Gary Smith likes noise. He enjoys the hum of a bustling crowd, to be around creative people who make things that matter. He’s no novice to noise. Gary might be known for his successful run in the hotelier business, but he’s also organized wine festivals, theme parks, and a circus party. He has two grown sons who followed his path in hoteliery, and a grandson who keeps Gary busy with philosophy books.
In 2016, Gary joined the board of Adirondack Film, an organization dedicated to advancing the art and appreciation of film and filmmaking in the greater Adirondack region. Since 2018, Gary has served as the chair of the Lake Placid Film Festival, one of the organization’s key initiatives. It struck me that with everything he’s accomplished, the years of work and noise, surely a little rest and quiet have been earned. I had to ask him the obvious question: Why?
“I’m interested in film as a vehicle to get people together, to learn, to get excited, to create, to analyze, to envision, to play,” he said. “This happens to be the medium that I have at this time, and so I apply all my efforts to it.”
“I’m also deluded enough to think that if people knew what I knew, they’d be all in and have a great time with it,” he jokes. “I guess I try to continue to tell them about the richness of the possibilities. It’s that whole thing that (Soren) Kierkegaard says, If I were to wish for anything, I should not wish for wealth and power, but for the passionate sense of the potential… And what wine is so sparkling, what so fragrant, what so intoxicating, as possibility. That’s probably why. That’s really my ethos.”
With my background in Philosophy, Gary had me at Kierkegaard, but the clarity of his plan squarely matched the allure of his existential vision…