To someone unfamiliar with the lean, spare economies of Adirondack communities, the presumption would probably be that this first major industrial town on the Hudson is yesterday's news. Not so at all. Lake Luzerne is bustling and doing just fine, having replaced manufacturing with tourism. The biggest challenge they have, says the village's youth director, Carol Gorham, is finding enough for young people to do. Jobs for the young who want to stay in the region after graduation.
Opportunities are darn slim, so they leave.
But then they come back later in life, says Gorham, bringing their pensions and state salaries and love of the Adirondacks. Today the school district is the big employer, followed by the town itself, with 40 on the payroll and 30 more hired for the tourist season. The Ketchum Manufacturing Co. is Lake Luzerne's last viable manufacturer. The company makes dog tags. The kind that go on golden retrievers, not soldiers.