Gloversville’s Railfest 16 Draws Big Summer Crowd – The Daily Gazette

GLOVERSVILLE — Perfect weather combined with community enthusiasm to come together again in public after more than two years of the coronavirus pandemic helped spur an estimated record turnout for the 16th annual Gloversville Railfest in Trail Station Park Saturday.

City Clerk Jenni Mazur, who serves as liaison to the Recreation Commission, said the 16th Railfest was the most successful it has been in the four years the Recreation Commission has been hosting the event. He said last year there were about 45 vendors, but this year there were more than 70.

“It has been incredible. It’s the biggest Railfest we’ve had to date,” Mazur said. “We’ve never had to use the 1 Frontage Road parking lot for the event, and this year it’s overflowing with vendors.”

Some of the food vendors include All Fired Up LLC, Diverdogs Hot Dog Cart, El Cielo Mexican Food, Jammin Juice Bar, Kona Ice of Clifton Park, Queen Bee Bakery, Mason Jar, Pit Stop, Tony’s Fried Dough, Pop Pop’s Snack. Shack and something different.

Railfest featured a car show, various bounce houses and a bounce obstacle course, giant versions of the popular board games Jenga and Connect Four, as well as cornhole.

One of the most popular features of Railfest was perhaps the simplest. The Gloversville Fire Department sprayed water into the air in the city’s traffic department parking lot. Both children and adults ran into the spray to beat the summer heat. Emily Rallbovsky and her sons Marques, 5, and Julius, 2, were among them.

Emily Ralbovsky said she has lived in Gloversville her entire life and had never been to a Railfest event until Saturday. She explained why.

“I wanted to try it, because now I have kids and I like craft vendors,” she said.

Some of the Rail Fest craft vendors included Mama Time Crafts, Quilty treasures, Sewing on the Edge, the 518 Craft Fountain, Terrie Slocum, Kee to Independent Growth Inc., Mary Kay, Amanda’s Macarons N More, Bohemian Pizazz, Gallagher’s Gifts and Jennifer Bovee.

Some craft vendors also sold food, such as the Mohawk Harvest Co-op Market in downtown Gloversville, which often features locally sourced foods, but also some newcomers to the area, such as “Sweet Cheats,” a artisan snacks based in Colonie that sells different healthy snacks. with natural ingredients such as cane sugar and pink Himalayan salt that are made without preservatives. The company was created by Travis Riggins and features an alien bodybuilder as its trademark logo. Riggins handed out free 3D-printed toy items with the logo on Saturday.

“I want to raise awareness of the need to get more fiber into people’s diets,” Riggins said.

Railfest also featured live music from bands such as Easy Feelin’, Flame, Rough-n-Real Band and No Limit and one of the most popular features of the festival was a karaoke competition run by the DJ and planning company of Jurassik Jamz Entertainment events. a company led by Recreation Commission board member Jordan Twardy.

Twardy warmed up the crowd with a Garth Brooks-esque karaoke performance, singing the Doobie Brothers’ “Long Train Runnin'” into his wireless microphone while running back and forth under the Trail Station Park gazebo.

“This is how I do my sound check,” Twardy said, then explained the origin of the karaoke contest. “That was new this year. We’ve always had bands. We wanted to bring something that would be of interest to young people, so a karaoke contest gives some of these people their first chance to sing in front of an audience.”

Twardy had several “silent judges” present in the crowd to help judge the pageant, including Heather Flint, who wore one of the crowns she won at the Miss Spirit of New York Pageant held in Troy. Flint, a 2015 Gloversville High School graduate, also helped judge the Miss Railfest Pageant, which had multiple winners.

The karaoke contest had two winners, for the under 12 category, Jacki LaRue won for her rendition of Carrie Underwood’s “Before he Cheats” and Gracie Fancher, who won the 12-18 category for “I Hold On” by Dierks Bentley.

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