Fonda, NY - As the holiday season approaches the Montgomery County Chamber of Commerce wants to remind everyone of the resources they have available to make planning easier.

“Whether you are staying home for the holidays or traveling the Chamber has many free resources that can assist you with your travel needs,” states Gina DaBiere-Gibbs, Tourism Director.   ”If you have company coming or need to entertain your children while on school break, the Montgomery County event calendar can provide many ideas.”  Attraction brochures and county maps are great supplements to the calendar.  Read more »

Lake Placid, N.Y. — Figure skating icon Scott Hamilton is back, ready to thrill audiences with a new skating show, Scott Hamilton’s Holiday Concert on Ice, coming to the Olympic Center in Lake Placid, N.Y. on Tuesday, Dec. 29, at 7:30 p.m.

For more than 20 years, the Olympic Champion and four-time World and U.S. National Champion wowed audiences with his annual Stars on Ice tour, which kicked off annually in Lake Placid.  Several of those performers are set to join the skating legend again including Ekaterina Gordeeva and Steven Cousins.  The show will also feature Kimmie Meissner, Jozef Sabovcik and Caryn Kadavy, all skating to music performed by a live band and American Idols Phil Stacey and Melinda Doolittle. Read more »

Rochester, NY - Some artists use paint. Others use bronze. But lawyer-turned-artist Nathan Sawaya builds whimsical, awe-inspiring masterpieces with plastic bricks-LEGO® bricks, to be exact! Marvel at thirty eye-popping sculptures-giant heads, bodies, wall portraits, and more-created by Sawaya from nearly one million colorful LEGO bricks at the new exhibit The Art of The Brick opening at Strong National Museum of Play on Saturday, December 5. Strong is the ONLY stop in upstate New York for this extraordinary touring art show. Read more »

Times Square to be Focal Point for Hundreds of Thousands of Revelers and Television Viewers on December 31

New York City - NYC & Company, the official marketing, tourism and partnership organization for New York City, has  announced activities surrounding the 2009 New Year’s Eve festivities. The year-end celebration brings hundreds of thousands of people to Times Square, one of the most famous gathering spots in the world. As visitors and residents watch the world-famous New Year’s Eve Ball descend from the flagpole atop One Times Square at midnight on the last day of the year, the eyes of the world are squarely on New York City. Read more »

Albany, N.Y. — During the holiday season, there are magical shows to see, a wonderland of lights to tour, and a wealth of special events to savor. For very special shopping, there are the Holiday Gift Expo at the Albany Institute of History and Art, the Chocolate Expo at the New York State Museum and the Shaker Craft Fair at the Shaker Heritage Society.

Great performances include Elton John with Billy Joel and the Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Times Union Center, My Fair Lady at Capital Repertory Theatre and the Albany Symphony’s Magic of Christmas at the Palace Theater. Holiday shows at The Egg include Cherish the Ladies and The Nutcracker. Scrooge in Concert and d the Vienna Choir Boys are at the Troy Savings Bank Music Hall.  Disney’s Beauty and the Beast takes the stage at Cohoes Music Hall, while Disney on Ice Presents Celebrations at the Times Union Center. Read more »

Season Begins This Week in Park City, Utah

Lake Placid, N.Y. — The 2009-10 FIBT World Cup bobsled and skeleton season gets underway this week in Park City, Utah, less than two weeks before the world’s best bobsledders and skeleton athletes take to the Olympic Sports Complex track in Lake Placid, N.Y., the second stop of the seven-race tour.

While in Lake Placid, the U.S. squad will try to match the same success it enjoyed last season when driver Steve Holcomb helped lead the team to four world championship medals on the 1,455-meter long course. The “Night Train” stood on three medal podiums, winning bronze in the two-man man race, bronze in the team competition and gold in the four-man event.  That victory allowed him to become the first American pilot to claim a World title in 50 years. Read more »

Exhibition Dates: November 17, 2009 - February 7, 2010

Exhibition Location: European Paintings, Gallery 16, 2nd floor

Press Preview: Monday, November 16, 10:00 a.m.-noon

New York, NY - Velázquez Rediscovered, a special exhibition opening November 17 at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, will feature a newly identified painting by Velázquez, Portrait of a Man, formerly ascribed by the Museum to the workshop of Velázquez and recently reattributed to the master himself following its cleaning and restoration. It will be shown alongside other works from the Museum’s superior collection of works by the great Spanish painter. Read more »