Helmer Nature Center

Thank you to all of the amazing volunteers, presenters, and attendees that made this year's annual Fall Harvest Festival on October 8th such a success! We had a beautiful fall day filled with festival games, crafts, pony rides, and animal encounters. Here are a few photos from the day!

Click on any of the photos below to be taken to our Facebook events with more specific details.

We are looking for a few volunteers to help with this event.

This is a great opportunity for students needing service hours!

Please email or call if you are interested and available to help.

Starting December 26th, you can bring your holiday trees to our parking lot for recycling. When dropping off your tree, please stack your tree leaving the trunk facing out towards the parking lot and not the fields. Please be sure that any and all ornaments, twine, string, wire, and bags are removed from your tree.

We will collect trees until our Trees for Trails event on Saturday January 14th. Stop by from 10am-1pm when we will have volunteers on hand to help unload your tree and load it into the wood chipper. Your trees will be turned into wood chips that help control erosion on the Nature Center hiking trails. A very special thank you to Irondequoit Lawn & Landscape and High Falls Tree Service for helping to make this event possible.

Please email HNC if you are interested in volunteering for our tree recycling event on January 14th.

PLEASE NOTE: WE CANNOT ACCEPT ANY TREES AFTER 1 PM ON JANUARY 14TH.

Winter is a wonderful time to explore the nature center! Our trails are free to access and open daily from sunrise to sunset for winter hiking, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing. For those in need of snowshoes, HNC offers snowshoe rentals on Saturday afternoons in January and February*. Bring your family, a friend, or come by yourself on Saturdays from 1pm - 3pm for snowshoe rental (all sizes – pre-school to adult) and take a self-guided tour of the Nature Center in winter.

*Please consult our Facebook page or call to confirm trail conditions before arriving. Pre-registration NOT required.

When: Saturdays in January and February (when there is an adequate snow base of 6-8 inches)

Time: 1pm - 3pm
Rental Fee: cash or check only
$5 per person, $3 per child 12 and under, $20 max per family
$3 HNC Members (1st rental of the season is FREE)

Want to bring your group snowshoeing? We are not able to accommodate groups during our public snowshoe rental times. Please call or email us to schedule your group outside of our public hours.

Open to the entire community, adult teams of 6 compete in a trivia challenge night like no other! Questions will test your knowledge in a variety of subjects -- some serious, some silly, but all entertaining and for a good cause. Come out for our biggest fundraiser of the year. Prizes are awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place teams and a multitude of door prizes add to the fun!

Tables are limited and team pre-registration is required no later than Friday, January 27th.

Download our info flyer and team registration form below.

Helmer Nature Center is an outdoor classroom and trail system conserved and preserved by the West Irondequoit School District since 1973. Our trails are open dawn to dusk 7 days a week; please note that dogs are not allowed on our sports fields or trails.

Email: HelmerNatureCenter@gmail.com
Website: https://www.westirondequoit.org/parents_community/helmer_nature_center
Location: 154 Pinegrove Avenue, Rochester, NY, USA
Phone: 585-336-3035
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HelmerNatureCenter