Boilermaker

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Boilermaker Finish Line

The Boilermaker Road Race is HUGE! in Utica. Every hotel, motel and B&B in the area is booked months ahead of time. From what I've heard on the news there are about 11,000 runners signed up. It started as a 15K road race in 1978 with 780 runners. Now it's a 3 day event with the Boilermaker Expo being held at at the Masonic home on Friday and Saturday. There are smaller runs and walks so that people who can't run the 15K can participate in another way. The community really comes out in force.

At the finish line there is the biggest party! It takes place at Court and Varick Streets at the Utica Club Brewery. It's a celebration of another kind too because the Brewery just had a wicked fire. I linked a post from one of our local media people. I was driving back from Frankfort and I was up on the hill and could see the smoke - that was scary. It was thick and black and I was about 8 miles away and could see it very clearly. I turned on the local news 950AM and that's all they could talk about was the fire. The brewery is dealing with the aftermath, but things are going well, the Matt family is doing very well.

So, if you are ever in the area, on the second Sunday of July, check out the Boilermaker - and if you are here at another time you can go to the Brewery, go on the tour and enjoy a free beer or rootbeer. Also in the summer there is Saranac Thursday at the brewery, at the same place where the Finish Line party is for the Boilermaker.