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As autumn approaches, schools are thinking about ways to keep students safe by maximizing time outdoors. The concept of outside instruction is not new. Leading up to WWII, open air schools were built in the United States and Europe to protect children from tuberculosis. Even in Saranac Lake, where temperatures in the winter tend to stay well below freezing, some children attended unheated, open air classrooms.
In the mid-1920s, the Saranac Lake School District built an open air school at River Street, at a cost of $12,000. All Saranac Lake children were weighed periodically and X-rayed annually. Those found to be underweight attended the Fresh Air School. The building, now used for a nursery school, is located behind the former River Street School. In 1937, the Fresh Air School moved to a new six-room addition built at Petrova School.
Open air education wasn’t just for preventing illness and improving health. It was also widely used in summer camps as a natural extension of the camping experience. At local camps over generations, children have learned skills outdoors, such as arts, crafts, sports, and music.
The Adirondack Artists Guild, in partnership with the Adirondack Center for Writing, presents Responding II – 2020 as its featured exhibit in September, running from Sept. 4-29.
Historic Saranac Lake’s Saranac Laboratory museum is re-open, operating under limited hours and strict guidelines in order to keep their patrons and their staff healthy. The museum is the first laboratory in the nation that was built for the study of tuberculosis, showcasing Saranac Lakes history as a community that built a bustling economy around the response to an infectious disease.
I have such gratitude for the Adirondack woods and waters during this Covid-19 pandemic. Paddling my solo canoe is the best. When I’m with friends, we easily keep our social distance as we float on the open waters and maneuver up a stream bed. 
Professor Barry Bloom delivers annual Steinman lecture, connects TB lessons to work today
A winning sports team, like a beautiful ice palace, grows out of a strong community. It’s no surprise that Saranac Lake has a long tradition of athletic achievements. From team sports like bobsledding, baseball, hockey, football, and curling to individual competitions like speed skating and barrel jumping, Saranac Lake history is full of athletic men and women who left their mark.
Ms. Smith spent 20 years of her life sick in bed at the Trudeau Sanatorium. She wrote a book about her experience titled Wish I Might. Her book touches upon so many aspects of the cure — the importance of routine, diet, friendships, “cousining,” the natural world, reading, and occupational therapy. So many threads of the story are there.
The Adirondack Land Trust has announced three live, virtual programs to be held in August. The programs will feature land-protection staff, scientists studying the Adirondack Forests, and a conservation intern who will discuss the ups and downs of conservation fieldwork during COVID-19. The events will be free and open to the public. If you wish to register, or view more information you may do so by visiting the 
“For-hire” boating businesses: charter services, boat rentals, tour boats, and boats for-hire for leisure cruising, fishing or diving in New York State’s Adirondack region can request a set of free decals to temporarily attach to their boats to encourage public compliance with boating-specific COVID-19 safety precautions. There is no cost for the decals to qualified for-hire boating businesses.
Starting July 15, the NYS DEC began offering its new online bowhunter education certification course, DEC commissioner Basil Seggos announced. “DEC began offering online hunter education courses this spring, and the response has been fantastic. I encourage all experienced and aspiring bowhunters to take advantage of this opportunity and sign up to take the bowhunter education course online.” Seggos went on to say.
Weekly concerts with the Lake Placid Sinfonietta have become a summer tradition in Lake Placid. For years Wednesday evening concerts at the outdoor Paul White Memorial Shell, Sunday evening concerts at the LPCA, and annual concerts in Tupper Lake, Saranac Lake, North Creek and other Adirondack locations have been part of the experience of summer in the Adirondacks. With the cancellation of the Sinfonietta’s 2020 performance season due to the covid-19 emergency, it feels like a very quiet summer. 
In recent months, as the coronavirus jumped from bats to people and spread around the globe, the world suddenly seems much smaller. The situation reminds us of our connectedness to the animal world and to each other. Such an awareness of nature is deeply rooted in the Adirondack traditions of hunting and fishing.
Tupper Arts opened its doors on Wednesday, July 15, to host its 47th Annual Art Show and Adirondack Woodcrafts Show. The gallery, located at 106 Park St. in Tupper Lake, has been shuttered since mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, with multiple precautions in place to ensure the safety of visitors, vendors, and volunteers, the gallery is ready to reopen to the public.
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