Get off campus and enjoy some of the many fun things to do in Central New York
By Deborah Jeanne Sergeant
From September through December, take in a free live music concert in an apple orchard at Beak & Skiff in Lafayette, which “has become a major outdoor concert venue for touring shows like Lake Street Dive and the Flaming Lips,” said Linda Lowen, author of “100 Things and Secret Syracuse.” “But September through December, inside the 1911 Tasting Room, there’s free live music every Sunday afternoon.”
The concerts are typically from 2 to 4 p.m. with food and beverages available for purchase.
If you just want to get some fresh apples, Beak & Skiff is the place to be for apples, apple-related foods and beverages, apple picking and general fall fun.
“Beak & Skiff goes so big — with an entire apple campus with food venues, a country store, farm animals and more — that some locals call it the Disneyworld of apple orchards,” Lowen said. “If you just want to ride a tractor out to the fields and walk among the apple trees, it’s free as long as you don’t pick.”
It’s also a fun place to shop with its large farm market.
Lowen also recommends O’Neill’s Orchard and Deer Run Farm, “where you can get apples, fritters and other fall treats and pick-your-own apples.”
Nearby, Navarino Orchard in Syracuse offers a small farm market “selling food and gift items and a giant barn with a good-sized seasonal menu on weekends,” Lowen added.
She also likes Oswego County’s Ontario Orchard. The large country store near SUNY Oswego (on state Route 104) carries a variety of items, including bulk items, snacks, fresh fruits and vegetables, gifts, baked goods and apples.
“Other family run orchards are scattered around SUNY Oswego, with varying times of operation,” Lowen said.
All season, it’s a good time to explore Chimney Bluffs State Park in Wolcott, west of Oswego.
“You can hike to see strange sandcastle-like lakeside formations one blogger says looks ‘almost like the Badlands in miniature meets the Great Lakes,’” Lowen said.
If you enter the park at the eastern parking lot, admission is free year-round. Hike the woodland trail overlooking the Lake Ontario shoreline or walk along the base of the bluffs near the lake. Picnicking facilities and restrooms are available at the western entrance.
Look for vintage treasures all semester at Syracuse Antiques Exchange, which Lowen calls the “ultimate in thrifting. It carries everything vintage from clothing to housewares and anything you can imagine.”
Explore four floors and more than 70 dealers in an 1889 building.
“Plan on spending hours here — there’s a lot to see,” Lowen added.
For more modern perusal, along with cheap food, Lowen recommends IKEA in Syracuse, a great place to dream about your future home.
“It’s not a full-sized store, but it has enough of a showroom area — with living rooms, kitchens, family rooms, bedrooms — that you can reenact your favorite IKEA movie scenes, like ‘100 Days of Summer’. It’s a fantastic place to get items on a budget. And at the end of your browsing, sign up for a free IKEA Friends & Family Card and you can get a free cup of coffee or tea with every visit — just key in your card number at the order kiosk in the IKEA bistro. And with cheap $1 hot dogs (two dogs in one bun for just $1.75) and your free hot beverage, it’s the cheapest meal in CNY.”
In December, dream of Christmas break at Skaneateles’ A Dickens of a Christmas, a village-wide free event. Enjoy “Victorian-themed entertainment with dozens of characters including Charles Dickens himself dressed up and roaming the streets, eager to interact with you,” Lowen said. “There are public sing-a-longs and live entertainment, Saturdays and Sundays from late November through December.”
