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.

Floating slides, trampolines, and wobbling islands transform the waters of Westlake into Westlake Willy Waterpark, where guests of all ages find a cool and fun respite from the summer sun. As visitors approach the beach, eyes move to a staircase that ascends to a platform 25 feet above the water, from which patrons plummet onto a gigantic blob, using their landing impact to launch a friend off of the other end of the pillowy inflatable in a mutually symbiotic relationship equalled only by teeter-tottering during a monsoon. Muscles weary from climbing the 15-foot iceberg slide can rest at the beach, where picnic tables, umbrellas, and grills facilitate picnics for those who brought their own snacks or purchased them at the lodge. Waverunners, pontoons, and fishing boats are available for rent, and the Waterpark sits near camping grounds for those hoping to enjoy a weekend in nature or prove, once and for all, that it is possible to start a bonfire without a flamethrower.