Oswego's Harborfest

Harborfest may be over for 2017 but I am already thinking about Harborfest 2018. This year marks the 30th anniversary of what is one of the biggest events in New York State. The yearly event is quite amazing with 50 plus musical acts, a midway, special activities for children, vendors of all kinds, food

galore, and, of course the Grucci fireworks. If I am not mistaken John and I went to the very first fireworks which were sponsored by J. A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant. This was the first year in a long time that John and I have gone to Harborfest.  We love the fireworks but hate to deal with the traffic. Also, spending a day walking around can be tiring.  This year we tried something different.  We booked a room at the Captain’s Quarters which is a Best Western Plus property.  We are, of course, Best Western customer loyalty members. We booked it a year ago and requested a room with a balcony facing the water.  

Our room was perfect.  The room was large with a king bed and

sofa along with a large balcony that looked out toward Lake Ontario. After we checked in we walked along the River Front East Side where there were a lot of craft vendors.  The vendors were interesting and varied but I wondered how many people bought dining room tables at Harborfest.  It

seemed like an unlikely vendor for this event.  I have to admit my two favorites were the Rum Cake and fudge vendors.  Fudge is always yummy but the Rum Cake was awesome.  We bought a whole one.  Rum Cake is a great idea any time of the day. I was impressed with the ladies at the Ice Cream for Peace, a local vendor from Parish. I hope they are successful. 

The weather was perfect as we walked along the break wall

admiring the watercrafts and chatting with some of the owners. We sat on the break wall and listened to the bands playing on the other side of the river - perfect. We had planned to watch the water skiers but on Saturday the river was rough; however they did ski on Sunday when the waters were perfectly calm.

We had a late lunch at Alex on the Water with leftovers to take back to the room for later.  It was just a short walk to the trolley stops with easy access to all the venues plus it was just a short walk to Fort Ontario and West Side Park. We could hear the boom of the cannons from the fort.  I hope they offer helicopter rides next year. We couldn’t quite fit it in this year.  Maybe next year.  August 11 is the first day the Best Western Captain’s Quarters will be taking reservations for 2018.   
  
Next time I will remember to pack my bathing suit; the hotel’s pool

and hot tub were enticing.   In the evening we went to the bar at Alex’s by the water, bought two glasses of wine and returned to our room. The weather was beautiful so we warmed our take away food in the room’s microwave and settled on our balcony to watch the fireworks along with our glass of wine and rum cake for dessert.   Our view of the fireworks was perfect. I loved how they reflected on the water.  To my way of thinking it is the only way to do Harborfest.