Things to Do in Jamestown

At Designing Dish, brushes flit quietly across the surfaces of ready-made ceramic bowls, piggy banks, and mugs. Art-deco blocks of color, portraits of loved ones, and the fingerprints of youngsters leap from the newly colorful pieces, dappled with color from the studio’s range of paints and glazes. A kiln uses powerful heat to make the works of art more colorful and solid so that they can be passed down through generations like a razor for shaving off all the hair from a family curse. In addition to ceramics, the instructors offer lessons in glass fusing, metal stamping, and copper enameling.

Sprawling across a combined 50,000 square feet, Buffalo’s revamped House of Horrors and Haunted Catacombs delivers fright after fright for those brave enough to enter their doors. Foggy hidden passageways cradled in darkness give way to a menagerie of monsters, from zombie soldiers wielding sledgehammers to demonic surgeons hungry for the under insured. An occasional strobe light illuminates secret passageways and a maze of doors designed to befuddle visitors as the house’s demons circle ever closer. Once through the labyrinthine hallways of the House of Horrors and Haunted Catacombs, thrill-seekers can tread carefully through additional attractions including Hellhouse: Possession, Bodyharvesters: Bloodfeast, Wicked Freakshow in 3D, and Killer Theater.

Jenny’s Clayhouse, one of Buffalo’s first and only paint-your-own-pottery studios, calls out to artists and craftists looking to cast off faded paint-by-number books to animate stylish ceramics while sipping on home-brought spirits. Sloping picture windows span from floor to ceiling in the airy space, splashing sunlight across the studio’s selection of domestic staples—including mugs, plates, and piggy banks. After guests gleam the once-white objets d'art, Jenny’s staff will summon flames to bake and glaze the handheld masterpieces to protect them from wear and raw-food dieters. Pintsize painters can polish their brushstrokes at Jenny’s summer-camp sessions, or gather friends, teachers, and New York Times art critics for a pottery-painting birthday party or after-school outing.

On the corner of Buffalo and Main Street, Ten Thousand Vines inhabits a quaint brick building outfitted with a microwinery and tasting room. As a winery free from ties to a particular vineyard, Ten Thousand Vines can source its grapes from all around the world—even Antarctica—a practice that inspired the winery's name. The vintners prepare each variety in small batches and carry more than 40 wines in their retail store.

At a tasting bar, open Tuesday–Saturday, curious sippers perch around a quarter-circle bar to sniff and swirl offerings such as Nooks & Crannies, a cranberry-chianti blend, or the delicate Delaware, made from New York grapes. The shop's resident enophiles share their passion with guests in 90-minute winemaking classes, bolstered by a wealth of wine kits and raw-grape juices.