Sat Sept 18: Palmyra to Lyons free town wall

In which we become the talk of the town of Lyons ...

Since the ENTIRE TOWN was closed for this Purple Painted Lady Festival thingy (named for an Arts & Craft store in Palmyra) we decided to join in.  We couldn’t pass up the opportunity to visit what was billed as one of the largest Arts and Crap (Rick's word) festivals in all of western New York.  I'll tell you this for free - they were not lyin'.  It was a CLUSTER...

There were over 150 vendors, food trucks and a gigantic crowd of unmasked people.  It was truly a sight -  and the vendors were doing a brisk business. We saw people carrying off arm loads (even wagon loads) of crafts, furniture and edible goodies.  There was a music venue too, but the heavy metal band that was blasting out head-banger toons was so incongruous to the out-doorsey, down-home festival feel that it made it almost uncomfortable. It certainly wasn't conducive to lingering.

It was one of those unique opportunities that we have been so lucky to experience on our trip. But it was also full of unmasked people (not us) so we made a quick circuit, had sensory overload and left after about an hour. We didn't feel 'called' to buy anything, but I did get some ideas for some holiday crafts!

After our visit to the festival we rode back to the boat and made the short trip to our next free wall tie up, in the 'hopping' town of Lyons.   On the Erie Canal heading back east we pass through the familiar locks and are constantly reminded of the area’s history and the resources it takes to maintain this national treasure.

Many of the locks have small buildings that date from around 1913, and are lovingly maintained by NY Canal corporation employees.  

Arriving at Lyons, NY

 

 

Lyons is another of the small towns that show a glimpse into the industrial history of this area.  Lyons was know as the Peppermint Capital of the US, and from 1830 to about 1940 the area surrounding Lyons was the center for growing peppermint and distilling peppermint oil.  As we tied up to the dock we were met by Sean -- the local greeter, who welcomed us to the area, gave us a brochure and talked up the various business in town.

Since it was still early afternoon we put on our shoes and took a walk into the quiet town.  Everyone we met had already heard from Sean that we were in town! Each place we stopped we were greeted with “oh, you must be the boaters. Welcome!”  We decided to go see the new Marvel movie in the lovingly restored 1930’s movie theater and the ticket guy said “oh, you’re the boaters, we were hoping you might come.”  

 

 

The biggest/best Christmas store I've ever seen opened here in June - it is bound to become a destination store because it's just gorgeously merchandised.  We just stumbled across it, and I made Rick go in with me.  Glen, the proprietor, said he’d been expecting us because Sean had told him we were going to stop in. He said they would all be expecting us at the tavern tonight! (We ended up not going and will probably hear about it tomorrow from all the locals!).

I'm glad they are working hard to appeal to visitors because Sat night in downtown Lyons currently looks like this - NOTHING is happening...