By Barbara Arnstein
This year marks the 100th anniversary of the founding of the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. It encompasses beaches, campgrounds, trails, golf courses and so much more. Throughout 2024, there will be many events to commemorate this milestone.
One of the special 2024 events involves a checklist of 100 challenges. These challenges include: hiking, swimming at one of the beaches or pools, playing a round of golf or disc golf, exploring a gorge park, camping at a campsite, or attending a festival. If you complete two dozen of the 100 missions on the challenge checklist, New York State Parks will send you a sticker that says, “Centennial Challenge Finisher 2024” and you’ll be entered into a drawing to win a multi-season Empire Pass and some Centennial souvenirs, including a t-shirt and tote bag. (The multi-season Empire Passes eliminate the day-use vehicle entry fees).
There are many activities involving the total eclipse of the sun on April 8th, 2024, that will be visible, in its totality, from several areas in Western New York. (It is important to remember that, apart from the time of totality, the solar eclipse can only be safely seen using special viewing glasses or handheld solar viewers, NOT regular sunglasses, even if they’re polarized.) The Allegany State Park Eclipse Viewing event will take place between 10am-4pm On Saturday, March 23rd, at Niagara Falls state Park, a Park Naturalist will conduct one of the hands-on craft projects, a Pinhole Solar Eclipse Projector.
This year, Evangola State Park is celebrating its 70th anniversary. The main attraction at the park is the beautiful, curving sand beach flanked by scenic bluffs, on the shore of Lake Erie. It also offers swimming, picnic shelters, picnic table areas, 80 campsites, six yurts, a nature center, a baseball diamond, basketball and tennis courts and more! One of its best features is its spectacular sunsets. The campsites and yurts are available for camping from May 17th through October 13th, 2024. The 733-acre state park in South Erie County, NY, is located west of the Village of Franham, at the border of the Town of Brant and the Town of Evans.
On Thursday, March 21st, you can visit the back trails of Evangola with a Park Naturalist to share in the “March Muckabout”, seeking signs of Spring. On Saturday, March 30th, and Sunday, April 28th, from 10-11:30am join the fun there with “Find That Frog”. Registration is required for all three of these activities, at Eventbrite.com. Cool fact: the three-acre wetland along the entrance parkway was created in 2010, and won the ACEC Engineering Excellence Award in 2013, the first landscape project ever to do so!
Evangola State Park is located at 10191 Old Lake Shore Road, in Angola, NY. (716) 549-1802. The number of the Evangola Nature Center, which features activities and displays focused on Lake Erie, is (716) 282-5154.
For more information about the centennial events, go to parks.ny.gov/100.