John Brown Lives! Presents

Snowshoe with Maud

Sunday, February 23, 2025, 1-3 pm

All are invited to join John Brown Lives! for a 2.23-mile snowshoe at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site on February 23. We will gather at 1 pm in the circle at the end of John Brown Road to honor the legacy of 25-year-old Ahmaud Arbery. His mother, Wanda Cooper Jones, founded The Ahmaud Arbery Foundation after he was killed while out for a jog. She wanted her son’s legacy “to advance a movement of love, empathy, and equality” and to spread an “anti-hate message around the world.” 

The Ahmaud Arbery Foundation promotes physical fitness as a means of mental wellness with their annual “Run with Maud” in his hometown of Brunswick, Georgia. This North Country winter, you can run, walk, snowshoe or x-country ski on the extensive trails in open fields and forest at the John Brown Farm. Our event aims to “highlight the importance of promoting social justice, transforming tragedy into action, and fostering a community dedicated to justice for all.” 

Following the snowshoe, there will be a gathering in a cozy warming tent with a wood stove. Hot chocolate, tea, and light refreshments will be served. Participants are asked to bring their own gear if possible. Extra pairs of snowshoes will be available. Dress warm! 

Ahmaud Arbery’s tragic ending was the impetus for A Memorial Field, a public artwork installed at the John Brown Farm State Historic Site from 2020–2024. For more information, visit HERE.

John Brown Farm State Historic Site, 115 John Brown Way, Lake Placid

Watch now on YouTube 

2024 Annual Meeting & the History Project Presentation

Concerts, ADK Lakes Theatre Festival productions, and presentations available in The Online Series!

View our Annual Meeting from December including a presentation about the purchase of our new space by Jean-Marie Donohue. View HERE.

Watch the History Project presentation from last summer by our Colgate Fellow Eli Watson. Watch it HERE.

More on the full series HERE.

The Whallonsburg Grange Presents

The Whallonsburg Grange Lyceum Series begins another winter of presentations, films and lectures on Tuesday nights at 7 pm starting February 25. The Lyceum tradition of providing speakers and topics of interest to educate and engage the community goes back to the mid-19th century in the US. The Grange revived the Lyceum in 2010 with enthusiastic audiences and excellent lectures. The Winter Lyceum runs for five weeks, from February 25 through March 25 and covers a wide range of topics.

February 25 – Help From the People Up North: Civil Rights Activism from Vermont to Mississippi. University of Vermont History professor Pamela Walker will tell the story of The Box Project and the overlooked participation of southern Black and northern white women in the civil rights movement of the 1960s.

March 4 – Finding True North. The second Lyceum brings Adirondack author and storyteller Fran Yardley to talk about her remarkable adventure in restoring the historic Bartlett Carry Ckub on Upper Saranac Lake.

March 11 – Film screening: The Voice of the Hudson. A free screening of this documentary that follows a group of young students on a 375-mile journey as they hike, bike, and paddle to follow Hudson River from its source on Mt. Marcy to New York City. Joe Dadey, an expedition organizer, will introduce the film.

March 18 – American Faces: A Photographer’s Journey. Photojournalist Barry Goldstein will talk about his experiences covering New York on 9/11, post-Katrina New Orleans, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, national politics, and his neighbors in the North Country. His work uses documentary photography, portraiture, and oral history to show the very personal impact of world events on individuals.

March 25 – Why Should We Protect Grassland Birds in the Adirondacks? Hyla Howe, Mass Audubon’s Grassland Bird Biologist and manager of the Bobolink Project, will make the case for protecting grassland birds in the heavily forested Adirondack Park.

More information HERE.

The Whallonsburg Grange, 1610 NYS Route 22, Essex 

Upper Jay Art Center and Recovery Lounge presents

Reel Stories: In The Rearview

Wednesday, February 26th, 7 pm

Reel Stories is a mid-winter film series (curated by Casey Galligan) to get you out of the house mid-week. Each Wednesday in February we will be showing a documentary film that portrays the lives of others. Settle in at the Lounge to explore the everyday lives, rituals, and traditions of communities that may seem quite distant from our own.

Maciek Hamela’s minimalist debut documentary In The Rearview is an expansive road trip through an invasion that drove more than 15 million refugees—more than one-third of Ukraine’s population—in search of safer pastures.

More info HERE.$10 Suggested Donation.

Upper Jay Art Center and Recovery Lounge, 12198 9N (North), Upper Jay

The Westport Library presents

How the Guitar Conquered America Featuring Author Tim Brookes

Tuesday, February 25, 6 – 7 pm

How did a humble folk instrument, kicked out of fashion in the late 19th century by the banjo and the piano, come to outsell all other musical instruments combined? Tim Brookes tells stories and reads from his book Guitar: An American Life, (reportedly the late Lou Reed’s favorite book) which tells this remarkable history and also tracks the building of the custom acoustic guitar that was to be his 50th birthday present to himself. Weather and roads permitting, he may even bring along and play that very same guitar.

Tim Brookes was born in England and educated at Oxford before moving to the United States in 1980.  Tim is an editor, guitarist, teacher, soccer coach and author of 17 books and numerous articles and essays.  He lives in a 19th-century farmhouse overlooking Lake Champlain.

Westport Library, 6 Harris Lane, Westport

The Wild Center presents 

Wild Lights & Winter Week

Thru Saturday, February 22

See Wild Lights before the season ends! The trails are glowing every night this week through February 22 from 5–8 pm, creating a magical winter wonderland of twinkling lights, music, and interactive displays.

Bundle up, bring your friends and family!

More info and tickets HERE.

The Wild Center, 45 Museum Drive, Tupper Lake

Frozen Fire & Lights

Saturday, February 22, 

Join us for the 23rd annual Frozen Fire & Lights!

Fern Park is open for free trails for cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, free rink for ice skating, free hill for sledding—bring your own skis, snowshoes, skates, or sleds.

Other highlights include: a free pancake breakfast, a book sale, a cardboard sled race, kite decorating and flying, a wine tasting, outhouse races, a bonfire, fireworks, and more!

See the full schedule HERE.

Fern Park (11 Loomis Road) & Arrowhead Park (160 Route 28), Inlet