Raceboat Regatta in Lake George Village, sponsored by the Adirondack Chapter of the Antique & Classic Boat Society and the Vintage Division of the American Power Boat Association and organized by ACBS chapter members Teri Hoffman and Peter Johnson. The regatta hits the water Saturday morning with crane launchings and a driver’s meeting at 8:30 am at the Village docks on Beach Road in Lake George Village. Boats will be out on the course by 9:30; some 30 to 35 boats are registered for the event. For the public, Saturday will be awash with plenty of opportunities for ogling, strolling, photographing and talking with the boat owners. Maybe we’ll see you there!