Winter Games history

The Empire State Winter Games began in 1981 as a winter counterpart to the established Summer Games. From the start they were anchored to Lake Placid — host of the 1980 Olympic Winter Games — which gave the event access to bobsled, luge, ski jumping, and short-track-speed-skating facilities no other New York town could offer.

The state-funded era (1981–2010)

The Winter Games ran under the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation through 2010, on the same regional qualification model as the Summer Games. Lake Placid was the permanent host for the final competition; trials and qualifiers happened at regional ski centers across the state.

Through the 1990s and 2000s the event grew steadily, adding sled hockey, adaptive alpine, and ski orienteering — leveraging the depth of winter sport in the Adirondack region.

The 2010 cuts

The state budget crisis that ended the Summer Games also threatened the Winter edition. State funding was cut after the 2010 event. Unlike the Summer Games, however, the Winter edition had a single permanent host city deeply invested in keeping it alive — and a workable venue base of Olympic-grade facilities owned by the Olympic Regional Development Authority and the village.

The community handover

The Lake Placid community took over the event in 2011, organising it under the Empire State Winter Games name without the state’s involvement. It has been held every February since, growing rather than shrinking under community management — recent editions have hosted USA Triathlon’s Winter National Championships and other federation events alongside the original programme.

The 46th edition runs 5–8 February 2026.

See also

• Sport list — what’s contested today.
• Next edition — Feb 5–8 2026.
• Full Empire State Games history — the four-format family and the end of state funding.