If your family is looking for a fun winter event, Ganondagan’s Games & Sports might be right up your alley!

Attendees love watching the dog sledding demonstrations

This exciting annual event takes at Ganondagan State Historic Site in Victor.  Although this is an outdoor event, there are plenty of activities to keep you moving and warm, and you can always take the chill off with a little storytelling  in the traditional Bark Longhouse, by watching videos in the Visitor’s Center, or by enjoying warm Native American food in the building off the lower parking lot.

What is unique about this event is that it incorporates many of the winter traditions of the Haudenosaunee (Iroquois) people, such as dog sledding, maple sugaring, snow shoeing and throwing of the snow snake.

After watching a snow snake demonstration, such as the one master storyteller Perry Ground is doing above, you can even try your hand at the game!

Ganondagan’s site interpreter, Michael Galban, also demonstrates the fine art of crafting snow shoes, which were used among the Iroquois people as a way to traverse upstate New York’s heavy snow fall.

This event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, February 5, snow or no snow at Ganondagan State Historic Site, located at 1488 State Route 444 in Victor, NY and it  is free to the public with  nominal charges for w hour snow shoe rentals and for food.  If you are traveling a distance for this event, you may be interested in a special overnight lodging package from the 1820 Springdale Farm B&B Homestead.

To learn more about the Snow Snake, read my article ” Snow Snake, a Haudenosaunee Sport Steeped in Tradition.”

Photo courtesy of Ganondagan State Historic Site and Kevin Vickers.