Event Details and Programs for the
Adirondack Nature Festival
for People with Disabilities
About the event, opening remarks, activity providers, food options, total care resources, and media information for the festival.
Event Information
Welcome!
When: Saturday, August 16, 2025 from 10am to 4pm
Where: Paul Smith’s College Visitor Interpretive Center (the ‘VIC’), Paul Smiths, NY
Event Program
We look forward to seeing you at the Adirondack Nature Festival for People with Disabilities!
Outdoor Programs
Title: Bocce Demos with the Special Olympics Rednecks Team of Saranac Lake
Times: 10:15am-Noon and 12:30pm – 2:00pm
Location: Butterfly House Field – Map Location 4
Come join athletes from the Adirondack Rednecks, our local (Saranac Lake) Special Olympics Bocce team, demonstrating the techniques and rules of the game. Join in and try this fun and competitive sport! Bocce is an Italian game. The basic principle of the sport is to roll a bocce ball closest to the target ball, which is called a pallina.
Title: Adaptive Outdoor Equipment Demos: Cam Cardinale & April Diffee, SAIL
Times: 10:30am–3:30pm
Location: Back Lawn – Map Location 14
Southern Adirondack Independent Living is back with even more TRAID equipment to help you enjoy the outdoors comfortably — and maybe even try something new. From adaptive gardening tools and hiking gear to a golf club, mountain bike, beach wheelchair, and even a fully adapted kayak, we’re here to make outdoor activities more accessible than ever.
Title: Butterfly House Tours with Paul Smiths VIC Staff
Times: 10:30am-4:00pm
Location: Butterfly House – Map Location 5
Visit the Butterfly House to enjoy butterflies in all stages of development in this space where they can move freely. Learn about their stages of life, their habits and habitats. Learn how you can create an environment at home that attracts and supports our beloved Monarch Butterflies.
Title: Camping & Outdoor Skills with Diana Nyland and Team Members, SARNAK
Times: 10:30am – 3:30pm
Location: Butterfly House Field – Map Location 2
What do we need to be camping or outdoors in nature safely? Stop by our table to see and learn some key principles and items that will keep you safe outdoors. Whether you like to hike, boat or go camping, get invaluable tools and tips to get more out of your time in nature. SARNAK works closely with law enforcement and emergency response organizations to provide assistance during backcountry emergencies.
Title: Learn About Woodpeckers with Rich Hanlon, Wild Neighbors Nature Connection
Times: 10:30am – Noon and 2:00- 3:00pm
Location: Butterfly House Field – Map Location 1
Investigate woodpecker-carved branches and learn more about their habits and their habitat at the Wild Neighbors Nature Connection table.
Title: Nature Sensory Walk with Suzanne Weirich, Adirondack Riverwalking
Times: 10:30am–11:30am and 2:30pm-3:30pm
Location: Barnum Brook Trail, Map Reference 16
On this guided walk, we’ll explore together the magic of the forest and its many treasures in mid-August. We’ll slow down and use our available senses to get up close to nature, with some playful, fun sensory activities to rekindle our sense of awe and wonder, to feel ourselves a part of nature again. Discover how nature can help you feel more relaxed, calmer, and more at peace.
Title: Tai Chi Flow in Nature with Josy D, Josy Delaney, Tai Chi with Josy
Times:
Standing mini-class -10:30am-11:00am and Noon-12:30pm Location: Back Deck – Map Location 11
Seated mini-class – 11:00-11:30am and 12:30-1:00pm Location: Back Deck – Map Location 11
Come try Tai Chi – gentle, easy movements that connect you to the natural world, which can be done seated or standing. Enjoy this ancient Chinese wellness art on the deck, set to relaxing music. Created for newcomers to Tai Chi Flow as well as those with experience. Josy is a Certified Taiji Fit instructor and Community Wellness Educator
Title: Adaptive Orienteering with Russ & Rebecca Myer, Capital Region Nordic Alliance
Times:
Short Course: 10:45am – 11:15am and 2:45pm – 3:15pm Location: Boreal Life Trail – Map Location 16
Full course: 11:30am-12:15pm and 1:30pm-2:15pm Location: Barnum Brook Trail – Map Location 16
Discover CRNA’s Soundscape Community – Audio Digital Navigation Technology, that guides you through trail or terrain navigation routes set in nature by sound, which guides you through a course set in nature by sound, making navigation out of doors more accessible for people with all levels of visual impairment. Soundscape Community currently works with iPhones only; CRNA will have a limited number of iPhones available for use with Russ & Rebecca gladly helping. People without visual impairment welcome and blindfolds will be available so you can have a similar experience. Bring your Bluetooth Ear Buds to enhance your experience.
