Local News

Reader’s Digest, ‘Weird Florida: On the Road Again’ set sights on Lake Placid

Photos

JOE SEELIG
Published: September 25, 2012

LAKE PLACID - Fans of Reader's Digest magazine will get a treat because the town of Lake Placid is scheduled to be featured in its January edition, according to Eileen May, executive director of the Greater Lake Placid Chamber of Commerce.

Assuming all goes as planned, the magazine should be on news-stands by mid-December.

Beth Dreher, senior editor at Reader's Digest, said the story came to their attention through the America's Most Interesting Towns contest.

"We'll reveal the town that won 'America's Most Interesting Town' in the January issue," Dreher said. "Lake Placid is among those we're considering."

Many people wrote in to that, said May.

"We blasted it out to our members to write in," she said. "There was something in the papers. They received so many positive comments and pictures."

The positive commentary helped.

"That generated some interest in their people to say 'We ought to take a look at this town,'" May said.

They'll be sending a photographer on Oct. 2, and May will spend the day with him or her; she didn't know yet if it would be a man or a woman they send.

"It will definitely be one day, possibly two," said May. "It depends on what he or she wants to photograph."

Reader's Digest is a top-of-the-line publication, said May.

"It will be great for us," she said. "It's coming out in our peak season. We always have a strong season, but we'd like to have a stronger one."

Harriet Porter, president of the Lake Placid Mural Society and Tour Lake Placid, said she hoped the article will bring in tourism as well as make the town more interesting to its visitors.

The story fits well with the town's 85th anniversary; as well as the Lake Placid Historical Society's 30th anniversary, the Toby the Clown Foundation's 20th anniversary and the Lake Placid Mural Society's 20th anniversary, to be celebrated from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m., Oct. 2, at the Caladium Arts and Crafts Co-operative, which is also celebrating its 20th birthday.

The Mural Society unveiled its first mural in 1992, she said.

Porter was just one of many people who sent in contributions and adorations to Reader's Digest for its 'America's Most Interesting Towns' contest.

She said the town also has another distinction.

On Memorial Day weekend, Charlie Carlson and his curious canine companion Lady Isabel, the stars of Public Television's travel show 'Weird Florida: On the Road Again,' made a stop in Lake Placid to showcase its murals as well as clown around a little bit, a press release stated.

First they popped in on Big Al of the Toby the Clown Foundation to zoom in on a few tricks of the trade. He was entertaining a group of children at the time, who reportedly had a ball.

Next was a tour of the town of Lake Placid, known for its mural art.

Carlson spoke with Porter to discuss the concept behind this vision of turning the town's walls into an artist's canvas, a press release stated.

The new show is a sequel to the highly popular 'Weird Florida: Roads Less Traveled,' produced by South Florida's public television station WLRN, which will air this program in the fall, possibly in October, to a viewer audience of one to two million viewers in 47 markets across the United States, a press release stated.

Follow Carlson and Lady Isabel for behind-the-scenes photos and posts throughout their weird adventures at www.weirdflorida.org, according to its website.

jseelig@highlandstoday.com (863) 386-583