Young hockey players are seen Monday, July 8 in the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena. (News photos — Delainey Muscato)

LAKE PLACID — The Olympic Center is the perfect place to visit on a hot summer day. The Lake Placid Olympic Museum and the Olympic rinks are full of history responsible for putting this village on the map.

I visited the museum on Monday, July 8 and was lucky enough to get a tour from museum Director Courtney Bastian and state Olympic Regional Development Authority Communication Specialist Morgan Ryan. The Olympic Center includes the 1932 Jack Shea Arena, 1980 Herb Brooks Arena and the museum, located between the two.

I first toured the museum side of the complex.

According to Bastian, the museum has around 30,000 artifacts in its collection, which includes pins, clothes, torches and posters.

As soon as you enter the museum, a panel on the wall tells you about the first Olympics in Athens, Greece, before leading into the modern Olympics, which were created in 1896.

The Lake Placid Olympic Museum includes artifacts such as this model of the 1980 Fieldhouse. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)

“Lake Placid has a special connection to the Winter Olympics,” Bastian said.

Winter sports put Lake Placid on the map back in 1904 and 1905. People who wanted to get out of the city and explore the wilderness would come to Lake Placid for vacation. Hotels in the area, such as the Lake Placid Club, realized they needed something to entertain folks in the winter to keep them coming back.

Melvil Dewey, the creator of the Dewey Decimal System, founded the Lake Placid Club and allowed visitors to buy skis, toboggans, skates and more to keep his winter guests entertained.

Lake Placid speedskater Charles Jewtraw competed in the first Winter Olympics in 1924 at Chamonix, France, and won the first gold medal in the Olympic Winter Games. His original medal is in the Smithsonian Museum, and a replica is on display in the Olympic Museum.

The museum is celebrating the centennial of the first Winter Olympics this year. It is also an Olympic year as the Summer Olympics will be held later this month in Paris, France. The museum has an exhibit panel that shows Olympic highlights from 1924 to 2022.

Lake Placid Olympic Museum Director Courtney Bastian, right, shows Lake Placid News Intern Delainey Muscato the virtual bobsled exhibit on Monday, July 8. (Provided photo)

Dewey’s son, Godfrey, had the vision to bring the Olympics to Lake Placid. In 1928, he traveled to St. Moritz, Switzerland, to watch the second Winter Olympics and learn what he could about hosting the games. He came back to the Unites States and eventually presented his idea in front of the International Olympic Committee in 1929 and was awarded the bid for the 1932 games shortly after.

To prepare for the 1932 games, Lake Placid organizers had to begin building venues right away.

“This was during the time of the Great Depression, so it was a huge feat for the town to come together and agree to take out government bonds to build the facilities,” Bastian said.

The refrigerated ice rink constructed for the 1932 games was the first to be built for indoor competition during a Winter Olympics. It was used for figure skating, hockey games and the curling exhibitions. They did this to ensure the competition could continue no matter the weather.

“In true Lake Placid fashion, there was a snowstorm at the closing ceremonies that year,” Bastian said.

The Lake Placid Olympic Museum includes exhibits that showcase local speedskater Charles Jewtraw, who won the first gold medal at the first Winter Olympics in 1924 at Chamonix, France. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)

The 1932 Winter Olympics was also the first Olympics to have a podium for winners to stand on and receive their medals. The podium has now become an Olympic tradition and is decorated at the games. However, the first podium was just made of bare wooden boards.

Just before you turn the corner to the next exhibit, you see a black slate on the wall covered with names. These are the names of local Olympians. Since 1924, there have been 25 Winter Olympic games, and at least one person from the Adirondack North Country region has competed in each one. The museum is currently working on identifying all the Olympic athletes from the area. So far, they are up to 126 for the past 100 years.

“Less than .1% of people become Olympians, so the fact that so many come from here is really cool,” Bastian said.

The museum has an interactive section called “What it Takes to be an Olympian.” Several cool activities allow you a glimpse of an Olympian’s perspective of their sport. I got to experience flying off a ski jump at the Olympic Jumping Complex. The most popular interactive exhibit is a replica of a bobsled surrounded by a screen that shows the bobsled run at Mount Van Hoevenberg and makes you feel as if you were careening down the course yourself. They also have a speedskating simulator.

A colorful display of plastic chips shows what people voted they would give up in order to become a gold medalist. Public opinion showed people would least mind giving up school days and secondly junk food. However, not many people were willing to give up time with family.

The Lake Placid Olympic Museum includes exhibits that showcase artifacts from the III Olympic Winter Games in 1932 at Lake Placid, including a hat and coat worn by Franklin Farrel, the goalie for the 1932 U.S. hockey team. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)

Bastian’s favorite gallery is the “Design in the Olympics” exhibit, which showcases art and design from past Olympics, including posters, pins, uniforms, torches, sports equipment and collector’s items.

“Design goes hand in hand with the Olympics in everything you see,” Bastian said.

The first wall in the design gallery shows posters from past Olympics. It is really amazing to see art styles change throughout the years.

The museum has a few torches on display from different opening ceremonies. Each is unique and tries to represent something from the host country. For example, the torch for the 1988 Olympic Winter Games in Calgary, Canada, closely resembles the Calgary Tower.

The museum also has some medals on display. The medals from the 1980 Olympics have Tiffany blue ribbons as Tiffany designed the medals that year.

The Miracle on Ice exhibit is the most popular exhibit at the Lake Placid Olympic Museum. It tells the story about the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team’s 4-3 upset win over the heavily-favored Soviet Union team. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)

I really enjoyed this exhibit. I never thought about the design elements of the Olympics and how much work goes on behind the scenes.

Another cool part of the design exhibit was the pin display. Pin trading became a spectator sport during the 1980 Winter Olympics. Bastian said spectators traded pins with one another without speaking the same language which fostered friendship and respect, two Olympic values.

The Miracle on Ice exhibit is the most popular in the museum and the main reason a lot of people visit the Olympic Center, Bastian said. U.S. goalie Jim Craig’s gear is on display along with part of the backboard and the goal from the 1980 game. A silver medal from the USSR team is also on display.

“Our mission is to preserve Lake Placid’s Olympic legacy,” Bastian said. “We like to blend sport with culture and education in everything we do.”

The museum will be starting a social media campaign on July 26 to celebrate this year’s Summer Olympics. The campaign will highlight athletes from winter, summer and paralympic games. They’ll also keep updated information about the ongoing games posted at the museum. They’ll post daily medal counts and stream the games live.

Additionally, the museum hosts weekly summer programs.

On Tuesdays and Fridays from 2 to 3 p.m., visitors of all ages can touch a torch from opening ceremonies and learn about torch lighting and relays.

Wednesday and Thursday, there are story and craft hours as well as and opportunity to learn about the Olympic Truce.

More information about the events is available on the museum website at lakeplacidolympicmuseum.org.

All summer long, the 1932, 1980 and USA rinks will be in use by CAN/AM Hockey teams, practicing figure skaters and others.

There are so many things that make Lake Placid and its Olympic legacy so unique.

¯ It is one of the only former host cities that still uses 100% of its Olympic venues.

¯ It is one of only three cities to host the Winter Olympics twice.

¯ It is one of the only host cities where you can see all the Olympic venues from one spot.

The museum is full of history and full of young athletes on their way to making history. It is well worth a visit.

A behind-the-scenes tour of the 1980 Herb Brooks Arena reveals Locker Room 5, where the U.S. hockey team laced up their skates during the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid. (News photo — Delainey Muscato)