Title: Wondrous Woodpeckers Guided Walk with Rich Hanlon, Wild Neighbors Nature Connection
Times: 12:30pm-1:30pm
Location: Barnum Brook Trail – Map Location 16
Woodpeckers may be perceived as the feathered embodiment of the enchantment of our forests. What other birds use trees for food, for nesting, for sleeping, for perching and for communication?! Join us for a look into the lives of woodpeckers that will leave you feeling more deeply connected with the forest.
Title: Wild Edibles Interpretive Walk with Pat Banker, Cornell Cooperative Extension
Times: Noon-12:45pm and 1:45-2:30pm
Location: Front Gardens – Map Location 6
Join interpretive guide Pat Banker in the gardens outside the front of the center, as well around the building to learn about the plants around you that are safe to eat. Learn to identify these common plants that grow wild around us, as well as how you could use them in your cooking.
Music, Nature, and Arts and Crafts Programs
Title: Basket Making Demos with Artisans from Mountain Lake Services
Times: 10:30am-12:30pm and 1:30-pm-3:30pm
Location: Display Area – Map Location 10
Weavers from Mountain Lake Services will be demonstrating the techniques of basket weaving, completing baskets throughout the course of the day. Would you like to try weaving? Weavers will provide you with instructions and tools to start a basket of your own.
Title: Nature Sensory Play with Minda Lee Briaddy, Hope Essentials
Times: 10:30am-Noon and 1:30pm-3:30pm
Location: Center Classroom 1 – Map Location 7
Discover the treasures of nature in our sensory boxes. Create your nature art work. Explore different plant life forms through playful sensory activities. Share with others your discoveries through drawing and stories. Led by Minda Lee Briaddy, Special Education Teacher.
Title: Campfire Singalong and S’Mores with Tom Techman and Andy Walkow
Times: 11am-12:15pm and 1:45pm – 3:00pm
Location: Lean-to – Map Location 15
One of last year’s most popular activities is back! Stop by the lean to and sing along to some of your favorites with local musicians Tom and Andy. Requests are always welcome, and Tom is excited to share some of his compositions. It’s a great opportunity to make new friends and create lasting memories. To complete your campfire experience, we’ll have S’mores supplies on hand for everyone.
Title: Nature’s Percussions and Music Making with Klaus and Lisa Meissner, Rustic Riders
Times: 12:45PM – 1:45pm
Location: Butterfly House Field – Map Location 3
Explore the treasures of nature that can be used to create your own percussion instrument, which us yours to keep and to decorate at home. With our newly created musical instruments, we’ll make music together to enjoy, to be playful, to have fun and to uplift ourselves and others. Led by musicians, songwriters and singers Klaus and Lida Meissner of The Rustic Riders.
Title: Storytelling with Tamara Jolly, Adirondack Diversity Initiative
Times: 1:00pm-2:30pm
Location: Back Deck – Map Location 11
Sharing our stories helps us heal, inspires others, and builds powerful connections, allowing us to feel loved and supported. This workshop will celebrate the richness of our diverse voices and unique experiences, knowing that every story matters and every perspective adds depth to our collective understanding. Join Tamara Jolly from the Adirondack Diversity Initiative in a safe and welcoming space where you’ll laugh, reflect, and experience the magic of being truly seen and heard. Come prepared to build new friendships and share the stories that define who you are.
Title: Paint a Nature Scene with Patrice with Patrice Jarvis-Weber, Paint with Patrice
Times: 1:30pm-3:45pm
Location: Center Classroom 2 – Map Location 8
Artist Patrice Jarvis-Weber will guide you in creating your own nature painting of an Adirondack moonlit scene over the water. This workshop is geared for beginners, open to all ages and artistic abilities. Participants will use acrylic paints on an 8×10-inch stretched canvas and take home their finished painting. All supplies are included. Patrice has been creating art and leading art workshops throughout the Adirondacks for events and organizations.
Opening Remarks

Susan E. Griskonis
Assistant Attorney General In Charge
Office of the New York State Attorney General
Plattsburgh Regional Office
Susan is a proud graduate of the State University of New York’s Erie Community College-City Campus, University at Buffalo, and University at Buffalo School of Law. Out of the office, Susan enjoys yoga, qigong, gardening, music, sailing, hiking, cycling, skiing, traveling, and relishing life with her loving husband, Dean, four beautiful adult children, Autumn, Jeffrey, Zachary, and Sophia, an exuberant English Cream Golden Retriever, Nigel, and a disinterested cat, Monty.
