Paul Smith’s College students from the woodsmen’s team watch professional wrestling during the 2023 I Love BBQ and Music Festival in Lake Placid. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

LAKE PLACID — Planning for the first-ever Dmitry’s Feast of the Peaks and Music Festival — successor to the annual I Love BBQ and Music Festival — is almost complete as this fundraiser for the Shipman Youth Center is scheduled for next weekend — Saturday, Aug. 31.

The event will be held at the North Elba Show Grounds and will include many of the barbecue festival favorites: food, music, woodmen’s competitions and professional wrestling. Unlike the I Love BBQ event, however, there will not be competitive barbecue cooking as there was from 2006 to 2023 (the 2020 festival was canceled due to COVID).

Over the 17 years of existence, the I Love BBQ and Music Festival raised more than $350,000 for the youth center. The new event was named to honor the festival’s founder, USA Luge Marketing Manager and Shipman Youth Center Board of Directors President Dmitry Feld, who died in January at the age of 68.

“He died much too young,” said Bill Coakley, owner of Coakley Home and Hardware store in Saranac Lake and Canton. “We want to pay tribute to Dmitry by supporting the family.”

Coakley has signed up as a major sponsor for this year’s festival and will be hosting a couple of fundraising events of his own at the Saranac Lake store. Coakley Home and Hardware is offering a 10% discount to anyone who donates to Dmitry’s family on Aug. 31. The following weekend at the store, a hot dog fundraiser will benefit the family and the youth center.

The Paul Smith’s College woodsmen’s team competes during the 2023 I Love BBQ and Music festival in Lake Placid. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

“We have three pillars of success at our store. Number one, to be the best place to work. Number two, to be the best place to shop. And number three, to contribute positively to the community. I think we live up to that,” Coakley said. “And given that, Dmitry impressed the hell out of me from day one on how selfless he is on so many causes. … He was a genuine person,”

Justin Williams, manager of the Saranac Lake store, had attended the barbecue festival since he was a little kid.

“Dmitry was always there doing 100 things all at once,” he said.

Other sponsors include the UPS Store, Price Chopper, Golden Arrow Resort, Lions Club of Lake Placid, High Peaks Resort, Gwyn-Anne Bissonette CFP, Hoffman Eells Group CPA, Burnham Benefits Advisors, Lake Placid Family Dental, The Reynolds Group of Lake Placid and Barrett Quinn.

For the feast part of the festival, there will be competition in the categories of ribs, wings and mac and cheese. Members of the public will be the judges. In those food divisions, visitors will be able to sample food from Redneck Bistro, Pickled Pig, Cambria Catering, Generations Tap and Grill, Wyatt’s Lake Placid, Eleanor’s Pasta Kitchen, Fat Kids BBQ, The Greeks and other restaurants. There will also be food trucks with menus including Polish and American items and ice cream.

Bill Coakley, left, and Justin Williams of Coakley Home and Hardware pose in front of the Lake Placid News and Adirondack Daily Enterprise building in Saranac Lake on Thursday, Aug. 15. The Coakley stores in Saranac Lake and Canton are a major sponsor for the 2024 Dmitry’s Feast of the Peaks and Music Festival. (News photo — Andy Flynn)

All awards for Best of the Peaks and raffle drawings will be live streamed at 6:30 p.m. on the Shipman Youth Center Facebook page.

For the music part of the festival, USA Luge Sponsorship and Marketing Director Gordy Sheer, Jim Cushman, Peter Thompson and Jeremy Preston are signing up local performers.

Other family-friendly activities will include exhibitions by Paul Smith’s College woodsmen; face painting by Sue Delamarter; caricature art by Joe Ferris; cornhole; a bounce house and obstacle course; and a show by PAC Wrestling.

Gates will open at 10:30 a.m., followed by the anthems of the United States and Ukraine at 11. There will be no entry fee; those attending the one-day event are encouraged to make a donation at the gate in the name of the Shipman Youth Center.

One of the top fundraisers is the 50-50 raffle where ticket sales will be capped at 300 tickets at a price of $100 each. The grand prize is $10,000. Tickets can be purchased directly at www.shipmanyouthcenter.org. A grill raffle will also take place, provided by Coakley Home and Hardware.

Interested sponsors and competitors are encouraged to reach out to Shipman Youth Center Board President Michael Durham at msd914@gmail.com, call 518-524-5657, and log on to www.shipmanyouthcenter.org.

The Shipman Youth Center is located on Cummings Road near the Lake Placid Middle/High School. It was named after Thomas Shipman, the Lake Placid Police Department’s first juvenile officer. After he died in 1995, community members raised money to construct the building to honor his legacy. The center — “created to provide a safe place for the kids of the community to mature in a stable environment while providing both direct and indirect guidance for youthful activities” — serves students from ages 10 to 18.