DANSVILLE, N.Y. — There is a walking trail of little doors to explore through the village of Dansville. Fairy Doors of Dansville is a whimsical, public folk art installation.


What You Need To Know

  • There are 23 fairy doors on the Fairy Doors of Dansville walking trail
  • A map will guide you to the doors at businesses along Main St. and in trees in Pioneer Park
  • The fairy doors are up year-round

There are 23 fairy doors along Main St. in Dansville and in the trees at Pioneer Park. It's a fun way to get outside, explore and try to locate all the handmade doors. You can pick up a free fairy door map at just about any village of Dansville business or Dansville ArtWorks. The fairy doors are up year-round.

Jeanne Gridley and Susan Demuth not only know where every fairy door is, these talented artists and Dansville natives made every door for the 23 businesses on the Fairy Doors of Dansville trail.

“It is a wonderful activity. It has been wonderful during COVID because it is outdoors. You can distance yourself and you don’t have to go in to see the doors. Here is one at the radio station. The fairy door is on the 45 ‘Put the lime in the coconut’,” laughed Jeanne Gridley.

The fairy doors have inspired other artists to create even more whimsy around the village from a storefront decorated in a fairy forest to a fairy sculpture that glows at night. It’s a boost in foot traffic for this Livingston County village. People of all ages are invited to look around for fairy doors, eat, shop and stay a while.

“Grandmas come in with grandkids,” said Susan Demuth, artist and owner of Dogwood Trading Company. “People are visiting from out of town and you give them a map and at the end of the tour they get a bottle of magic fairy bubbles.”

“It is so gratifying to see families skipping down the sidewalk with their maps saying, ‘oh there’s one, there’s one,’” said Jeanne Gridley. “The kids are just delighted and the adults like it too.”

The Fairy Doors of Dansville is a free event open anytime. The project is made possible with funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, the Genesee Valley Council of the Arts and Dansville ArtWorks.

The artists are already busy making plans for next summer‘s Fairy Festival in June in Dansville.