Tourism & Brochures

All data estimates are based on random counts during events held in the Skaneateles area.

  • Skaneateles’ population doubles during July and August: residents traveling to Florida in the winter months as well as those who rent cottages along the lake for the duration of the summer spend their summers in Skaneateles.

  • Friday night community band concerts by the lake in July and August: between 1,000 and 1,500 people come in each week for a relaxing evening by the lake. Local restaurants—particularly casual dining locales—finds these concerts a significant asset.

  • Antique and Classic Boat Show: occurring the last full weekend in July, this tradition welcomes 10,000 - 12,000 visitors annually.  Since its debut in 1995, restaurants, lodging and shopping businesses continue to benefit greatly as guests make a weekend out of the show.

  • Dickens Christmas: an estimated 5,000 visitors flood the streets of Skaneateles during each of Dickens’  weekends between Thanksgiving and Christmas.  This classic holiday celebration draws in increasingly more every year guests since its 1994 inception, and thus is a big economic boom to the retail, lodging and restaurant businesses.

  • Merchants Annual Curbstone Festival (sidewalk sale): begins on the third Thursday in July, retail, lodging, and restaurants benefit immensely from this three-day tradition. Crowds surpassing 10,000 annually shop and roam the village of Skaneateles at this time.

  • Skaneateles Festival: 7,000 overnight, day-trip, and extended stay visitors as well as residents attend Chamber music concerts throughout the month of August.  This well-known festival welcomes numerous world-renowned musicians to its Skaneateles performances year after year.

  • Mid-Lakes Navigation boat cruises: one of the beautiful Skaneateles Lake’s biggest attractions, tours cater to the leisure traveller, residents, and bus tours. Thousands of attendees partake in cruises throughout the summer season of June, July, and August.

  • Winterfest:  the last Friday and Saturday in January, this annual event includes a popular Fire Tower, Taste of Skaneateles, Ice Walk and Polar Bear Plunge. Thousands of residents and visitors spend the day enjoying Skaneateles’ wintry splendour.

  • Anyela’s Vineyards: Anyela’s is a premiere attraction, and has added greatly to the visitor experience in Skaneateles.

  • Sporting events: in the winter, annual youth and varsity hockey tournaments and ice skating shows at the Austin Park Pavilion and Skaneateles Community Center occur, bringing in athletes and families from across the country. Swim meets, soccer and basketball occur throughout the year as well.

  • Many other events are held throughout the summer and the rest of the year which bring thousands of visitors to our streets.  These events include:  the Rotary Pancake Breakfast on Father’s Day (4,000 people),  the Antique and Craft Show and Sale (several thousand), the Library Book Sale (1,000), the Garden Club Home Tour (bi-annual event), Sunday afternoon PoloGames in July and August, the Fall Festival (1,000+ people); Skaneateles Summer Theatre (1st weekend in August), and the Thumbstall Quilt Show in October.

  • Events in the Syracuse & Auburn area bring large crowds to Skaneateles: Syracuse and Cornell Universities graduations, homecomings and parents’ weekends, conventions such as the Syracuse Nationals, the Fire Chiefs and Dirt Racing Week, and of course, the Great NYS Fair.