Walking into Destiny

JANUARY 14, 9:00 AM-NOON AND JANUARY 15, 1:00 PM-3:00 PM – Destiny USA provides some of the best options for mid-winter walking in CNY. For those who like to stay warm, traveling the perimeter of the 4 retail floors of the mall is about a 5K walk. Others, who prefer to brave the winter elements, have the option of walking to the Inner Harbor area and a portion of the Creek Walk and Empire State Trail, weather permitting.

Folksmarch will once again be setting up on the first floor of the Canyon area of the mall near the entrance to Dick’s Sporting Goods. Don’t forget…it’s that time of year when you’ll want to motivate yourself (and get a good deal) by purchasing a 2023 Annual Membership Pass or a Yearly Passport membership card. The price for these has remained the same for 2023. The $40 Annual Membership Pass includes a Yearly Passport card (regularly $10) and all 12-monthly walks ($4 per walk). That’s a savings of $18 per person!

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Skaneateles 5K

DECEMBER 10, 9:00 AM-NOON AND DECEMBER 11, 1:00 PM-3:00 PM – Join us for our December Folksmarch. The check in table will be at St. James Episcopal Church on Route 20. The walk route will take your down the main street of Skaneateles where you can stop by various shops. The Dickens Christmas is 12-4 Saturday and Sunday.

See the route map (PDF) and instructions for turn-by-turn directions.

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Wrapping Up the Year in a Holiday Village

DECEMBER 10, 9:00 AM-NOON AND DECEMBER 11, 1:00 PM-3:00 PM – Join us as we wrap up 2022 in a walk through a charming Holiday Village. Skaneateles is always a fun place to visit but can be especially magical at holiday time.

Our Folksmarch will be taking place during the Village’s 29th presentation of Dickens Christmas. The festival runs every weekend in December on both Saturday and Sunday from Noon – 4:00 p.m. So get your Folksmarch walk in and then stick around for the fun! Grab a coffee, a treat, and do some shopping.

Thanks to St. James Episcopal Church for providing space for Folksmarchers to sign-in. The church is located at 96 E. Genesee St., (a/k/a US Route 20) Skaneateles, NY 13152. Restroom facilities will be available during our walk hours and parking is available across the street at the First Presbyterian Church. We appreciate both the churches for allowing us a place to check in and park. They also make a great start and end point for our walk!

We will also do our Annual Folksmarch Membership Meeting on Saturday, 10-December at 11:00 AM. Whether you are just finishing your walk or just starting out, join us for a brief update on the year, hear some plans we have for future walks, and vote on our nominees for the board of directors. We will also serve coffee and donuts to celebrate our members.

A reminder there are 2 ways to become a member: (1) Purchase an Annual Membership Pass ($40) for 12 monthly walks, prepaying for 10 and getting 2 free. You receive a yearly passport membership card (record book), voting rights and eligibility to participate in any trips organized by Folksmarch.  (2) Purchase a Yearly Passport membership card ($10) and pay for walks separately each month. With your yearly passport membership card you do still have voting rights and eligibility to participate in any trips organized by Folksmarch.

Find out more in our December Folksmarch Footnotes newsletter.

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Walk Along the Oneida Rail Trail

As usual, Folksmarcher Lori Newcomb provided some great shots along the Oneida Rail Trail walk. It was a pretty typical CNY weekend–November 12 & 13–a little cool, a little drizzly. We hope all Folksmarchers had an enjoyable Thanksgiving and we look forward to seeing you at our December walk! Don’t forget, our annual membership meeting will be Saturday, December 10th.

Autumn on the Rail Trail

NOVEMBER 12, 9:00 AM-NOON AND NOVEMBER 13, 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

November is a beautiful time of year in CNY. Our walk this month is in the beautiful City of Oneida. The City of Oneida is in the process of developing a trail system that circles the city that combines old railroad beds and city streets. Some of the old rail beds have been paved for easy walking. The trail also has a feeder trail to the Erie Canal trail. The total trail is 8 miles long. We will have a few options for hiking. The kickoff point is the Oneida Recreation Center located at 217 Cedar Street in downtown Oneida. There is parking on the street in front of the building, in the rear of the building (use the main entrance from Cedar Street), and additional off-street parking at the corner of Cedar and Lenox Avenue a half a block from the Center. One hike option will be a leisure walk along recently paved rail trail heading west with a return route along Lenox Ave. A second option will take you along the rail trail to Du Ross Conservancy along Oneida Creek. This hike is a combination of rail trail, nature unpaved trails and streets. The weather will be transitioning from the warmer fall months to the colder winter months.so come prepared.

