The source of this falls is the Erie Canal, which is just up the hillside to your left (when facing the falls). A waste weir on the canal wall helps level the water, spilling excess flow out and over the falls thus preventing flooding. In winter the canal is usually drained and the falls is essentially turned off.

From the tree-covered hillside water vertically drops for roughly 5 feet and then tumbles the rest of the way into a fairly large, but shallow plunge pool below. The iron rich Medina Sandstone outlines the falls will striking purplish-red color, while the surrounding hills secludes it from the traffic above. The falls is visible from every angle in the park, and the village has done a fine job of allowing people to enjoy it. There are benches on the hill next to the parking lot that allow for a relaxing view, or one could cross over Sandy Creek to get a better look.

Although you may see many people cooling off in the water,  I wouldn't recommend it. Remember that water treatment plant you passed up the road? Sandy Creek is a discharge site for the sewage treatment plant for the village of Holley. The discharge pipe is a small concrete culvert placed in the middle of the creek, just downstream from where the Canal water meets the creek water. A rock barrier was constructed to help prevent the mixing of the discharge mix with the water coming from the falls, but who knows?

If you want to check out the canal, scrambling up the hill is a possibility, but it is recommended you head on over to Geddes St. and the Canal Museum to hike the Canalway trail. You can either drive to the trail head at the museum, or follow the trail from the back of the parking lot at Holley Falls.

Bird Watching. While we visited in mid-summer, Blue Jays and Blue Heron frequented the area, and when the sky dimmed we sat and watched Cedar Waxwings pick insects out of the sky in front of the falls.