“Big Apple” is the nickname for New York City, but it’s sometimes confused with New York State.  The Saranac Lake Chamber of Commerce, of the village of Saranac Lake in Franklin and Essex counties, used the nickname “The green side of the Big Apple” in a national advertisement in The Christian Science Monitor on August 27, 1984. The “Green Side of the Big Apple” nickname has been infrequently used.
 
“Green Side of the Big Apple” has also been used to describe the Adirondack Mountains and upstate New York in general.
 
Other Saranac Lake nicknames/slogans include “The Adirondacks’ Coolest Place,” Capital City of the Adirondacks and Little City of the Adirondacks.
 
   
Wikipedia: Saranac Lake, New York
Saranac Lake is a village in the state of New York, United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 5,406. The village is named after Upper, Middle and Lower Saranac lakes, which are nearby.
 
The village of Saranac Lake covers parts of three towns (Harrietstown, St. Armand, and North Elba) and two counties (Franklin and Essex). The county line is within two blocks of the center of the village. At the 2010 census, 3,897 village residents lived in Harrietstown, 1,367 lived in North Elba, and 142 lived in St. Armand.
 
NYS Historic Newspapers
22 May 1984, Press-Republican (Plattsburgh, NY), pg. 7, col. 4:
The GREEN SIDE of the BIG APPLE
The ADIRONDACK MTS.
SARANAC LAKE, NEW YORK
Come to the green
A new logo for the Saranac Lake area will be promoting the green side of the “big apple.” The two-sided apple (half green half red) was designed by Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Sue Dyer to make sure that people know that there is more to New York than city skyscrapers. The logo is being seen already on material circulating for the United States Team Trials and national Championships for the International Canoe Federation being held at Saranac Lake on June 9 and 10.
 
27 August 1984, The Christian Science Monitor (Boston, MA), Advertising SUpplement, pg. B31, col. 1 ad:
The green side of the Big Apple
Saranac Lake
New York
(The Saranac Lake Chamber.—ed.)
 
Google Books
Over Easy
By John Bottomley
Lulu Publishing (Lulu.com)
2010
Pg. 298:
After crossing upstate New York, ‘the green side of the Big Apple’ and calling at Liverpool we would then continue into Connecticut, ...
 
Twitter
Gary Allen VanRiper
‏@garyvanriper
This Friday, Justin & i opening the Summer Reader Kickoff at Barnes & Noble in Saratoga Springs, NY - the green side of the Big Apple 😊
11:12 AM - 27 May 2013
 
Twitter
NCPR
‏@ncpr
130616potd - NCPR posted a photo:  "The Green side of the Big Apple." Photo: George Cook, Saranac Lak…
1:27 AM - 15 Jun 2013
   
ComicStripoftheDay.com
06/21/2013
The Evil Empire and its State
(...)
Saranac Lake, cradle of Garry Trudeau and Corey Pandolph, has billed itself as “the green side of the Big Apple,” but nobody else knows that the Adirondacks are even there. The Bronx is up, the Battery’s down, and the remaining 99.4% of the land mass is airily dismissed as “Upstate.”
 
Adirondack Daily Enterprise (Saranac Lake, NY)
Saranac Lake chamber alive and well
YOU KNOW WHAT ...? (LOCAL HISTORY), BY HOWARD RILEY
APR 5, 2014
The Saranac Lake Area Chamber of Commerce almost folded a couple of years ago: deep in debt, paying the executive director an annual salary of $65,000, discarding the logo pin with the “green side of the big apple” – in my opinion, one of the best marketing tools ever – holding legislative breakfasts as their main event and then the final straw, moving the chamber office out of the town hall and away from Main Street.
 
Twitter
RoBBiE RaGGs™
‏@RobbieRaggs
I’m on the green side of The Big Apple!! #robbieraggs #adk #adirondacks #saranaclake #beer #drinking… https://instagram.com/p/549g-YkiKr/
12:51 PM - 2 Aug 2015
 
Twitter
Pezz
‏@Pezzman7
@megynkelly My wife and I our big fans we live outside of Roc curious if you still have ties to Upstate aka the green side of the big apple
9:19 AM - 17 Nov 2016
     
Adirondack Daily Enterprise (Saranac Lake, NY)
2017 could be eventful in the Adirondacks
DITORIALS
DEC 31, 2016
(...)
Saranac Lake has had many official nicknames, including the “Green Side of the Big Apple,” the “Little City in the Adirondacks,” the “Capital of the Adirondacks” and “the Adirondacks’ Coolest Place.” There’s been movement lately to pick one and stick with it; maybe that will happen this year.