Summer is the obvious time: warm days, the lake busy with boats, the Chautauqua Institution running its full programme, and the Lucille Ball Comedy Festival drawing big-name stand-up acts to town the first week of August. Autumn brings the western New York leaf colour, peaking in early to mid-October — quieter than the Adirondacks and just as pretty.
Winter is long, cold, and snowy: Jamestown sits on the eastern edge of Lake Erie's snow belt, and the city can pick up several feet during a single storm. The lake freezes solid for ice-fishing, but there is little tourist infrastructure outside the summer season and many museums shorten their hours. Spring is mud season; skip it unless you have business here.