Weekend includes food, antiques, racing

TRI-COUNTY AREA (8/24/16)--The area will have several events for residents and visitors to choose from this weekend. Whether it is savory barbecue, a rare antique or the action of watercross racing, the events taking place Saturday and Sunday, Aug. 27 and 28 have something for a variety of interests.
The Hammondsport Fire Department's annual Smoke on the Water Barbecue Competition takes place Saturday, Aug. 27 from noon to 8 p.m. There will be 15 different teams competing in several different categories, including chicken, pork butt, brisket, an open category and a mystery category. The department will be expanding the kids zone play area this year with some new activities, and is also looking at organizing a corn hole tournament. The Friday evening prior to the event, there will be some festivities like team trivia at the department.
For more, visit www.hfd-ny.com/bbq-competition.
The 44th annual Antique Show and Sale will also be Saturday, Aug. 27. The event will be held at the Yates County Fairgrounds and features a variety of antiques and collectibles from dealers around the state and beyond. Organizer Katie Carno estimates the average annual attendance for the event to be around 1,600 people. She said she will have 110 vendors throughout the day, which runs from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
Carno noted there have been long wait times in previous years, so this year they are adding a second entrance to speed things along. She said while many dealers come from places like Buffalo, Binghamton and Elmira, some come from as far away as Florida and Pennsylvania.
"There isn't going to be something someone brings that one of the other [vendors] has," Carno said.
Around 100 competitors will gather at Clute park in Watkins Glen for the fifth and sixth rounds of the East Coast Watercross competitionSaturday and Sunday, Aug. 27 and 28. The watercraft races will take place from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days and feature 15 classes of competitors. Organizer Christopher Yates said he estimates between a few hundred to 1,000 spectators throughout the weekend depending on the weather.
Watercross is closed course buoy racing on personal watercraft, where as many as 18 racers compete on the course at the same time with each one trying to cross the finish line first. Yates said the competitions are usually fan friendly, giving spectators access to the pits where they can interact with the racers and ask them questions. He said there are some scattered showers forecasted for the race dates, but added they will only stop racing in the event of lightning.
"Everybody is going to be wet anyway," Yates said.
East Coast Watercross hosts six rounds of racing which are held on three weekends throughout the summer, with each day making up one round of racing. A typical race day will see 10 or more classes of racers of different skill levels, from beginners to pro riders, various watercraft types and ages as young as 8. Each class will race twice per day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon after a short lunch intermission. For more, visit www.eastcoastwatercross.com.