Leah Akins is DEC’s Statewide Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) Accessibility Coordinator. She focuses on improving access for people with disabilities to outdoor recreation activities such as hiking, camping, boating, paddling, birding, and nature observation. In this role, she is a diligent advocate for greater equity in access to the outdoors, diversifying visitors to State lands, and providing a more inclusive environment for all.
Infusing DEI into environmental conservation is her passion, as she sees this integrated approach as fundamental to improving the health of humans and ecosystems. Leah feeds this passion by creating opportunities for people who have limited access to the outdoors to get outside and by working directly with community groups to deepen their connection with nature.
Leah came to DEI and environmental conservation from a wide-ranging background in environmental science, policy, planning, and community engagement. Just like the marine animals she studied as a graduate student, she has been migrating upriver throughout her career, spanning research on sea turtles in Florida, shrimp fisheries in North Carolina, strategic planning, and policy for marine reserves in California, and coastal protection in New York State.
Leah has a Master of Science in ecology from the University of California, Davis, and a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. She is a certified ADA Coordinator and Trainer in a broad range of diversity, equity, and inclusion issues. Read her article on page 14 the June/July 2023 issue of DEC’s Conservationist magazine to learn more about accessible recreation on New York State lands.

Leah Akins
New York State Department of
Environmental Conservation
Statewide Americans with
Disabilities Act (ADA)
Accessibility Coordinator
Free Transportation to the Festival
In partnership with the Franklin County Department of Transporation, and the Village of Saranac Lake, we are excited to announce the following free transportation options to assist the general public, and particularly people with disabilities, in getting to and from the Adirondack Nature Festival for People with Disabilities.
Franklin County Department of Transportation
Franklin County Transportation will provide transportation to the Adirondack Nature Festival for People with Disabilities, at Paul Smiths College VIC, on Saturday, August 16, 2025, from 9am to 5pm. in accordance with the following schedule:
Malone: Pickup and dropoffs will be at the Malone Adult Center, located at 14906 NY-30, Malone, NY 12953.
Get directions to the Malone Adult Center on Google Maps.
Pickup: 9:00am with arrival at the VIC at approximately 10am.
Dropoff: Leave from the VIC at 4:00pm with arrival at the Malone Adult Center at approximately 4:30pm
Saranac Lake: Pickup and dropoffs will be at the Saranac Lake Adult Center, located at 135 Broadway, Saranac Lake, NY 12983.
Get directions to the Saranac Lake Adult Center on Google Maps.
Pickup: 10:30am with arrival at the VIC at approximately 11:00am
Dropoff: Leave from the VIC at 3:00pm, with arrival at the Saranac Lake Adult Center at approximately 3:30p
Village of Saranac Lake
The Village of Saranac Lake is providing $50 vouchers from the Village's Ride Share Program for Uber rides for Village residents only to and from the Adirondack Nature Festival for People with Disabilities. Vouchers will be delivered via text message to the cell phone number you provide in the Transportation Request Form. Sign up today and reserve your ride early!
Total Care Resources

A changing table and mechanical lift will be available for people requiring total care. For more information please use our Contact Form, and send a message with the Changing Table and Mechanical Lift subject.
Media Information

Thank you to all of our great media partners who have covered the Adirondack Nature Festival for People with Disabilities with such compassion, and care. You have all been supportive and gracious.
As you know, the festival is focused on providing opportunities for people with disabilities, their families, friends and supporters, to connect with nature together in an environment that is as undisturbed as possible.
We need your help to ensure that everyone can peacefully enjoy the festival, so we ask that you limit your interactions during the event. This includes;
- Restricting interviews with participants, vendors, speakers, staff, and volunteers.
- Not recording on any of the trails or program areas while they are being used by our program participants. This includes cameras, cell phones, video cameras, audio recorders, etc.
The only exceptions are during the opening ceremony (ribbon cutting), and opening remarks.
These measures are in place to create a safe, comfortable, and undisturbed environment for all attendees.
We will have professional photographers and cinematographers that will document various aspects of the festival. You can request images, and/or an interview, by using our Contact form, and selecting Media Inquiry as your message subject.
Thank you for your understanding and cooperation.