Our History

For nearly two decades, J. Sue Dyer was the Executive Director of the Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce. During her tenure, she researched the way New York was being advertised to the world. As a result, she wanted the world to know that there was much more to the State than just the City and sky scrapers. As a result, she created and introduced a slogan for the village: “Saranac Lake: the Green Side of the Big Apple.”

After residing in the park for nearly four decades, Sue left in 1999, only to return once again in 2021. Several other logos were adopted for the village but none held the local and State pride as did the Green Side of the Big Apple. At age of 81, Sue’s first goal was to revive this logo and the historic Willard Hanmer Guideboat & Canoe race that had been held annually since 1962 and had ceased to exist after 2012.

Sue formulated the ideas behind Green Side of the Big Apple, LLC with the assistance of her daughter, Kathleen Dyer, and Kathleen’s husband Francisco (“Rocky”) Nogales and a group of enthusiastic volunteers.