Special Events Planned for 2009 at NYPA's Visitors Center and Historic Lansing Manor: Visitors Center Complex Drew More than 44,000 in 2008

Contact:
Steve Ramsey
1-800-724-0309
steve.ramsey@nypa.gov

January  23, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 

NORTH BLENHEIM—More than 44,000 people visited the New York Power Authority’s (NYPA) Blenheim-Gilboa Pumped Storage Power Project’s admission-free visitors center complex last year, making it another banner year for Schoharie County tourism.  The numbers increased by 2,000 over the previous year, despite several weather-related cancellations of popular events. In 2008, the Capital District Business Review ranked Blenheim-Gilboa 13th in a list of Capital Region tourist attractions based on attendance.

Last year, along with the visitor center’s normal roster of popular events—many of which are scheduled around school breaks and holidays—the facility hosted a weekend-long re-enactment of the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Cobleskill and a 19th-century baseball game between the Roxbury Nine and the Mountain Athletic Vintage Baseball Clubs.

In 2009, to reinforce NYPA’s longstanding commitment to clean energy and the environment, several outdoor hikes in and around the neighboring Mine Kill State Park have been added to the schedule.

The Power Authority is planning a full year of special events for 2009 at the visitors center and the adjacent Lansing Manor House and grounds. This year’s schedule of events is as follows:

Jan.  25 – Sunday Matinee Movie
Feb. 14 – Snowmobile Safety Course
Feb. 17-19 – Winter Break Series (educational programs and entertainment for schoolchildren)
March 8, 15, 22, 29 – World Travelogue Series
April 5 – Photos with the Easter Bunny
May 1 – Lansing Manor Opens for the Season
May 16-17 – Annual Quilt Show
May 23 – Spring Hike
June 14 –D.A.R.E. Car Show
July 11– Summer Hike
July 19 – Antique Car Show and Antique Road Show
Aug. 1 – Victorian Tea
Sept. 26 –Annual Wildlife Festival and Energy Expo
Oct. 10 – Fall Hike and Woodsman’s Day
Oct. 24 – Spooky Halloween Event
Nov. 1, 8, 15, 22 – Sunday Matinee Movies
Dec. 1 – Jan. 4, 2010 – Festival of Trees
Dec. 12 – Photos with Santa 

NYPA’s handicapped-accessible visitors center is housed in a restored 19th-century dairy barn and features hands-on exhibits for students of all ages and abilities. Visitors can learn how the pumped-storage power project acts like a giant battery, generating hydroelectricity while recycling water between two huge reservoirs. Other displays demonstrate the basics of electricity, energy production and conservation. The visitors center is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., except for Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day. 

The Lansing Manor House, open from May 1 through Oct. 31, is a classic example of Federalist period architecture.  It was built by John TenEyck Lansing Jr., a major figure in New York State politics and government before, during and after the American Revolution, as a wedding gift to his daughter Frances and her husband, Jacob Sutherland. 

The Blenheim-Gilboa visitors center and the Lansing Manor House are located on Route 30, five miles north of Grand Gorge, 17 miles south of Middleburgh and 50 miles southwest of Albany.  

School groups and community organizations are welcome.

 For more information, call 800-724-0309 or visit www.nypa.gov. 

  About NYPA:

■    NYPA uses no tax money or state credit.  It finances its operations through the sale of bonds and revenues earned in large part through sales of electricity.  ■    NYPA is a leader in promoting energy-efficiency, new energy technologies and electric transportation initiatives.  ■    It is the nation’s largest state-owned electric utility, with 18 generating facilities in various parts of the state and more than 1,400 circuit-miles of transmission lines.

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