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Lake George Mayor Blais Retiring

Posted: 3/30/2023 - 2-minute Read

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Lake George Mayor Bob Blais retired this week after 52 years of leading the Village of Lake George.

Born on the Fourth of July, Blais, 86, was the longest serving current mayor in the United States and holds the title as longest serving mayor in New York State history.

After winning a term as a Village Trustee in 1968, he decided to run for Mayor in 1971 after a riot in 1970 in which the previous mayor ordered the use of firehoses to break up a riot. The rest is history.

At the Chamber we’ve enjoyed working with Blais over the years and found him to be a tireless advocate of tourism. Through the years he’s been involved with countless projects including the Lakefront Walkway, Blais Park and others. He was instrumental in creating the Charles R. Wood Park, which gave Lake George an outdoor festival space for events like the Wine & Food Festival, Ice Castles and many others.

“I would like to believe that I am leaving the Village a far better place than the riots of the 1960s, when every store closed on Labor Day, and we never hosted a special vent or band concert in Shepard Park,” Blais wrote in the last village newsletter. “We built a new wastewater plant ($24M), Visitor Center ($2.5M), firehouse ($3.5M), Lakefront Walkway ($12.5M), Water Filtration Plant ($3.7M), and a Festival Commons ($6.5M) without raising taxes in ten years.”

We thank Mayor Blais for his leadership and dedication over the past half a century and welcome and congratulate the new Lake George Mayor Ray Perry!

Watch, read and listen to some of the great coverage of Mayor Blais’s retirement:

Story in Foothills Business Daily

Q&A in The Post-Star

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