The Lake Champlain Region is prepared to offer you a warm welcome during the cooler days of autumn. October also brings some annual festivals that we look forward to every year. Here are a couple, coming up rather quickly, that might entice you to visit:
Heritage, Harvest & Horse Festival
A not to be missed autumn event is Fort Ticonderoga’s Heritage, Harvest & Horse Festival held on Saturday, October 6th this year. The Fort is open daily 9:30-5:00 and this event is included with the general admission. Each day at the Fort is packed with programs and demonstrations, and during this festival, you will want to arrive early to see all that is going on.
Discover the historical importance of horses and other working animals during numerous exciting demonstrations. See live horsepower in action without the carbon foot print. Meet other livestock at the Fort; friendly goats and chickens and the oxen team, Mick and Mack. Families will enjoy participating in activities, including heritages games like sack races and learn other colonial children’s games. Children get to try their hands at pumpkin painting, crafting an animal mask, or creating a customized book of fall leaves.
Fort Ticonderoga reports that special guest, Jodie Fitz with Price Chopper/Market 32 Kids' Cooking Club, will be attending the Heritage, Harvest & Horse Festival this year. She will be doing a cooking demonstration on how famiies with children can have fun making healthy snacks. Jodie will also have her book, Fidget Grows a Pizza Garden, on display.
While there, the family can browse, taste and shop locally produced products like honey, maple syrup, jams and jellies. Adult family members can plan on tasting some regional beers, wines and liquors. The annual vegetable, seed and plant sale will be underway along with the Harvest Market featuring locally grown and made products.
Take time to tackle Fort Ticonderoga’s Heroic Corn Maze. This six acre maze of towering corn stalks in a new 2018 design will challenge the best. You find your way through the maze by responding to clues regarding Fort Ticonderoga’s history. The maze will be open weekends and holiday Mondays through October 21st.
At 1:00 and 3:30 p.m., you have the opportunity to venture out on the water aboard Fort Ticonderoga’s Carillon, a 1920s replica touring boat. This 90 minute “on the water” adventure will provide a whole new perspective of Fort Ticonderoga. Relax upon the water as the knowledgeable Fort interpretive staff help you understand this historic waterway and it’s important role in the history at Fort Ticonderoga while offering you a “sonar view” of historic shipwrecks below.
Conclude your visit to Fort Ticonderoga by venturing to the top of Mount Defiance. Each day at 4:00 p.m., the “Mount Defiance-Witness to History” tour is conducted. Don’t miss this opportunity to capture a bird’s eye view of the Fort, Lake Champlain, Vermont and the landscape that shaped America’s history. This tour is included with your general admission.
The Applefolkfest
Come celebrate the fantastic Champlain Valley apples at Penfield Homestead Museum’s Applefolkfest. Held on Sunday, October 7th from 10:00 a.m. until 3:30 p.m. this year. This museum knows how to celebrate the apple along with the season. See cider pressing, sip cider, and pick your favorite apple dessert from numerous choices available. Hot chili and hot dogs are also available. A big craft fair and flea market will be set up on the grounds for you to find a new treasure or add to your collection of seasonal fall decor. Also plan on finding the perfect pumpkin at this festival.
Antique and classic cars will be on display for you to check out and admire. Children and adults both love the horse drawn wagon rides that meander through the museum’s fields and property bedecked in autumn color for this event. Relax under cover in the large outdoor pavilion while listening to some homegrown country music or burn off some of those apple dessert choices by hiking the Penfield Pond Trail for more fantastic scenery exposure.
Other October Options
Should you not make either of these two October events, there is still plenty to see and do along the Adirondack Coast. Our farm stands will be open and bursting with the colorful fall harvest. Gunnison’s Orchard invites you to come pick your own apples, try their fresh cider, and swoon over their famous apple cider donuts.
Our landscape has burst into color and will provide a picturesque backdrop to any outdoor activity. Consider immersing yourself in that color by hiking one of the many Champlain Area Trails (CATS). Choose one with a summit and you will have a bird’s eye view of a vibrant patchwork countryside below. In fact, CATS has a new trail map; now offering over 80 scenic trails to choose from.
Often, during the fall, winds subside offering great boating and paddling conditions on the flat reflective water of our many lakes and ponds. Boaters on Lake Champlain enjoying skimming across the water flanked by the colors of the Adirondacks to the west, and Green Mountains to the east. Nestled in the bays, or in V formations overhead, the migratory geese contribute to autumn’s ambience; cheerfully waving farewell as they loudly honk their southern travel plans.
The cooler days also offer exceptional cycling weather. Lake Champlain Bikeways has assembled a collection of themed loops throughout the region and refers to the collection as Adirondack Coast Bikeways. They have laid out the roadside routes with complete detail including mile markers, and elevations. With 14 to choose from, ranging in length from about 13 to 30 miles, each theme loop offers unsurpassed scenery, particularly in our colorful months.
Start planning your trip today. We know that October on the Adirondack Coast will not disappoint.