Annual Legs Against Lyme Walk returns to Long Branch Park Saturday

Families heading to parks, trails and backyards across Onondaga County are entering the stretch of the year when tick exposure rises, and local health leaders are using a community walk at Long Branch Park to keep the risk in plain view. The fifth annual Legs Against Lyme Walk will take place Saturday, May 30, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in Liverpool, bringing together Lyme warriors, supporters and families for a fundraiser tied directly to prevention and education.

The CNY Lyme & Tick-Borne Disease Alliance, founded in 2019, says the event is meant to do more than raise money. It is also a reminder that Central New York remains an active area for tick-borne disease concerns, even as more people head outdoors for the season. Melissa Carr Rowe, who the alliance officially welcomed as executive director in January, has helped frame the walk as a family-friendly and dog-friendly gathering that keeps attention on a problem that reaches far beyond one park or one day.

The local stakes are clear. Onondaga County’s Lyme data shows estimated cases reached 157 in 2019 after years of substantial counts. In March 2025, the county approved $75,000 to support SUNY Upstate Medical University’s Tick Testing Laboratory and set aside another $25,000 for adult and youth tick-education workshops. The lab tested about 220 ticks in the prior year, and 36 percent carried a disease.

Statewide, the warning signs are broader still. New York State’s 2025 surveillance report said Lyme disease occurs throughout the state and that anaplasmosis, babesiosis and ehrlichiosis are being found more frequently and in new regions. The report also said the Capital District tended to have the highest incidence rates of Lyme disease, anaplasmosis and babesiosis between 2020 and 2024. In 2026, the state said it averaged more than 17,500 new Lyme cases a year over the previous three years, with nearly 19,000 reported in 2024.

The alliance has tied its work to the Upstate Tick Testing Laboratory, which tests ticks submitted by the public and uses those samples to track disease spread, assess local risk and improve diagnosis and care. That makes the Long Branch Park walk part fundraiser, part public-health signal. It is the latest in a series of annual events at the same Liverpool park, following walks on May 13, 2023, and June 1, 2024, and it arrives just as families across Syracuse, Manlius and the rest of Onondaga County are spending more time outdoors with tick risk climbing alongside the temperature.