Things to do, places to eat, shows to see, places to stay in Madison County, NY      

Can you belive  that November is already here?  Where did October go?  Well this weekend you will find that most of the snow has melted away (we got 2-18 inches around the county) and there are some fun events fro the entire family. Here are some ideas for this weekend:

1. The Great Swamp Conservancy will host an Owl Prowl Saturday night. 
Discover how owls rule the night: their adaptations, hunting skills, where they roost and how to find them on this night hike in search of owls with wildlife rehabilitator Bonnie Folnsbee. 8 PM Fee: $5/person Pre-registration required.

2. Attend the opening of a new country farm store, BMR Acres will have a ribbon cutting in honor of the grand opening of their Country Farm Store. Saturday November 1st at 10am owners Brian & Mary Ellen Rose, would like to invite Town, Village, City and Chamber officials as well as the public to come help celebrate in our ribbon cutting ceremony. BMR Acres Country Farm Store will specialize in offering luxurious alpaca fiber products. The store located at 2542 Pine Ridge Road, Canastota, NY 13032, will be open from 10am - 5pm on Saturdays and 12 - 5pm on Sundays. Evening hours are by appointment.

3. Are you tired of spending money on your power bill?  There will be a small scale solar power workshop this weekend in Morrisville.  Small-scale solar projects and their potential economic and renewable energy viability for homeowners, farmers and small businesses will be the topic of a free workshop Nov. 1 at Morrisville State College. The workshop, which will be held from 10 a.m. to noon in the John W. Stewart Center for Student Activities (STUAC) little theater, is to help homeowners, farmers and businesses assess the potential costs and benefits of small-scale solar energy projects and to help create more local interest in developing local industries and local jobs for sustainable renewable energy resource development in Madison County.

4. You are running out of time to visit the Cazenovia Farmers market.  It is open this Saturday in the heart of the historic business district. Featuring locally grown produce and handmade arts and crafts. Presented by the Historic Business District Committee of the Greater Cazenovia Area Chamber of Commerce. Open 9am-5pm on Saturdays.

It is the final weekend before Halloween and your chance to pick out that pumpkin for a jack-o-lantern is running out.  You will still find dozens of places to pick a pumpkin this weekend so do not despair.  If you already have your pumpkin, here are a few more ideas for you this weekend:
1. Visit a Haunted House at Creepy Camp--Central New York's largest & scariest haunted attractions with completely re-designed indoor walk-through attractions plus novelties, food, games, giveaways, special nights and so much more.  It is open Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
2. The National Abolition Hall of Fame celebrates its inductees this weekend with a commemoration event at Morrisville State College.  The events are open to the public and it is a great opportunity to take in the history of the abolition movement.
3. Fall Festival Night at the Chenango Canal-- Festival Night lights up the Chenango Canal Towpath Trail in Bouckville. Come to this free community event in costume to be judged for a prize, follow a clues hunt on the trail and enjoy a Halloween cookie and cider at the Bouckville General Store. Hosts are in costume and guide you to indoor and outdoor games and crafts for the children. The trail offers spectacular Halloween displays, entertainment and music to haunt you!
4. The Colgate Inn is having a brew dinner on Saturday night featuring their awesome food paired with beers from Omegang Brewery.  Call the Inn at 315-824-2300 for more information.
5. On Sunday the Great Swamp Conservancy in Canastota will hold its Great Halloween Fun Day.  It is a non-scary fun day especially for children, includes displays, crafts, games, Features: pinata, stories, costumes encouraged great day of kids events. $3.00 per child 12 and under.
Of course there are a ton of other events going on around the county.  Visit our homepage and our calendar of events for more details.  Happy Halloween everyone!!!

Sadly the leaves have reached their peak and moved on for another year.  All is not lost however, as even today I found some pockets of great foliage.  It seems that in areas with ancient maples, the leaves have hung on a little longer and makes for a really awesome photo opportunity.  Check out areas in the Stockbridge Valley, along Oneida Lake and in the villages of Chittenango, Canastota and the city of Oneida.  Those areas are all at lower elevations and there are still many trees that have held on their leaves.  While, not widespread, you will find plenty of spots to leaf peep.

Join Lorenzo State Historic Site this December for “Christmas at Lorenzo,” the annual holiday program featuring festive decorations throughout the 1807 home of John Lincklaen, founder of the village of Cazenovia.
The mansion will be open by advance reservation for group tours beginning Wednesday, December 3. These tours, through each of the beautifully decorated rooms, provide each visitor with background information on the mansion and the generations who resided within its walls. The mansion will also be open to the public from 1-4 p.m. December 17-21 and for Candlelight Night from 7-9 p.m. December 19. And visitors may stop by our gift shop, offering distinctive holiday gifts, during all of these times.
This is a unique and festive outing opportunity for groups this holiday season. Group tours are offered at a discount of $3 for adults and seniors, and we are able to accommodate groups of every size! Please contact Casey Frazee at (315) 655-3200 or Casey.Frazee@oprhp.state.ny.us, for more information. Visit us online at www.LorenzoNY.org.

