Canandaigua Things to Do

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This park has three levels of activities: restful, daring and outrageous.

The Thrill Hill speed slide and adult inner-tubes and Big Splash ride are more along the outrageous level.

The daring category includes the inner-tube rides and the wave pool.

The wading pools and lazy river ride are the more restful types; or you can even stay dry (and hot) with volley ball or bocce. For a few dollars more you can rent a canoe and slowly paddle around the pond and contemplate your navel. You can challenge a friend to a waterballoon war (at slight additional cost). And before you go home, you can stop in to the gift shop (maybe that should be under the "outrageous" category).

Food is not allowed to be brought in the park, but when you enter you can get a hand stamped which will let you go out of the park to eat and come back in later. Life preservers are available for the water-challenged individuals or you can bring your own if they are coast guard approved.

Cost for general admission is around $20 (sometimes coupons in the local papers or at Wegmans cut off 10% of the cost). General hours are from 10am to 4pm (7pm on weekends and holidays).

So get your bathing suit and get wet.

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The OCArts building is an old department store building on Main Street where multi-cultural and multi-media art is exhibited.

The place doesn't look like much from the outside but the inside contains a world of interesting things. There are paintings and sculptures and wall hangings and handmade wood craft and rugs. The exhibits change often and mostly display the craft of local artists.
The OCArts also sponsor classes in many of the crafts and these are headed by the local artisans themselves. There are concerts ranging from Bluegrass to Classical and a variety of other arts-related events (make a rug, create a frame, decoupage a table).

The entrance to the building is free. Donations are accepted and money spent in the gift shop will be used to sponsor new events. Hours are generally 1pm to 6pm on Tuesday through Sunday. Cost and times for some musical events and the learning classes can be seen on the website below.

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The Granger Homestead is a place which is steeped in presenting oldtime activities to a new public. They have special events like Christmas Tree Judging, Evening of Lights, sleigh rides in winter and buggy rides in summer, Tea Parties, Olde Time Weddings. They have exhibits of arts and crafts that were indigenous to the area but are now all but gone. There are programs especially aimed at school children and you can rent the place for private parties.

The place is maintained by donations from community members and members of historical societies and by the money they make off of their events and programs. They also have a carriage museum which I thought was a bit "lame" but which might attract a true history buff.
There is a gift shop but it is fairly small. Most of the events have their own items for sale or auction.

Be sure to bring a camera. Each time that we have gone to one of their events, we have easily shot a full roll of one of those single-use cameras.

The Canandaigua Lady is an authentic paddle boat that operates on Lake Ontario for sight-seeing tours or dinner-cruise parties.

My kids gave a party for my wife on her 50th birthday on this ship and they all had a great time. (I have a problem with boats.... a picture of Popeye is enough to give me the queazies).
The cruise director does a spiel about the boat and each of the fancy houses along the shore and a history of the Canandaigua area. The passengers get to visit the wheelroom and meet the captain. Then there is a nice buffet and a little more sight seeing and finally back to dock.

You can schedule sunset and late evening cruises as well (with a band thrown in if you have the coins). Rates run anywhere from $15 per person per 2 hours to $50 per person. (see the website below for latest costs)

Four groups of New York backers (Constellation brands, Wegmans, RIT and NY Wine Foundation) have provided a place where you can learn everything about wines and cooking.

You can join a wine tasting, you can take a wine making class, you can learn to cook a special meal, you can have you kids taught the culinary arts. Each event just takes some of your time and money. Wine tasting is a two hour event for $15 (including a personal tour of the establishment and some finger foods). The kids culinary classes are $100 per day and can last up to four days. So there is a wide range of activities you can participate in depending on your needs and pocket book.
And if you still have some time and money left, you can visit the extensive wine boutique on the premises.

there is a great virtual tour on the website. So see those pictures to get a better feel of the scale and scope of the Center.

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FLCC stands for Finger Lakes Community College, on the east side of Canandaigua Lake.
If you are out for a drive in the area, pop over to the campus and snap a few pictures of the nice landscaping they have accomplished there. The campus also has a Performing Arts Center where the latest singers and bands and acting groups have performed in an open ampitheater for the last 20 years. The architecture of the ampitheater is unique and deserves a few frames on your camera.

For more information on the College, try:
http://www.flcc.edu/

For information and concert schedules for the Performing Art Center, use:
http://www.rbtl.org/ShowsEvents/FLPAC.aspx

The court house is set on a hill on the north side of the downtown area.
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Perhaps the most notable event that has taken place here was the trial of the women's rights activist, Susan B. Anthony, in the 1870s. She was tried for treason and fined $1.00 for voting in the 1872 election!

The City Hall is across the street from the County Court House and at the top of the main street that leads through the business district to the lake.
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It was constructed in 1824 and bears the honor of being one of the oldest buildings in New York State that has been continually occupied. It has belonged solely to the city since 1988. It is on the National Register of Historic Places -- named so in 1973. A relatively recent renovation has returned the building to the form and appearance it had in 1878.