Snickers Marathon, Mardi Gras festival to make for exciting weekend

ALBANY — The Good Life City, especially its downtown area, will be bustling with excitement this weekend as runners, volunteers and festivalgoers are expected to show up in force for one of the most exciting weekends of the year: the city’s Snickers Marathon and Half Marathon and Mardi Gras Street Festival.

“It’s a great time for the city,” Rashelle Beasley, the executive director of the Albany Convention and Visitors Bureau who also serves as race director, said of Saturday’s events. “The past month has been a little bit of a hustle and bustle in the way of getting the city cleaned up, but we all came together at that time to help each other.

“Now’s the time to come together as a community and just have a good time, just cheer people on, thank them for being here. We just need to celebrate. It’s a great day for celebration all the way around.”

The fun gets started Friday when the bulk of the 1,200-plus runners expected to compete in Saturday’s marathon and half marathon hit town to get settled and begin the race check-in process at the downtown Hilton Garden Inn.

“Runners will start showing up on Friday,” said Beasley. “Some that may have come from longer distances may show up Thursday, but most will show up on Friday.”

Beasley said runners can pick up their race packets between 3 p.m. and 9 p.m. Friday and enjoy a pasta dinner at the hotel at 6 p.m. for $15. Additionally, runners and the general public can also visit the various marathon expo vendors that will be on site providing a variety of race-related items.

“We have roughly eight to 10 vendors that are very marathon-specific,” said Beasley. “We’ll have New Balance coming with Wild Side Running. Wild Side is going to be our main supplier for everyone’s marathon needs and also provide running items for anyone who visits. The expo is open to everyone.

“We’ll also have Albany souvenirs and marathon souvenirs from previous years. And (marathon primary sponsor) Mars (Chocolate North America) will also be there.”

The real excitement gets under way early Saturday morning, however, when the marathon and half marathon kick off at 7 a.m., preceded by crank chair racers at 6:45 a.m.

Beasley said the faster half marathon runners will arrive at the finish line, which will be located along the Riverwalk behind the Welcome Center on Front Street, around 8:15 a.m. The first marathon finishers should finish around 9:30 a.m.

“We always encourage citizens to come down and cheer the runners on at the finish line,” she said. “The prime race finish time is anywhere between 9 a.m. and noon. A lot of the half marathoners, their goal is to complete the half marathon within two hours.

“We go until 2 p.m., but the prime time for marathon finishers is between 11 a.m. and noon.”

Awards for the two races will begin at 10 a.m., and Beasley said anyone wanting to come down to cheer and see the finish should park at the Albany Civic Center and walk down Front Street.

Beasley said it’s also important to have citizens scattered along the entire race route encouraging the runners.

“If you’re on the race course, please get out and cheer for everyone, or find a spot along the course to cheer from,” she said. “We appreciate everyone who sets up a cheer station.

“It’s good to cheer them on. In fact, one of the main things we get on most of our reviews is that the community support is so large here. When you have people cheering you on the whole way, it really keeps you motivated, keeps you going. It just makes for a great atmosphere.”

While the marathon is important to Albany’s economy, creating a $700,000-plus economic impact, Beasley admits that some residents get frustrated by the traffic issues it can bring. However, she wants everyone to know that they can access the race map on albanymarathon.com or they can download the Snickers Marathon free app that shows the route, as well as pictures and updates from the race.

Additionally, Beasley pointed out that even though there can be traffic issues, the race will not completely close down any city streets, and organizers strive to keep inconveniences to a minimum.

“We want to make sure people realize that we don’t shut roads down,” she said. “We shut down partial lanes, but we don’t shut down any roads.

“We do hold up traffic to let runners cross, so please be respectful of that. But also, as the last runner passes, the course opens back up. We don’t wait until the race is over to open up everything. We do it as the last runner passes. We want to make sure that we’re being mindful of everyone trying to get around town.”

This year brought additional concern about the marathon in light of the recent storms that damaged large areas of Albany, including some of the areas where the race will be run. At this point, Beasley said things are looking good and that there should be no issues with storm damage impacting runners.

“It’s all clear for the runners,” she said. “I’ll take another swing through Rawson Circle and see how that’s coming, but as far as everything else, we’re wide open. The city’s done a fantastic job in making sure the contractors are getting the town cleaned up.”

Beasley said this year’s marathon day forecast also looks great for running with morning lows expected in the low- to mid-40s and highs in the mid- to high-60s.

“It’s prime running weather,” she said. “There’s no blaming the weather this year. It should be a beautiful day.”

That beautiful weather will also extend into the afternoon and evening, when the other big event of the weekend takes place in downtown Albany — the annual Mardi Gras Street Festival organized by the Better Albany Group.

Because the Mardi Gras festival has become entwined with the marathon, Tommy Gregors, who helps organize the festival each year, said this year things will start up earlier than usual to better coincide with marathon scheduling.

“The Mardi Gras’ purpose now is to support the marathon,” said Gregors. “Some of the runners are coming across the finish line early, the faster ones, so we want to have it up and going for those ones to go through.”

The festival, which starts at 10 a.m. with a welcome and a performance by the Evergreen Family Band, will be located on the 100 block of Pine Avenue, between Washington and Front streets.

Following Evergreen Family Band, festivalgoers can enjoy performances by Albany’s Unbreakable Bloodline at 12:15 p.m., the Bo Henry Band at 2 p.m. and the Southern Arts Ensemble at 4:30 p.m. The traditional Albany Humane Society pet walk will return this year. It is set to start at noon. In addition to the scheduled events, Mardi Gras will also feature a children’s area between the Flint RiverQuarium and the Imagination Theater.

Several vendors, many of whom are regulars, will also be on hand, including Gena’s Funnel Cakes, Nick-a-Million, Chris Alligator, Henry’s Concession, Rayne Drop Concession, Combs Kettle Corn, Tropical Smoothies, Cupcake Seduction, Georgia’s Party Dogs, Mike McKinney’s Novelties, Bernice’s Toys, Wellspring Revival Center, Georgia Firebirds and Waterwalkers Georgia.

Admission to Mardi Gras is $5, with children 10-under admitted free. Special pricing of $4 per person for ages 4-older will also be offered at the RiverQuarium. Tickets to shows at the Imagination Theater are $3 for ages 4-older. Show listings can be found at www.flintriverquarium.org.

Marathon volunteers, who are still needed, receive free admission to Mardi Gras as well as a T-shirt. Beasley said volunteer packet pickup is 1 p.m.-7 p.m. Thursday at the Welcome Center. Volunteers can also sign up at that time.

Mardi Gras patrons can also donate money to help with Albany storm relief. Donation boxes will be set up at the three entrances to the event. Entrances will be located on Washington Street, Front Street and in the RiverQuarium parking lot off Flint Avenue.

Although this year’s festival will start earlier in the day and end at 6 p.m., organizers are still expecting a good turnout and say they hope area residents and guests will come out and enjoy themselves.

“We hope everyone will come out and enjoy great music, food and activities in downtown Albany,” said Gregors.

After Mardi Gras festivities end, the city’s seventh Soulfest, featuring Keith Sweat and The Manhattans, will be held at the Albany Civic Center. The show starts at 7 p.m.