On Saturday evening October 25th, a banner honoring Carmen Basilio will be raised to the rafter at the Onondaga County War Memorial, where the “Canastota Clouter” won his first world welterweight championship (June 10, 1955) and regained the crown (Sept. 12, 1956). The ceremony is scheduled for 7 p.m., prior to the Crunch hockey game vs. Rochester.

Carmen plans to attend what promises to be an emotional event. The banner’s colors are maroon and white, emphasizing the Canastota connection. 

The Crunch organization is also recognizing Breast Cancer Awareness on Oct. 25th with free pink tee shirts to the first 2000 fans through the turnstiles. Advance sale tickets are priced at $13, $15, and $17, with an additional $3 charge if purchased on game night. A group rate of $150 for 10 game tickets includes a VIP reception with Carmen at 6:30 p.m. The Golden Gloves package for $300 includes 20 game tickets, VIP reception, ribbon light message, and an insert in the game program. An $11 group rate is also available. Individual tickets and group packages can be ordered by calling the Crunch office at 473.4444.

Wow it feels like fall this morning and many hunters have spread out across Madison County for the opening of Whitetail Bow season.  They were treated to a fantastic sunrise this morning, boy I wish I was in the woods with them.  Well I'm not so I've got to find some fun for the weekend and I've got five great ideas for you.  As always you can see a more complete list of events right here.
1. With the moon still near full, it is a great weekend to extend the fun into the evening.  Critz Farms will be hosting a moon and flashlight corn maze night tonight in Cazenovia.  Take the opportunity to tackle the maze in the dark, enjoy a bon-fire and great food. 
2. Jimmy Golub and his family will fire up Boris the pumpkin catapault again this weekend.  If you have not seen Boris, you must get on over to Golub's farm in Cazenovia on Peth Road (the back way to Manlius).
3. There is still time this fall to get your pants scared off at Creepy Camp between Chittenango and Cazenovia.  The kids have a wide variety of fun and frights for adults and big kids. 
4. Chittenango Falls State Park is always great in the fall, but today they roll out the red carpet for your four legged friends.  Bring your pooch for a day of family fun between 12pm and 4pm.  The event will include Trick And Treat Hikes, Canine Costume Parade and Contest, Children's Crafts, Fun Fido Games, and fascinating Newfoundland Carting Demonstrations. Cider and snacks will be for sale and abundant picnic tables and charcoal grills are available for those wanting to picnic with their pooch and enjoy the autumn air. Pets must be leashed and have current rabies vaccination. $4 per vehicle.
5. Fall is a great time to visit the Earlville Opera House Galleries! Visit the Earlville Opera House East Gallery for a new exhibit “The Red Cross Series” by Lynette Stephenson of oil paintings that opens on October 18th with a reception for the public. Artist Lynette Stephenson relates that the work became a connection to the loss of her family home in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. In the EOH West Gallery, visit our TeensArt show with hundreds of pieces by local teens from Cazenovia, Sherburne-Earlville, Hamilton, Oneida, Unadilla Valley, Madison, and Waterville schools. There are individual entries by local teens as well as 268 pieces in The Water Project from Madison, Brookfield and Morrisville schools organized by Dierdre Purdy.  The galleries at the Earlville Opera House are open for viewing Tuesday-Friday, 10am-5pm and Saturday, 12-3pm and by appointment.

Large parts of the county have moved beyond peak this weekend, but in the northern section of the county in areas such as Chittenango, Bridgeport, Fenner, parts of Cazenovia, Oneida and Canastota, peack foliage is here and it is brilliant.  Bright reds, bright yellows and oranges dominate this year and even in the southern part of the county, pockets of brilliance remain.  With great crisp fall weather forecast for the weekend, it is your best last chance to get out and enjoy the fall colors.

Alaina Potrikus of the Post Standard has a great story today about Empire Brewing Company of Syracuse and two new beers they are brewing featuring Madison County produce.  The beers feature pumpkins and apple cider from Critz Farms in Cazenovia.  Madison County has long been known as a historical leader in the hops industry and many people are trying to bring the hops farm back.  This is a great step in the right direction, using local products in a regional beer. Hats off to Matt and Juanita Critz and Dave Katelski for this great idea.  Next time you are in Armory Square for lunch have a pint of autumn or apple ale and think about how great local farms are.

