Lacrosse Festival
Lacrosse Festival
Athletes from across the region to showcase their skills in friendly competition
For its fifth year running, athletes of all skill levels and ages will huddle up in Ellicottville for the 2021 Lacrosse Festival. Spanning over a three-day period (September 24th-26th) across two venues, the celebration will see the region’s top players come together for the love of playing lacrosse.
Rhino Lacrosse is an instructional program founded in 2005 by Ryan Powell who captained Team USA to a Gold medal in the FIL World Lacrosse Championship. From there on, Rhino’s reach expanded across North America, coaching and inspiring the next wave of lacrosse pros.
The organization saw Ellicottville join its tournament calendar thanks to Mike Riorden, who partnered with Powell to launch what is now known as the Ellicottville Lacrosse Festival.
“I saw downtown back in the day and thought, ‘what a great place to have a tournament at.’ It brewed over my head for 11 years,’” Rioreden said. “The village and its chamber along with Holiday Valley have done a fantastic job at making this happen.”
As participating players tighten up their lacrosse stick strings and gather their game balls, Ellicottville has been working to further beautify downtown with posters and street displays to welcome festival goers.
Village Park and Chamber Fields at Holiday Valley will host this year’s games. The tournament-style competition is split up in three different skill categories, featuring youth boys in grades 5-8, high school boys for grades 9-12, along with a men’s division that ranges for those age 21 and over. Over 30 teams with 20 players each will compete in Ellicottville this fall. The celebration stretches beyond on-field action however, as local families can take part in the festivities.
“We love this event! The town loves when we have sports and kids team festivities,” said Brian McFadden, Executive Director of the Ellicottville Chamber of Commerce. “A lot of folks come to enjoy it. It’s a spectacle no matter if you like lacrosse or not.”
While still competitive at heart, Ellicottville’s Lacrosse Festival is built to have players enjoy the sport for its pure form of beauty rather than stress about impressing a scout watching. And those who travel to the village to participate in the annual celebration don’t just come to play lacrosse.
“It’s much bigger than that,” Riorden said. “They don’t say I can’t wait to get back and play lacrosse, they say I can’t wait to get back to Ellicottville and play lacrosse.”
Although Ellicottville’s school district does not support an official lacrosse team, some local athletes have played a role in previous festivals.
According to Riorden, the festival unofficially begins with a welcome party at Finnerty’s Tap Room in downtown Ellicottville where players and staff kickoff the weekend-long activities. After having played for Hobart College’s lacrosse team, Freddie Pawlikowski who co-owns the local pub, ‘came out of retirement’ and led his team to victory during the 2019 festival.
The ‘Opening Ceremony’ of this year’s tournament is set to take place Friday, Sept. 24th with games beginning Saturday and continuing over to Sunday. The boys middle and high school division will solely run on Sunday while the men’s division will get underway Saturday.
To learn more about this year’s Lacrosse Festival in Ellicottville, head over to ellicottvilleny.com or call 800-349-9099.