While the holiday season’s activities have passed there are still plenty of winter activities going on in Montgomery County.
Enjoy ice skating behind Amsterdam’s City Hall. Grab your cross-country skis and snowshoes for an adventure across the Canalway Trail or through the Charleston State Forest.
Attention snowmobilers, the Fulton and Montgomery Counties Snowmobile map is now available! There are approximately 400 miles of snowmobile trails to enjoy between the two counties. The snowmobile map has been updated with new trails and a new look. Instead of using display advertising in this piece, we opted to keep the map winter-themed highlighting activities, annual winter events, snowmobile safety guidelines, snowmobile club information, snowmobile sales and repairs, and more.
The Arkell Museum and Canajoharie Library offer year round programming with family days, lecture series, concerts, and film series. On display through February 15 is Walter Wick: Games, Gizmos and Toys in the Attic. The exhibition, organized by the New Britain Museum of American Art, includes enlarged photographs and models used for Walter Wick’s popular I Spy and Can You See What I See? children’s books. Wick’s photographs and models escape the book to assume a larger than life presence that magically draws both children and adults into a world of make believe. Coming February 27 is American Tonalism: Paintings of Poetry and Soul.
January 16, “Your Favorite Doll Tea” returns to the GFWC Century Club. Your favorite doll and her guest will each receive her own personal invitation. Treats will include finger sandwiches; personal sized cake for your table and “tea”. Candid photos will be taken and printed to commemorate the event. The gift shop will be open and will have hand made clothing to fit your doll. A professional photographer will be on premises should you like a portrait for a portrait fee.
January 17, “The Erie Canal in Saratoga County with Historian John Scherer” lecture will be the January installment of Schoharie Crossing’s Winter Lecture Series. Retired history curator from the New York State Museum, John Scherer will explain the many reasons why the Erie Canal crossed the Mohawk River in Crescent into Saratoga County then back over to the south side at Rexford. He will trace the Canal’s route through Vischer Ferry and point out many Canal features such as locks, dry docks, canal stores, and aqueducts. Winter Workshops continue in February and March. New in 2010 is the Native American Film Festival in March with viewing and discussion of Native American films showing contemporary issues (1970’s to the present) such as alcoholism, activism, poverty, religious traditionalism, education, and prejudice.
January 18, the Walter Elwood Museum will be hosting another Vacation Camp Day for kids on with supervised programming available from 8:30am to 12:30pm for children ages 3 and up. The Camp Day will feature a lesson on African Masks and mask making. Each child will design and make their own mask to take home. This is just a sampling of the programs offered throughout the year at the Walter Elwood Museum.
Keep in mind most of these events are free or have nominal charges. Call me at 853-1800 ext. 12 for a free winter events calendar, snowmobile trails map, and more Montgomery County Tourism information. A downloadable PDF version of the snowmobile map is also located on the Montgomery County Tourism website www.visitmontgomerycountyny.com on the Brochures page.
I am currently looking for spring and summer events to be listed on our upcoming calendar. The deadline to have your event included is February 1, 2010. To submit your spring and summer events please e-mail them to tourism@montgomerycountyny.com, mail to Tourism Department, P.O. Box 836, Fonda, NY 12068 or fax (518)853-1813. Please submit the name of the event, contact name and phone number, where the event is held, a description of the event, dates and times, and admission fees; the more information submitted the better. Any questions call (518)853-1800 ext. 12. Please call if your business would like copies of the calendar to display.