News
July 13, 2016Free CanalFest at Mabee Farm this Saturday
Saturday, July 16th • 11 AM – 3 PM
at Mabee Farm Historic Site
Take part in the excitement this Saturday as hundreds of cyclists invade Schenectady as part of the Cycle the Erie bicycle tour! Join us for CanalFest at Mabee Farm for a day of FREE fun, family activities as we celebrate the Erie Canalway! It’s all part of CanalFest: Explore Schenectady County, a county-wide event celebrating heritage, history, and the great outdoors. There’s no better way to discover the vibrancy of our county!
The festivities include live music with Dyer Switch, petting zoo and pony rides, rehabbed wild animals, canal-themed games and crafts, craft vendors, FREE ICE CREAM (generously donated by Stewart’s), blacksmithing and textile demonstrations inspired by the Erie Canal, family-friendly bike tours of the Erie Canal along the Mohawk-Hudson Bike-Hike Trail, and tours of the historic Mabee house, Our Mohawk River bateaux will also be on site!
And..there’s more! As excitement crackled down the Erie Canal in its beginnings, it quickly became the scene of the most striking outbursts of imagination in American history! Author Jack Kelly of Heaven’s Ditch: God, Gold, and Murder on the Erie Canal will join us at 2 PM to illuminate the spiritual and political upheavals along this “psychic highway” from its opening in 1825 through 1844. Join us as we discover America’s very first “crime of the century,” a treasure hunt, searing acts of violence, a visionary cross-dresser, and a panoply of fanatics, mystics, and hoaxers.
For more information, please contact Mary Zawacki at 518-887-5073, or by email at curator@schenectadyhistorical.org. The Mabee Farm Historic Site is wheelchair accessible, with off-street parking in front of the George E. Franchere Educational Center.
