Reindeer are basically the unofficial mascots of the Christmas season (after Santa, of course.) I can’t think of a better way to jump into the holiday season than meeting a herd of adorable Reindeer. This is the perfect destination for families looking to capture a little magic during the holiday season.
A Create New Holiday Tradition
This is an entirely family-friendly outing that everyone will love and want to return to every single year. Our kids are both in their teens, and they had a fantastic time visiting and petting the Reindeer. We saw lots of little kids who were over the moon to meet the Reindeer.
More than being a fun outing, this one is educational as well. The owner takes the time at the beginning of your visit to educate everyone about the Reindeer. More importantly, he demonstrates the proper feeding technique to avoid injury from their antlers and precautions for the health and safety of the Reindeer.
One thing is crystal clear, the owners and staff love what they do and share that love with the people who come to visit. One of the handlers told us that she looked forward to this event all year. She told us how much she loved watching the joy the Reindeer brought to the people, especially the little kids.
Visiting the Reindeer
While there are opportunities to see the Reindeer in other locations during the holiday season, such as the Walk or Run with the Reindeer, which takes place in the villages of Shortsville and Manchester. However, to meet all the Reindeer and have the opportunity to feed and pet them, you will want to schedule a visit to the Farm during the holidays.
To really get the most out of your visit, you will want to make sure you are adequately dressed. The farm visits take place outside, so it is essential you dress for the occasion, a warm jacket, hat, and gloves. This is a farm, so you will also want to wear boots, although I saw that they are very diligent about cleaning the reindeer pasture.
Once you go through the quick orientation about the reindeer and safety precautions, you will head out to the fenced-in pasture. You will step into a pan of disinfectant to disinfect the bottom of your shoes, so as to not track any infectious diseases into the reindeer pasture.
The rest of the time, you will have the freedom to visit with all the Reindeer. The mature Reindeer are with their handlers, who guide guests, as they pet and feed them. There is another reindeer who were told is more feisty and doesn’t visit with guests directly. However, we were able to visit with him through the pasture fence.
There were several juvenile Reindeer, in another pasture, and guests could enter their pasture and offer food to them. These were a bit timid and not inclined to be pet just yet, but it was fun watching them run all around us. They were very curious and would come quite close before galloping off.
This is one of the most unique holiday experiences out there, and we look forward to visiting again next year.
To schedule your visit with the reindeer, which can accommodate up to 50 people per time slot, click on the link below to be redirected to the Shortsville
Getting to Shortsville Reindeer Farm
Address: 4285 Shortsville Rd., Shortsville
Google Map Link
Have you visited the Shortsville Reindeer Farm? Did we forget anything? What did you think of the Reindeer? We would love to hear about your experience. Please leave us a comment below.