By Jason Klaiber
Staff Writer
On a journey throughout New York, the torch relay for the 2020 Empire State Winter Games made its way through local communities last week.
Athletes carried the torch through Cazenovia Jan. 28 before making a stop in Fayetteville Jan. 29.
This ceremonial gesture for the Empire State games involved—in the case of Fayetteville—the running of a lit torch from the parking lot of the village’s L.L. Bean in Towne Center onward through the store’s front doors and past cheering employees before being blown out a few feet past the entrance.
“It was an exciting morning,” Ellen Coulter, the coordinator for the store’s outdoor discovery program, said. “We are thrilled to be a sponsor for the Empire State Winter Games.”
Two torch-carrying teams originating from separate points in the state the weekend of Jan. 25, one from Buffalo and one from New York City, eventually convened on Thursday, Jan. 30 at the Herb Brooks Arena in Lake Placid for the opening ceremony of the 40th annual winter games.
The multi-day series of competitions for amateur athletes concluded the afternoon of Sunday, Feb. 2.
Competitors of all ages showed up throughout the weekend to participate in such activities as alpine skiing, figure skating and hockey.
Spencer Clark, the director of the relay group that started at Niagara Falls, said they visited such places as ice arenas, recreation centers, high schools, banks and other L.L. Beans with the torch to raise awareness for the yearly winter games.
“We look forward to it going on for many, many more years,” Clark said about the relay, which he said averaged about seven stops a day between the two groups.
On Jan. 29 in Fayetteville, the temperature hovered around the freezing point, but Clark said the weather fit the circumstances.
“It is the Empire State Winter Games, so it is what you get,” he said. “We couldn’t ask for anything more.”
Jethro Dede, the torch bearer for the day, said it felt “great” following in a tradition initially started to signal the beginning of the Olympic Games and now separately commemorating the Empire State games for two straight years.
“Obviously it’s not the Olympics, but we’re trying to make it as big as the Olympics,” Dede said.
Coulter said the winter season also marks an opportune time for bringing customers into L.L. Bean.
She said outdoor apparel such as the store’s down jackets are “lightweight” but “incredibly warm.”
“When you’re done with a ski run, for example, you just stick those jackets right back on you, and then the insulation properties take over and you’re warm as toast,” Coulter said.
She also said that the Arctic Grip on the store’s winter boots prevent people from slipping on ice, though the “abrasive” material can scratch surfaces like vinyl flooring.
In addition to L.L. Bean, sponsors for this year’s Empire State Winter Games included Jeep, Casella Waste Systems and Community Bank N.A.
