The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous: #8 Batavia Downs

Thundering horses, bells, whistles, sirens, flashing lights and the screams of excitement. The place in Genesee County where you can get it all is Batavia Downs.

When Batavia Downs opened in the 1940s, horse racing was nothing new in Western New York. Early land developers used horse racing as a way to attract settlers and pioneers.

Harness racing became popular at Batavia Downs and throughout the 1960s the track would draw over a half a million people per year.

As harness racing lost popularity, the track fell on hard times, but today the track is again thriving and busier then ever.


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The Twenty-Five Things That Made Genesee County Famous: #9 The Batavia Muckdogs

Genesee County's only professional sports franchise has been getting a lot of publicity lately. The miracle season of 2008 culminated in the team's first championship in 45 years.

Batavia is one of the charter franchises of the New York - Penn League. In fact, the league was founded in Batavia in 1939 at the Hotel Richmond in downtown Batavia.

Batavia has fielded a team every year in the league except for 1954, 1955, 1956 and 1960, and have won four league championships.

Every summer Geneseeans flock to Dwyer Stadium to cheer for the Muckdogs.


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