In-water safety demonstrations will be offered daily at the Empire Farm Days pond by New York Sea Grant, the US Coast Guard Auxiliary, and the NYS Marine Services Bureau. Credit: Empire Farm Days/Brian P. Whattam; (inset) Visitors to the 2018 Empire Farm Days will be able to try a pedal-drive kayak or standup paddleboard on the farm pond. Credit: Hobie and Morgan Marine.

Contacts:

Melanie Wickham, EFD Manager, P: 877-697-7837, E: mwickham@empirefarmdays.com

Kara Lynn Dunn, EFD Publicist, P: 315-465-7578, E: karalynn@gisco.net

Dave White, New York Sea Grant, Recreation and Tourism Specialist, P: 315-312- 3042, E: dgw9@cornell.edu

Seneca Falls, NY, July 31, 2018 - Visitors to the 2018 Empire Farm Days will be able to learn about water safety and try a Hobie pedal-drive kayak or standup paddleboard on the farm pond August 7-9 at Rodman Lott and Son Farms in Seneca Falls, NY.

New York Sea Grant, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary, and New York State Marine Services Bureau personnel will be offering 15-minute introductions to Suddenly In Command training with on-water safety demonstrations with different styles of approved life saving devices and paddlesport vessels at 10 am, 12 pm and 2 pm on Tuesday and Wednesday, and at 10 am and 12 pm on Thursday.

Throughout each day of the show, Morgan Marine of Penn Yan, NY, is hosting the paddlesports tryouts that received an enthusiastic welcome Empire Farm Days last year.

Show visitors will have the opportunity to get in a drive-pedal kayak or try a standup paddleboard on the pond after a 5-minute safety lesson presented by Morgan Marine in partnership with New York Sea Grant, U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and New York State Marine Services Bureau personnel.

Those trying the watercraft on the pond at the 2017 show included people of all ages and one blind guest at the show. Life vests are provided for all tryouts. Parents must sign permission for those younger than age 18.

Empire Farm Days is the largest outdoor agricultural trade show in the Northeastern U.S. with working equipment demonstrations, crop plots, educational seminars, live animals, farm safety and rural life exhibits. Show hours are 9 am to 5 pm Tuesday and Wednesday, and 9 am to 4 pm Thursday. Admission is free; parking is $10 per vehicle. Learn more at www.empirefarmdays.com.


In previous years at Empire Farm Days, Sea Grant and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary have sponsored in-pond demonstrations. NYSG Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White is seen here at EFD in 2015 illustrating the different kinds of life jackets one can wear when on-the-water. Credit: Stephen D. Cannerelli, scannerelli@syracuse.com.


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 33 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.