It’s a beautiful summer afternoon, and you want to spend the evening outside socializing and seeing some great music while you’re at it. You’re in luck! Saranac Lake has some great options for summer music!

The Party on the Patio series at the Waterhole is the cornerstone of Saranac Lake’s summer music offerings. Each Thursday, the Waterhole has free music from 6 to 10 p.m. on their outdoor patio (sometimes it gets started closer to 7ish), and it’s usually packed with fun people ready to chat and dance all night. 

The setup is unique because the band plays in a space at one end of the patio and the audience can watch from the rest of the patio, right in front of the band, or they can view the show from the balcony that wraps around the upstairs area above the patio, creating a very inclusive feel. Bands seem to enjoy the atmosphere, and they often make use of the multiple levels of the patio and interact with the crowd more than if there was a proper stage separating them. 

The May-to-September Party on the Patio lineup is looking good! Check for details below.

Music on the Green is growing in popularity, too. The series has a new group of people booking acts for the summer — including Brandon DeVito, who created the Party on the Patio series — and it’s sure to be a great season. We’re still awaiting a lineup, but the word is that some great music will be coming our way, and it won’t duplicate the Party on the Patio lineup at all.

Music on the Green concerts will happen every Wednesday evening in July and August from 7 to 9 p.m. in Berkeley Green, at the corner of Main Street and Broadway, right in the middle of downtown. Music on the Green is produced by the Downtown Advisory Board, and they’re always seeking sponsors to help support the program, which aims to maintain a vibrant downtown atmosphere in Saranac Lake. 

In addition to those two great concert series, Saranac Lake Artworks produces ArtWalks throughout the summer. On the third Thursday of June through September, artists and musicians line the streets of Saranac Lake to create a fun, outdoor festival kind of atmosphere throughout the village. Don’t miss the first one on June 15 (or any of the others!).

Party on the Patio lineup

We’ve already seen some great music at Party on the Patio so far this summer. Hip hop group Subsoil started out the series on May 7, then local favorite Tim Herron Corporation rocked the crowd, and Bella’s Bartok was last week’s featured artist. The Northhampton, Massachusetts-based band is almost a Gypsy version of Modest Mouse, and most of those who attended were excited about the new visitors.

The full lineup: 

May 28 - The Mallett Brothers Band, a Maine-based country rock group

June 4 - local favorite jam band Lucid

June 11 - Formula 5, a great, Phishy jam band from the Lake George and Albany area

June 18 - Funky Dawgz Brass Band, a band from Connecticut that sounds like it comes straight from New Orleans

June 25 - Upstate-based folk group The North & South Dakotas

July 2 - The Royal Noise, a funk/jazz band based in Philly

July 9 - Rochester reggae band Mosaic Foundation

July 16 - Dylan Perrillo Orchestra, an Albany-area jazz orchestra

July 23 - Buffalo-based rootsy folk group Folkfaces

July 30 - Still Hand String Band, a Pennsylvania-based group that bills itself as “SpazzGrass”

Aug. 6 - Big Mean Sound Machine, Afrobeat from Ithaca

Aug. 13 - Swampcandy, a unique bluesy roots duo from Maryland

Aug. 20 - GROOVESTICK, Albany-based funk

Aug. 27 - Duke Aeroplane and The Wrong Numbers, a band from Burlington that plays “hoodoo blues, swamp-oompah stomp, faux-Yiddish anti-wail”

Sept. 3 - Raisinhead, an Albany-area-based Americana jam group

Sept. 10 - Annie in the Water, an Albany-based acoustic rock group with a serious love for the Adirondacks

Sept. 17 - Binghamton Americana group Milkweed

Sept. 24 - Cold River City, a soul/blues-based group from Colorado

Oct. 1 - Vermont groove grass group Jatoba

Cold River City played last year and the crowd really got into it.

 The Waterhole also has Start Making Sense playing a Friday night show at 10 p.m. July 24. Don’t miss this great Talking Heads tribute band!