39th Annual Canal Celebration Brings New Energy to Main Street, Laser Light Show

LITTLE FALLS — Volunteers behind the 39th Annual Little Falls Canal Celebration have spent months reworking the four-day event, and this year’s changes are designed to do one thing: get more people up onto Main Street to enjoy — and support — the businesses there.

The celebration, put on entirely by a committee of local volunteers, runs August 6-9, 2026. Co-chair Cathy Cristman said the goal behind this year’s schedule is simple: consolidate activities so visitors aren’t shuttling back and forth across town, and use Friday night’s events to keep people after the parade.

“With Main Street growing, we’re having a block party Friday night after the parade, hoping to keep people lingering around, see what we have to offer, so they’ll come back throughout the year, and maybe stop and visit and shop and patronize these businesses that we have,” Cristman said.

It’s a practical move as much as anything: Rotary Park, long a hub for the celebration’s canalside activities, doesn’t have the storefronts to benefit from foot traffic the way Main Street does. Shifting more of the weekend’s energy, Main Street lets the businesses that call Little Falls home share in the crowds the celebration draws.

To help people get around without needing a car, a shuttle service will run between the celebration’s park locations throughout the weekend — one more piece of the effort to make the event easier to enjoy from end to end.

Main Street Lights Up Friday Night

New this year, a laser light show will close out Friday night on Main Street, following the 3-on-3 basketball tournament. Cristman said the show — set up near the former CVS and Price Chopper lots, and aimed down Main Street — is something Little Falls hasn’t tried before.

“It’s not going to be like pictures and designs and things like that — it’s going to be a bunch of lights,” Cristman said. “We’re kind of excited about it.”

The show gives the committee a fresh, low-maintenance way to cap off the parade and block party without competing for space with the rest of the weekend’s lineup.

Friday Night on Main Street

After the 6 p.m. parade — led by grand marshal Mike Bulger, whom Cristman credited with years of dedication to the community — Main Street turns into a block party split by block:

• Near M&T Bank: the 3-on-3 basketball tournament and pizza
• Toward City Hall: live music
• Former CVS parking lot: Rotary Club’s Duck Dash
• Free family activities, 7-9 p.m.: a balloon artist, and a station where visitors can build a commemorative 250th-anniversary ornament using glitter and red, white, and blue trinkets, free of charge
• M&T Bank parking lot: a mobile zip line and mechanical bull (minors will need a parent or guardian to sign a release)

The Little Falls Polish Club’s annual golumpki and pierogi sale, the Girl Scouts’ popcorn sale, and Holy Family’s mac and cheese sale (6 p.m. until sold out) round out the Friday food lineup at Eastern Park.

Chicks Along the Canal Marks 16 Years

Saturday’s Sterzinar Park lineup includes the 16th annual Chicks Along the Canal, one of the celebration’s longest-running traditions.

The outdoor marketplace brings together local female entrepreneurs and crafters for a flea-market-style event set against the historic Erie Canal, and it has grown into a Canal Celebration fixture in its own right — organizers behind it also host a “Merry Chicksmas Market” pop-up during the city’s holiday season.

This year’s event runs 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday, alongside live music from Bar Room Neon and Ari Marucci & Megan Hartmann.

New and Returning Weekend Events

Saturday and Sunday keep most of the celebration’s longtime favorites while adding a few new attractions aimed at teens and families:

• Inflatable obstacle courses in the park Friday through Sunday, free for kids, plus new carnival-style additions including a side-by-side rope-climbing challenge. “We’re thinking maybe the teenagers might like that — take it out there and race each other,” Cristman said.
• The Little Falls Historical Society will host live music from 2-4 p.m. Saturday, a first for the event in recent memory.
• Freedom Run weekend kicks off Saturday with the Sheriff’s Youth Run at 8:45 a.m. and the Freedom Run at 9 a.m., alongside the Iron Man weightlifting competition at the Youth and Family Center.
• Movie night in the park is Saturday at 8:30 p.m., hosted by The Art Thing and set up by Benton Hall Academy.
• Saturday also brings the Brookfield Garden tractor pull at Monroe Street Field and the Dr. Tony Piana Rotary Golf Tournament at MV Golf & Event Center.
• Sunday wraps up the weekend with the car show in Burke Park, Foamfest from 12-1 pm, music from 10 am until 3 pm, and the Happy Haggs at 3:30 pm, all in Easter (Ward) Park.

