Immediately I was enamored with Lake Placid, in particular. Though I lived in Lake Clear, I’d drive out to Lake Placid to hike, take winter wedding photos for people, or just walk down the decked-out Main Street.

For the next few years, as I pored over grad school assignments in Potsdam and Binghamton, images of this place would float around in my mind. Going to the Palace Theatre on a snowy night; seeing a sleigh with draft horses for the first time; trudging up Cobble Hill in the winter wearing only Muck Boots, I’m ashamed to say, with snow to my hips.

I finally returned to the area permanently on Halloween this year, when I spent my first night in my new apartment in Gabriels — two months after I started reporting for the Lake Placid News and the Adirondack Daily Enterprise, and just in time for the holiday season, again.

I used to wonder what it was about Lake Placid that was so magnetic to me this time of year. No offense to the local winter sports culture, but I have little to no interest in downhill skiing or snowboarding. Tried it once a few years ago. Crashed into a (very proficient) preteen skier on the way down.

Yes, the mountains here are a huge draw, and I’ve since gotten a pair of snowshoes, but I’ve lived in a mountain town near the Smokies before. But it wasn’t the same. Not really my kind of people.

Now, almost four months into reporting for this community, I’m starting to understand the magnetism of Lake Placid. It’s the people of this community. And as cheesy as it might sound, I think this community shines brightest during the holiday season. Y’all really know how to throw a season-long celebration.

And have you seen that new Netflix holiday movie set in Lake Placid? It’s called “Love Hard.” Its depiction of Lake Placid is actually just Vancouver with a Lake Placid entrance sign superimposed in a clip, and I had to give some side-eye when I saw they had a Lake Placid “Gazette” for a newspaper. But the movie title may be one of the things that movie got right about this village and its community. Because that’s what y’all do for each other. Love hard.

From toy drives to food drives to Christmas tree sales for the ambulance squad, to benefit dinners and bra drives and a map of holiday lights in the village so people can still spread cheer during the pandemic — the community here is overflowing with generosity at every turn. And behind every one of those efforts is usually an incredible person or set of people with a story to tell. I’m honored to be one of the people who gets to tell those stories. I get to watch some of those stories evolve, too, to become impossibly more incredible.

I told the story of Lake Placid resident Randy Patterson and his wife, Alice, at the end of October. Randy is waiting on a lung transplant, and it’s expensive. The community had already chipped in more than $5,000 to a GoFundMe campaign for Randy back in October, and I’ve watched that number grow to more than $7,000 since. And that benefit dinner I mentioned? It was given by the community for Randy. Oh, and I went a ride-along a couple of weeks ago with Lake Placid Police Sgt. Frank Strack to hand out envelopes of $100 in locally-donated Secret Santa cash to Lake Placid folks. I got to make the Adirondack Corner Store, where Alice is the general manager, our last stop. This community’s well of support doesn’t seem to dry up.

Sure, all small communities have their problems, and Lake Placid isn’t any different in that regard. I’ve witnessed the turmoil of Main Street construction, the Ironman debate, the affordable housing crisis and dozens of other local issues over the last few months. But I’ve also watched you work together through it all, no matter how hard it is or how long it takes. The holidays have a way of showcasing what a community has to offer, and this holiday season I’ve witnessed a community of people who take care of each other no matter what.

Thank you for showing me what community means and for allowing me to be a part of it all. Here’s to many more holidays here with you.

I’d say see you on the slopes, but if you see me on the slopes, you might want to steer clear.

(Lauren Yates is the Lake Placid reporter for the Lake Placid News and Adirondack Daily Enterprise.)