As my car crept into Wanakena through the falling snow, I felt a pull from the glowing blue lights marking a wooden footbridge. Getting out of my car, I heard live music in the park, saw hand-painted signs around the post-office/general store known as Otto’s Abode, and met a kind man with a bit of michigan sauce in his beard, who offered me a free hot dog right off the grill. Though I was hungry and thankful, the dog would have to wait. First, I had to see the bridge.
It was a Friday, the first night of WhiteOut Weekend (WOW), an annual festival in the western Adirondacks. WOW is a collaboration of four hamlets in the towns of Clifton and Fine—Cranberry Lake, Star Lake, Wanakena and Oswegatchie—created by and for people in the community that features art, music, food and quirky winter sports.
The days leading up to the 2023 WOW had been some of the warmest on record for February in the Adirondacks, marking a midwinter thaw that would wipe out the iconic ice palace at Saranac Lake’s Winter Carnival (another annual festival that WOW organizers look to for inspiration). But by the weekend, temperatures had plummeted and, when I arrived in Wanakena, the snow was coming down, thick and cinematic.
That glowing bridge over the Oswegatchie River was lined with blue lights that guided me toward the far shore and then along a path to an art installation called the Fairy Labyrinth. Along the spiraling path, various scenes in miniature depicted the homes of toy trolls and ceramic mice, some surrounding campfires and others mid–tea party. Anyone local to WOW was invited to contribute a diorama, and more than a dozen of these appeared during my walk, while music from the open mic back at Otto’s mingled with the wind and the whine of distant snowmobiles, likely en route to the festival.
At the center of the labyrinth lay its crown jewel: a miniature bungalow atop a stump. The house featured a picture window and a cherry-colored door that, when pinched and pulled open, revealed, on its tiny wall, a black-and-white photo of the same footbridge I had just crossed.
Back at Otto’s and enjoying a hot dog, I asked Allen Ditch about the festival, which he’s been a part of since its inception in 2015. Ditch, kiddingly referred to as Wanakena’s “Chamber of Commerce,” was selling T-shirts and welcoming newcomers on the porch. “We’re on a dead-end road, on a dead-end river,” Ditch said of Wanakena, a hamlet of fewer than 200 residents. “You don’t happen to just wander through Wanakena. You have to make an effort.”
WhiteOut Weekend was originally an attempt to bring Nordic skiers and snowmobilers together for a celebration of winter. “But that didn’t materialize,” he said. “So it was taken over by volunteers and turned into a family-friendly event.”
Interest in WOW has increased each year, and its planning and execution is a community project for the people who live in these towns, most of whom stay year-round.
Ditch directed me to the Woods Walk, which is lined with ice sculptures outfitted with LED lights. Throughout winter, locals drop off homemade luminaries—some made by freezing dyed water in Bundt cake pans—in the cooler outside of Otto’s to be installed along the mile-long walk.
Arts and crafts are an important part of the weekend. Inside Otto’s Abode, the space was filled with a scramble of fresh produce, beer and winter supplies in addition to sculptures, installations, photographs, illustrations and books. There was even a toddler there named Art (his parents, Hanna and Nolan Fedorow, own the place) launching himself around the room in a baby walker.
At WOW, it’s the details that give this festival such charm. On Saturday morning a 30-minute timer is set when a diner begins the “Bigfoot Pancake Challenge” at U-B’s Mercantile, in Oswegatchie. (Few have been victorious.) Inside the SOS, a schoolhouse turned community center in Star Lake, an exhibition of local history hangs on the walls. For those who participate in the snowshoe walk that winds through the Clifton-Fine Golf Course, there’s extra gear for anyone who needs it. The frying-pan toss isn’t just for kicks—rules are strict, throws are meticulously measured, and winners are awarded skillet pendants and bragging rights at the American Legion in Star Lake. And at Wanakena’s Black Waters Café, you might see kids practicing their contra steps, preparing for the Saturday night dance at the Cranberry Lake Fire Hall.
That’s how the weekend ended. During contra, folk-inspired line dancing, participants wove together, leading and following, relying on one another to keep the performance in motion. “If one link in the chain backs out, or isn’t trying to follow the moves, it really breaks down,” said Angie Cook, the contra dance caller. “All different ages and skill levels work with one another.”
Just like at WhiteOut Weekend, where people come together to celebrate winter in the Adirondacks.
IF YOU GO
WhiteOut Weekend happens February 16–18. For an event schedule that includes snow croquet and pickleball, open mic, snowshoe tours, storytelling, used book and bake sale, art exhibits, and much more, see sites.google.com/view/adkwow or call (315) 848-3008.