Vendors selling food and crafts will again fill Eastern Park throughout the weekend, and the Thursday night adult fishing derby, sponsored by Feldmeier, returns alongside a kids’ fishing derby Saturday morning.

Schedule at a Glance

Thursday, Aug. 6

• Rotary Park: 5-8 p.m. adult fishing derby (sponsored by Feldmeier); 5-8 p.m. Cruise In by Mike
• Downtown/Citywide: 10 a.m.-7 p.m. LF Library annual book sale

Friday, Aug. 7

• Main Street: Noon golumpki/pierogi sale (sold out); 5 p.m. Girl Scouts popcorn sale; 6 p.m. parade with grand marshal Mike Bulger; 7-9 p.m. 3-on-3 basketball tournament; 7 p.m. block party; 7 p.m. Rotary Duck Dash; 7-10 p.m. KO Grainger at LF American Legion; 7:30-9:30 p.m. music by Tony Semo; 9:20 p.m. laser light show
• Eastern Park: 2-9 p.m. vendors and food; 6 p.m. Holy Family mac and cheese sale; 7-9 p.m. Critical Path
• Downtown/Citywide: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. LF Library book sale; 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Historical Society tours; noon golumpki/pierogi sale; 7-10 p.m. Midnight Exit w/ Phil Scarano at Rock Valley Brewery; 7-10 p.m. Pine Ridge Mountain Band at RD’s Gorge View Lanes w/ cornhole tournament; 7:30-10:30 p.m. Whiskey Creek w/ food trucks at the Elks

Saturday, Aug. 8

• Eastern Park: 8:45 a.m. Sheriff’s Kids’ Race; 9 a.m. LF Lumber Freedom 5K; 9 a.m.-4 p.m. Adopt-a-Pawlooza; 9:30-11:15 a.m. Philip Arcuri; 10 a.m.-5 p.m. vendors and food trucks, free old-fashioned games, free obstacle courses; 2-4 p.m. Spike & the Boys
• Sterzinar Park: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. 16th annual Chicks Along the Canal; 11 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Bar Room Neon; 2-5 p.m. Ari Marucci & Megan Hartmann
• Nearby: 8 a.m. Dr. Tony Piana Annual Rotary Golf Tournament at MV Golf & Event Center
• Downtown/Citywide: 8 a.m. youth fishing derby; 9 a.m. Iron Man weightlifting (youth and family); 9 a.m.-3 p.m. citywide garage sales; 10 a.m.-1 p.m. LF Library book sale; 10 a.m.-1 p.m. H.A.L.O. open house (615 Albany St); 11 a.m.-4 p.m. Historical Society tours; 11 a.m. Brookfield Garden tractor pull (Monroe Street Field); noon golumpki/pierogi sale; TBD Canal Days Comeback w/ JAB at RD’s Gorge View Lanes; 2-4 p.m. music by Stevie Rigo at LF Historical Soc.; 7-10 p.m. Rezenenz at Rock Valley Brewing Co.; 7:30-10:30 p.m. Asylum Blue at the Elks; 8 p.m. Ari Marucci & One Day Escape w/ Green and Beans Rhythm Section at the Renaissance; 8:30-10:30 p.m. The Reel Thing-Labyrinth (movie night)

Sunday, Aug. 9

• Burke Park: 9 a.m. car show
• Eastern Park: 10 a.m.-5 p.m. vendors, food trucks, obstacle courses; noon-1 p.m. FoamFest; 10 a.m.-noon Monkey and the Crow Bar; 1-3 p.m. Rockin’ Rod Broadbent; 3:30 p.m. Happy Haggs
• Downtown/Citywide: 11:30 a.m. Elks chicken BBQ; 4-8 p.m. Fast Forward at American Legion

A shuttle will run between park locations throughout the weekend for anyone who’d rather leave the car behind. The full schedule and updates are available through the celebration’s event listings.