The Focus Is Food & Wine
During Fall in the Finger Lakes
Autumn Harvests Bring Culinary Road Trips
& Wine-Tasting Treasure Hunts
(PENN YAN, N.Y. – August 4, 2006) For anyone who loves to eat, there is no better destination than New York’s Finger Lakes in autumn. The freshly grown bounty and variety of this “SPLENDID from Any Direction! ®” region is deliciously complemented by the glorious grapes of more than 100 vineyards. Add scenery splashed with the vibrant colors of fall foliage and this 9,000-square-mile area provides a culinary getaway that can’t be beat. Check out www.fingerlakes.org or call Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance at 800-548-4386 for a complimentary Finger Lakes Travel Guide, then pack your bags and bring your appetite for a tasty, fun-filled autumn adventure.
With agriculture being the largest industry in the state of New York—a big surprise for many visitors—one of the newest attractions in the Finger Lakes region is right at home here: the New York Wine & Culinary Center in Canandaigua. Highlighting wine and agricultural products from around the entire state, the Center is a showcase with exhibits, cooking classes, wine tasting room, culinary boutique and a “New York Garden” that appropriately surrounds the building. From here, visitors can head in any direction to sample harvest celebrations and winery events throughout the Finger Lakes region.
Stopping at farmers’ markets and roadside stands for just-picked produce, or even picking their own, travelers can literally eat their way around this food-lover’s region. Delightful harvest festivals are also easily found, such as the Golden Harvest Festival (Sept. 9 & 10) at Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville with games and rides for the entire family, more than 70 vendors and musical entertainment. The Harvest Jamboree and Country Fair at the Rochester Public Market (Sept. 24) features stands of local produce plus wagon and pony rides, pumpkin decorating and country line dancing.
As the second largest apple producing area in America, there are many celebrations featuring everything apple, including apple festivals (October 7 & 8) in both LaFayette and Newark Valley. For a traveling apple feast, the Wayne County Apple Tasting Tour during the entire month of October invites visitors to touch, smell and taste different apple varieties at more than a dozen local markets.
Another red fruit becomes the center of attention in Auburn, N.Y., when the annual TomatoFest (Sept. 9 & 10) adds its saucy flavor to the fun of a traditional village festival. And it wouldn’t be fall in the Finger Lakes without a piece of grape pie. The Naples Grape Festival (September 24 & 25) draws more than 100,000 visitors and has been featured on the Food Network and HGTV.
Vegetables get their time in the spotlight, too. Visitors can get a little corny at the annual Corn Fest Celebration in Cincinnatus (Sept. 15), perhaps the only event around to feature corn shelling and grinding demonstrations along with more traditional activities of a craft fair, petting zoo and magic show. Love the spud? The annual Potato Festival (Sept. 16) in Richford, N.Y., is followed by the Savannah Potato Fest (Sept. 22-24) with potato art, potato wrestling, potato peeling contests and a potato parade.
October brings pumpkins—from tiny to huge—for cooking, decorating and Halloween carving. Visit the Pumpkin Festival (Sept. 30) in Tioga Center for plenty of pumpkin food and entertainment or spend a day at the Great Cortland Pumpkinfest (October 7 & 8) featuring antique tractors and hay rides along with pumpkin-themed exhibits and activities.
In addition to freshly grown produce, there are many special culinary items made in the Finger Lakes. At the Abbey of the Genesee in Piffard, N.Y., the specialty is bread. Wholesome loaves are made by Trappist monks using only the finest natural ingredients, a time-consuming baking process and a great deal of care. In a setting blessed with breathtaking views, the abbey’s small store sells Monks’ Bread, which is also available in many local grocery stores.
And don’t miss the Finger Lakes wine! During September and October, La Tourelle Resort & Spa in Ithaca, N.Y., features “Earth-to-Table” farm and winery tour packages. Visitors are invited to experience how and where the foods and wines they enjoy are produced by visiting working farms and orchards, sampling wines at area vineyards and savoring delicious meals featuring locally grown food.
Watching the harvesting of vast acres of grapes is another favorite pastime in the Finger Lakes. The King Ferry Winery Harvest Festival (Oct. 14 & 15) includes grape harvesting tours, wine-making demonstra-tions and tastings. Or try the old-fashioned way of making wine. During the Purple Foot Festival (Sept. 7, 9 & 10) at Casa Larga Vineyards near Rochester, N.Y., visitors can enjoy a turn at grape stomping along with music, winery tours, games and more. At Cobblestone Farm and Winery in Romulus, N.Y., the Grape Stomping Festival (Sept. 9 & 10) includes grape picking as well as crushing the purple fruit, music, hay rides, food and fun. The Annual Gourmet Harvest Festival (Sept. 30 & Oct. 1) at Hunt Country Vineyards in Branchport, N.Y., features horse-drawn wagon tours of the vineyards along with grape stomping, music and crafts. And in Ovid, N.Y, the Thirsty Owl Wine Company Barrel Tasting and Polka Party (Nov. 11 & 12) skips the stomping and goes straight to the tasting with great food and live music morning to night.
Best of all, the wholesome fun of harvests, great food and award-winning wines takes place in the embrace of amazing fall foliage. Celebrate the season at the Annual Fall Fest (Sept. 30) in downtown Elmira, N.Y., with craft and food vendors, live music, trolley rides and a fabulous fireworks display at the end of the day. Or sample the Cohocton Fall Foliage Festival (Oct. 6 - 8), one of the oldest in the state. Covered by TV journalist Charles Kuralt and radio personality Paul Harvey, this festival and its famous Tree-Sitting Contest have made the pages of National Geographic and The New York Times.
A Finger Lakes road trip during autumn can even include aerial views of trees in blazing colors seen from the basket of a hot-air balloon above the gorge in Letchworth State Park (known as the Grand Canyon of the East) or while taking a one-mile ride up Bristol Mountain (weekends from late Sept. to Oct.) with its 1,200-foot vertical rise. Or enjoy the colorful view from the deck of a tour boat: there are many options on lakes, rivers and the historic Erie Canal.
Fall foliage train rides add yet another way to experience autumn in the Finger Lakes. For an especially entertaining ride, hop aboard the Blues-N-Brews Train Excursion on the Finger Lakes Railway. With a blues band playing and local microbrewery products to sample along the way, this three-hour trip departing from Watkins Glen (Nov. 18) is a truly rousing, end-of-autumn party.
Contact: Susan Murad
Director of Marketing
800.530.7488
Susanm@fingerlakes.org |
