Things to Do in Oswego

While some artists gravitate toward certain media, Ilene Layow—or “Eye” to her friends since childhood—unabashedly loves them all: glass, pencil, clay, pastel, metals, acrylic. Her body of artwork is staggeringly diverse. She has designed murals for both homes and businesses, painted family portraits, created silver jewelry, formed intricate candleholders out of clay, and fused glass to form night lights perfect for scaring off closet monsters that hate beauty. She has even developed her own art form she calls “formscapes,” which combine the gentle contours of landscapes with abstracted shapes. In flexible classes tucked into a tidy ranch house, she introduces many of the crafts she loves to teen and adult students.

At Create Art Studio, owner and instructor Karyn equips prospective paint-slingers with the instruction and inspiration to realize artistic dreams during step-by-step classes, private parties, and open-studio sessions. The studio seamlessly combines two of Karyn's greatest passions, drawing on both her art-education degree from Purdue University and more than 10 years of classroom experience as a teacher.

During the two-hour step-by-step sessions, she and other instructors equip aspiring artistes with all of the necessities to create an original masterpiece, including smocks, easels, canvases, paints, brushes, and haughty French accents. In addition to the instructors' aid, creatively challenged participants can glean clever ideas from the inspiration wall, which helps pupils explore art-worthy subjects beyond traditional bowls of fruit and sunsets. Like conscientious speakeasies, the studio invites guests aged 21 and older to bring along their own snacks and alcohol.

At the tender age of 19, young businessman Mikeal Wood founded Upstate Party Rental in 2001, provisioning celebrations with tables, tents, and glassware while roping in a 2006 award for Young Entrepreneur of the Year from the U.S. Small Business Association. When not raising his three kids, Mikeal stays hard at work alongside his team of trusty roustabouts, hammering stakes for canopies and tents, setting out seating, or enveloping flatware in crisp linens. With a wealth of tables, chairs, silverware, coolers, and equipment at hand, Mikeal and his team can equip any style or size of gathering, from laying out cloth-clad tables for a fancy barbecue to putting down a dance floor for weddings. After each revelry, workers speedily dismantle the rented furnishings, load up their vans, remind the hosts it was all a dream, and leave backyards or banquet halls exactly as they found them.

The photogs behind Premierbooth spice up celebrations and social gatherings with an expansive, wheelchair accessible photo booth that can house up to 20 partygoers. The booth’s SLR digital camera captures high-resolution images, which promptly spit out of its companion and occasional nemesis, a lab-quality photo printer. Much of the booth is customizable for the host and their guests—from photo layouts and booth-size to silly props and an HD display that allows you to see yourself while you pose.

O Yoga owner Tiffany Sisko does not differentiate between the novice and the advanced yoga student. She opened her studio as a venue for anyone to practice the art, and to that end, none of her classes are grouped by skill level. She extends her inclusive attitude to her teachings, drawing poses from kripalu, prana, and yin styles to combine their therapeutic effects during fluid Vinyasa sessions. With an eclectic blend of music, stretches, and breath work, she and her team of instructors send each student on a distinct mission of self-discovery.

Even the studio's environment forwards the message of all-encompassing acceptance. Using cleverly recycled decor, Tiffany has crafted a stark yet elegant aesthetic. She repurposed plywood and furring strips—which were ripped up to expose the building's original pine flooring and still-beating heart—as shelves and wall embellishments. The asymmetrical furniture in the open lounge area is molded from the wood of a felled box-elder street tree, whose vibrant red striping adds flair to the grain.

When he was still a college student, Kevin Kretschmer answered an ad in the local newspaper for a whitewater-rafting guide on the rivers around Syracuse. More than 30 years later, he now owns the company and operates his river tours with the mission of giving others a chance to see the area's scenic beauty. His diverse team of guides—some schoolteachers, some farmers, some factory workers, and some college students—helps paddlers navigate rapids on three rivers while hunkered into six-person inflatable rafts. Together they navigate the calmer Class I and Class II waters of Letchworth State Park, the raging Class II and Class III rapids of the Salmon River, and the passive-aggressive Class III and Class IV segments of Cattaraugus Creek. Guides commence each trip far upstream, allowing rafters to find a rhythm before surmounting the rapids.