Find out more in our November Folksmarch Footnotes newsletter.

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October Walk in Williamstown

OCTOBER 8, 9:00 AM-NOON AND OCTOBER 9, 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

October is a beautiful time of year in CNY. If we have a sunny Autumn weekend (fingers crossed) we will be surrounded by beautiful foliage on all 3 trails at the Amboy Environmental Center (Yes, there is another Amboy – in Onondaga County, but this one is in Oswego County). The walking/hiking paths include several foot bridges over streams throughout the woods that range in difficulty from quite easy to somewhat challenging with several options.

You can expect to see many acres of wetlands, wildlife, woods, and a beaver pond observation deck. The trails are aptly named: Beaver Marsh, Trout Brook, and Woodpecker Wood.

Find out more in our October 2022 Folksmarch Footnotes.

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A Walk Along Onondaga Lake

SEPTEMBER 10, 9:00 AM-NOON AND SEPTEMBER 11, 1:00 PM-3:00 PM

Text Box: Our walk will begin at the Honeywell Onondaga Lake Visitor’s Center adjacent to the Onondaga Lake Boat Launch.  There is ample parking and restroom facilities are located within the center.  

From the deck of the center there are good views of Syracuse, Destiny and Liverpool.  Years ago, the lake was highly polluted but thanks to the work done by Honeywell and major improvements of the Syracuse water treatment facility the lake is now clean enough for fishing.  There is information in the visitor center about how the lake was cleaned up.  

We will walk along a path that is part of the Erie Canalway Trail / Empire State Trail.  The surface is nicely paved and level.  It starts out kind of noisy due to traffic on I-690 but soon veers away from the road and is quite peaceful.  When Elaine and I walked the route we saw geese, ducks, a bald eagle, and other birds that we didn’t identify.  There were abundant wildflowers along the way, there are 4 or 5 benches spaced along the route.  The round-trip distance to the foot bridge is 2.8 miles, however you can continue over the bridge if you wish. —Lee Mount, September Walk Leader with wife Elaine

Find out more in our September 2022 Folksmarch Footnotes.

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Folksmarch & Summer Picnic in Sherburne

AUGUST 13th 10:00 AM-NOON followed by picnic. NOTE CHANGE IN TIME – Park does not open until 10:00

There are a few different ways to arrive at Rogers Environmental Education Center in Sherburne. All of them could be considered “the scenic route.” 

The trails are well-groomed and well-marked with lovely views and a variety of habitats to enjoy along the way. 

Once you have achieved your walking goal, we hope you will stay for the annual Folksmarch picnic which will start at Noon. We plan to have some great food, along with friendly conversations and beautiful views from the pavilion. 

Thanks to everyone who has offered to bring a favorite dish to pass. Plus, we’ll have other foods to eat and water to drink. We may even have a couple of games to play. We’re sure to have some fun! Hope to see all of you there! 

Please RSVP by August 6th at cnyfolksmarch@gmail.com. Let us know what you will bring to share. So far, we’ve got potato chips, pasta salad, cabbage salad, baked beans, water, cups, plates, napkins, and plasticware. Hope you can join us!

Find out more in our August 2022 Folksmarch Footnotes.

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Just Walk in July

July 9th 9:00 AM-NOON & July 10th 1:00-3:00 PM- Fair Haven in July has a nice ring to it and it’s just down the road from Sterling Nature Center where we had originally planned to walk. Due to the nature center’s construction of a new visitor’s facility, we have postponed Sterling until next year.

Our 5k walk will begin near Main St. and travel some of the neighborhoods of Fair Haven with glimpses of Little Sodus Bay. Then, back to the quaint summer Village of Fair Haven where you will pass (or stop in) one of the eateries or shops or ice cream stands along the route.

Thanks to Pastor Burgess, we will sign-in at the recreation hall of the Calvary Baptist Church located at 638 Main St., Fair Haven, NY 13064. Parking is available around the hall, with additional spaces on Meade St. next to the church or across Main St. on Cayuga St.

Find out more in our July 2022 Folksmarch Footnotes.

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Get Your Annual Membership Pass

Annual Membership Pass: Our 2022 Annual Pass includes the 12-monthly walks across CNY to meet other walk enthusiasts! Regularly priced at $40.

But wait….

HALF-YEAR HALF-PRICE SPECIAL! Just $20 includes the Yearly Passport Membership card and the rest of the 6 monthly walks (July-December, normally $4 per month without Annual Membership Pass). Savings of $4–it’s like getting a free Folksmarch walk! You can even purchase online and pay by credit card.

Find Out More