Members of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Committee have picked “Medieval Times” as their theme for the 2011 Winter Carnival. The decision was based on results from a recent online poll posed to readers of the Adirondack Daily Enterprise Web site in which two of the four suggested themes rose to the top of the results: Celtic Carnival and Renaissance Faire/Middle Ages. The other themes were Circus/Under the Big Top and Space Alien Invasion. More than 700 votes were tallied during the week of March 15.

“There were a lot of great ideas suggested for the 2011 Saranac Lake Winter Carnival, but, in the end, we could only choose one,” said Committee Chairman Jeff Dickson. “And we believe that the community will rally behind our centerpiece, the Ice Palace, and make the ‘Medieval’ Carnival fit for royalty – our king, queen, prince, princess, court, and maybe a few jesters.”

Committee members thanked the dozens of people who suggested themes for 2011, the hundreds of people who voted, and the Adirondack Daily Enterprise for posting the question on its Web site.

The next meeting of the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Committee will be in September. The 2011 Winter Carnival will be held February 4-13, 2011.

The Saranac Lake Winter Carnival Committee, Inc. is a not-for-profit group of volunteers dedicated to organizing an annual mid-winter festival during the first two weeks of February. This 10-day, communitywide event traces its roots to a one-day Carnival held in 1897 by the Pontiac Club. The Carnival honors its heritage every year by building an Ice Palace from blocks of ice harvested from Lake Flower’s Pontiac Bay, where Carnival events have been traditionally held for generations. For more information, visit the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival web site.

Photo: An early Saranac Lake Winter Carnival (Saranac Lake Free Library).