John Brown’s great, great, great granddaughter Alice Keesey Mecoy will be onstage to unveil her grandfather’s commemoration banner for the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum (NAHOF) Saturday evening October 25, 2008, at the STUAC theatre on the Morrisville State College campus in Morrisville, NY.  Affiliates and relatives of the 2007 inductees to the Hall of Fame will come from Massachusetts, Michigan, New York, and Texas to unveil the banners for John Brown, Lydia Maria Child, Wendell Phillips, and Sojourner Truth, and speak of their relationships to the abolitionists. Larry Baker, (former Mayor of Hamilton) will again be the Master of Ceremonies for the 7 p.m. program and share selections of abolition poetry. Hugh C. Humphreys (retired Madison County Judge and founding member of NAHOF) has written, and Stephen L. Hinkle (Assistant Professor in Humanities and Director of Theatre and Music at Morrisville State College) will direct brief dramatic pieces on each of the four inductees. Joe Flores of Rochester will describe his process of developing the abolition portraits for the abolition hall and The Exhibition Alliance will remark on the creation of the banners for the hall and planning for an abolition museum.  This evening program is the centerpiece of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum’s annual October event to recognize the inaugural meeting of the New York State Antislavery Society held in Peterboro October 22, 1835. The program is free and open to the public. Youth are encouraged to attend.

During the afternoon on Saturday, October 25th, programs on each of the four abolitionists will be presented at a symposium in the STUAC theatre. After the 12:30 introduction, hosted by the Upstate Institute at Colgate University, Brendan Mills, Director John Brown State Historic Site, Lake Placid NY, will present The Subterranean Passway: John Brown’s High Speed Network to Freedom. At 2 p.m. Lydia Maria Child and the Triumph of Humanitarian Spirit will be presented by Jane Sciacca, President of the Wayland Historical Society in Wayland MA.  Hugh C. Humphreys, Hamilton NY, will demonstrate The Eloquence of Wendell Phillips at 3 p.m. and Mary Butler, Director of the Sojourner Truth Institute in Battle Creek MI will provide Finding Truth: The Evolution of Sojourner Truth’s Social Reform Message  at 4 p.m. The program is free and open to the public.

The National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum annual dinner follows the afternoon presentations at 5 p.m. across the hall from the theatre. The Copper Turret, Morrisville NY, has created a dessert buffet with ideas from Lydia Maria Child’s cookbook The Frugal Housewife for the last course of the catered dinner at 5 p.m. at the STUAC building. Milton C. Sernett, Ph.D., professor emeritus Syracuse University, will present the keynote ‘To Make the World Anew: The Transformation of Upstate New York’s “Burned-Over District” into “North Star Country,” a program of projected images. Dinner reservations are $50 by October 17.

Saturday, October 25 the Abolition Exhibition Hall created by Morrisville State College Hospitality and Tourism students under the direction of Scott Hughes at Madison County Tourism, opens at 9 a.m. in the STUAC Gymnasium. The exhibition will include the first Annual Abolition Visual Arts Show, displays on abolition and abolitionists, an abolition time line, book signings at 10:00, and a My Museum presentation by Computer Technology students at 11:00. This program is free and open to the public.  Youth are encouraged to attend.

Sunday, October 26 the commemoration conference moves to the future home of the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum in the Smithfield Community Center in Peterboro with an Open House at 9 am followed by a 10:00 am tour of the Gerrit Smith Estate National Historic Landmark. ($5 donation for tour.) Lunch catered by the Copper Turret will be served at noon at the Community Center. ($25 reservation for lunch by October 17) At 1 p.m. Jonathan Cornue, Vice-President of the Cabinet of Freedom for the National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum will describe and explain the public procedures for nominating abolitionists to the Hall of Fame.   At 2 p.m. Milton C. Sernett, Ph.D. presents the first of The Abolition Sunday Lyceums designed for public information in the fashion of 19th C. programs. Dr. Sernett begins the series with “Slavery and the Freedom of Struggle in the Formation of the American Nation.” ($20 reservation by October 17.)

The weekend begins at 7 p.m. Friday, October 24 with The Voice of Abolition concert in the STUAC theatre. The program is directed by Hugh Humphreys and features Alden Max Smith performing selected abolition-related music and narrations. This program is open to the public with ten dollar admission at the door or $7 reservation by October 17.

Reservations may be sent by October 17 to National Abolition Hall of Fame and Museum, 5255 Pleasant Valley Road, Peterboro NY 13134-0055. For more information mail@abolitionhof.com or 315-684-3262.

What a georgous weekend!!!  We've had a chance to get over to both Golub's Our Farm and Critz Farm in Cazenovia this fall.  Here is a slide show of things going on at both places.