Noah Tavares of the Lake Placid Municipal Electric Department installs a Ukrainian flag on a Main Street light pole Thursday morning, Jan. 11. Three crews put up 20 Ukrainian flags up that day to honor USA Luge Marketing Manager Dmitry Feld, a Ukraine expatriate who died a day earlier at the age of 68. Feld was instrumental in acquiring the flags when they were first installed in March 2022, shortly after Russia invaded his home country. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — When the news of USA Luge marketing manager and community leader Dmitry Feld’s death reached the village on Wednesday, Jan. 10, tributes and plans for honoring his life of service began taking shape almost immediately.

The village of Lake Placid set to work on a tribute involving the flag of Feld’s native Ukraine. After Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Feld worked tirelessly to amplify local awareness of the war effort, collect and ship supplies to schools and the Army, and raise around $100,000 for humanitarian aid.

“This is just a representation of the type of person that Dmitry was,” said village Trustee Jackie Kelly. “He was so connected still to Ukraine. If anybody in Ukraine needed help, he would go do whatever he could.”

On Thursday morning, three crews from the Lake Placid Municipal Electric Department were out on Main Street in their bucket trucks, re-hanging the 20 Ukrainian flags that were first displayed in March 2022 at Feld’s suggestion to show support for Ukraine in the first months of its war with Russia.

“It’s unique, I think, that normally flags are put at half-mast for a person in the community, and in this case, we’re flying them at full,” said village Mayor Art Devlin.

The Olympic Center in Lake Placid was illuminated in the colors of the USA Luge logo on Thursday, Jan. 11 to honor the life of Dmitry Feld. (News photo — Sydney Emerson)

The village Board of Trustees received multiple requests from citizens to raise the flags in Feld’s honor; Kelly said that residents Greg Borzilleri and Fred Ryman reached out to her personally to pitch the idea.

“(The board) all agreed,” said Kelly. “This symbolism of hanging the flags is not necessarily representing Dmitry the man, but just Dmitry and all of the things, the projects, the outreach he did for everybody in the community. It’s something we should all aspire to.”

The village Electric Department started preparing to hang the flags the moment Devlin gave the OK.

“My guys were very eager to do it, and they were honored to do it,” said Kimball Daby, village electrical superintendent and friend of Feld’s.

In March 2022, as the same crew raised the flags for the first time, Feld sent videos of the display to friends in Ukraine who were fighting against the Russian Army. Later, he hopped in the Electric Department utility truck’s bucket and was raised up to touch one of the flags himself. He wanted to be next to the flag.

“I was born in the Soviet Union, but I grew up in Ukraine, so it means a lot to me,” he told the News that day. “They attack people who I love, and they attack this beautiful country — for nothing.”

Shipman Youth Center Director Jason Hooker said that the youth center plans to dedicate one of its rooms to Feld, who was president of the SYC board.

The SYC also plans to hang a memorial plaque in honor of Feld alongside its I Love BBQ and Music Festival paintings. Feld was co-organizer of the festival.

Aside from his love of Ukraine and work at the SYC, Feld was passionate about luge, serving USA Luge in multiple capacities over a 40-year-long career. On Thursday night, the facade of the Olympic Center and Conference Center at Lake Placid on Main Street was illuminated red, blue and gold — the colors of USA Luge.

Ashley Walden, state Olympic Authority president and former luge athlete, said that Feld was “the ultimate community member.”

“(He) had been involved with a lot of events and organizations even outside of the Olympic Authority, and we certainly wanted to pay tribute to all the work and the incredible person that Dmitry was,” she said.

According to Walden, devising a way to honor Feld was the very first thing leaders of ORDA and the Olympic Center discussed during their weekly operations call Thursday morning.

“It was something everybody had been thinking about last night,” she said.

On social media, hundreds of mourners shared memories of Feld and messages of support for his wife and son.

“You took a part of our hearts to another world. But you left us with all of your love. We will always remember you. Thank you, dear Dima, for all your life,” wrote Mykhailo Geraskevych, president of the All-Ukrainian Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.

“You were family to me,” wrote Christian Bochnowich, former luge athlete. “Thank you for everything you have done for Luge for me as a slider/athlete and as a person!”

“He was probably one of the warmest people ever. He helped so many people,” wrote Shawn LaRock, Feld’s nephew.

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Celebration of life

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The M.B. Clark Funeral Home in Lake Placid will hold visiting hours from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 14.

A celebration of life will be held at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 19 in the Olympic Center’s 1980 Herb Brooks Arena. It’s the second time in the building’s history that the ice has been turned into a church for a celebration service. The first time was on Feb. 8, 2019, for the funeral of former Olympic Center General Manager R. Dennis “Denny” Allen, who died unexpectedly a week earlier at the age of 64.

“That’s the model,” said USA Luge Sponsorship and Marketing Director Gordy Sheer, who was helping organize the celebration with ORDA officials. As marketing manager for USA Luge, Feld’s office was next to Sheer’s in the Church Street headquarters.

Allen’s funeral featured a red-carpeted area with his casket draped in an Olympic flag in front of a stage, where clergy sat and the speakers’ podium stood. Behind the stage were two Zambonis.

(Editor/Publisher Andy Flynn contributed to this story.)