| THINGS TO DO |  | See more info on these activities and businesses Batavia, Genesee County's centerpiece, is home to 16,000 residents. A recently completed downtown beautification project means that new restaurants and retailers now share in the rejuvenation along with the businesses that have been a staple of Batavia for decades.
 Darien
Lake Theme Park and Resort (left), in Darien
Center, is a marvel. It has over 100 rides and attractions
spread over 250 acres. The site's magnitude means more
attractions than the typical amusement-park offerings,
i.e. a beautiful new on-site lodge, a campsite for tents
and RVs and a 20,000-seat amphitheater for hosting big-name
performers.
The LeRoy House is actually more of a mansion—a historic one that's completely decked out with furniture and goods from the 1830s. The LeRoy Historical Society runs tours of a 17-mile stretch of the Underground Railroad, with the LeRoy House as a step-on point. Adjacent to the house is the JELL-O Gallery Museum, one of the area's quirkier claims to fame, where you can learn the evolution of the quintessentially American dessert. Hands-on quizzes, displays and a hundred-year-old advertising archive bring the story to life. Be sure to stop in the gift shop—leaving here without a small Jell-O trinket would be a shame!
 Don't
forget culture! For art exhibits, symphony concerts and
performances, visit GO Art!s Cultural Facility
or the Genesee Center for the Arts in
Batavia (left).
Shopping is big in Genesee County, from homemade food and crafts to antiques to furnishings. Oliver's Candies, just a block down Main Street, dates back to 1932. Everything about the store's sunny interior harkens back to a time when food was actually made by hand and shopkeepers knew your name. Tall windows on the back wall allow patrons a peek into the candy factory, where workers pluck candy off an old-fashioned conveyor belt, I Love Lucy-style. Ask nicely and one of the employees might even let you in the back to take a peek at the store's long-time chocolate dipper at work. A true artisan, making all sorts of shapes and characters entirely by hand, Oliver's chocolate dipper has been at it for 24 years! (Now that's dedication!) The adjacent ice-cream parlor is a recent addition, but was modeled after the parlors of the 1930s—right down to the handmade flavors.
Looking
for homemade items and crafts? Stop into the Country
Cottage in Darien, South Main Country
Gifts in Batavia, Clarissa's Country
Cupboard in Byron or Just Browsing
in Pembroke.
 Main
Street in Batavia is lined with historically significant
houses, museums and shops. The best starting point is
the Holland Land Office Museum (left),
which sits on the site where over 3 million acres were
originally surveyed and sold by Dutch settlers (hence
Batavia's reputation as the birthplace of Western New
York). Learn the history of the region by perusing several
exhibits, including one on some of the oldest inhabitants:
mastodons—the nearby town of Byron is the site of
an annual paleontological dig. More recent history includes
dainty Victorian clothing, ghost legends and one of the
state's only remaining gibbets (used for hangings in the
1800s).
Batavia
Downs Gaming and Racing is in full swing with
a recent addition of 590 video lottery terminals. Historically
speaking, this facility is the oldest lighted harness
horse racetrack in North America. The racing schedule
starts in August and runs through November.
The Medina Railroad Museum holds over 6,000 artifacts and knickknacks, making it the country's largest railroad collection. A 204-foot model railroad is the museum's work in progress; even in its unfinished state, the tiny, intricate details and hand-painted landscapes are awe-inspiring! With frequent departures you can take off from the museum on a leisurely, scenic rail trip along the beautiful Erie Canal! It also hosts the Day Out With Thomas event, based on the popular Thomas the Tank children’s book character. It is an annual event, bringing in 22,000 people each year to this very unique museum.
 The
Iroquois National Wildlife Refuge in Basom, over
10,000 acres of marshlands, forests and trails, acts as
home to countless species of birds, fish and other wildlife.
The government-run park allows several types of hunting
and fishing. Located within the borders of the refuge
is a one-mile hike called "Swallow Hollow."
This unique trail has reopened after 5 years with new
renovations to the boardwalks, which take you directly
through the natural wildlife which inhabits the area.
The Genesee County Park & Forest and Interpretive
Center (left) in Bethany hosts 430 acres for
hiking, biking, picnicking and winter sports.
In
wintertime, head to Polarwave Snow Tubing
in Batavia for family-friendly snowtubing (featuring tube
tows to bring you and your tube back up the hill).
NEARBY ATTRACTIONS: A good place to stop by if you're driving from point to point is the Tonawanda Indian Reservation. It's inhabited by Seneca Indians; reduced prices for items like gas and cigarettes can be found here—located just six miles north on Rt. 77 at Exit 48A, NYS Thruway. One of the biggest draws for locals and visitors is nearby Letchworth State Park. Letchworth is actually located just outside Genesee County, straddling the border between Wyoming and Livingston counties on over 14,000 acres of scenic property. The Genesee River runs through the park, rushing through gorges that drop as deep as 600 feet. Trails at the top of the gorge provide views of huge, roaring waterfalls or the steep shale cliffs that earned this spot the nickname "the Grand Canyon of the East." Letchworth plays host to copious wildlife, as well as walking trails, white-water rafting, horseback riding, fishing and—for those with a little more money to spare—rides in hot-air balloons or horse-drawn buggies. In the winter, the focus shifts to cross-country skiing, snow tubing and snowmobiling.
While
you're in the area, shuffle off to Buffalo and Lake Erie
(just 30 minutes west), Niagara Falls and the Canadian
border (45 minutes northwest), or world- class sportfishing
on Lake Ontario (just 30 minutes north of Batavia).
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