Overview
Touch-a-Torch is a weekly museum program in which we invite visitors to touch (and hold!) an authentic 1980 Olympic Torch. In our collection, we have two torches from these Winter Games that came to us through acquisition. For each Olympics, the host country is responsible for organizing a design team that works to curate the look and feel of the Games, which includes a variety of items like the mascots, the uniforms, and the torches
Fridays from 2:00pm – 3:30 pm, you can have the opportunity to hold a 1980 Olympic Winter torch and learn more about its amazing history and the origins of the torch relay.
The dates of this program are subject to change. Please call 518-302-5310 to confirm the schedules of daily programming.
Olympic Torches in the Collection
While some Olympic years are difficult to acquire torches for, others are more common. The earlier years tend to be harder to find because fewer torches were produced. Our Museum has sixteen torches in the collection, ranging from the first-ever Olympic Torch Relay of the 1936 Berlin Summer Games to the 2022 Beijing Winter Games.
The torch relay was reintroduced to the Olympic Games in 1936 by Carl Diem of Germany, who was inspired by the Ancient Greeks. Sixteen years later, the first Winter Olympic torch relay occurred at the 1952 Games in Oslo and has since become a tradition of the Games.
The 1980 Torch
The 1980 torch was designed by Don MacFarland and manufactured by Cleanwel Turner. Only 140 torches were manufactured for the Lake Placid Olympic Winter Games, one of the smallest production runs for any Olympic torch. The design of the 1980 torch was largely inspired by the Ancient Games in Greece. In the end, it was designed to be a blend of Ancient Greece and modern technology.
The 1980 Torch Relay
Each Olympiad, the flame travels the world in a unique way, promoting peace, friendship, and unity wherever it goes. Organizers for the 1980 Lake Placid Winter Olympics designed the torch relay route to celebrate the bicentennial of the United States. After the flame landed in Langley, Virginia, it traveled through 6 of the original 13 colonies. The flame was transported by 52 torch bearers, a runner from each state, Washington, D.C., and Lake Placid, to the Opening Ceremony via historic travel routes. Relay organizers created a route that used no interstate highways, instead running most miles along roads that have been in use since colonial times. Passing through Washington, D.C., Philadelphia, and New York City, the relay visited each place that has served as our nation’s capital and came within ten miles of twenty million people.