blindsided fans by moving the Watkins Glen race from its traditional summer slot to Mother\u2019s Day weekend<\/a>, state officials are now scrambling to lessen the blow.<\/p>\nGovernor Kathy Hochul announced that Watkins Glen State Park will open its campgrounds early in 2026 in order to give racing fans a place to stay during the newly scheduled May race weekend. Normally, the park doesn\u2019t open for camping until later in the month, but this year they’re firing up two loops early to welcome visitors for the \u201cGo Bowling at The Glen\u201d race, which now takes place May 10.<\/p>\n
Officials say this move is meant to show support for race fans and local businesses that rely on the annual NASCAR crowds.\u00a0Unfortunately,\u00a0early May in the Finger Lakes isn\u2019t exactly peak camping season. The ground is still cold, the rain can be relentless, and the idea of spending Mother\u2019s Day weekend in a soggy tent might not sound like the perfect getaway\u00a0for most families.<\/p>\n
New York Trying to Make Lemonade Out of Lemons<\/p>\n
Governor Hochul said the early opening is a way to keep the NASCAR tradition strong in New York, despite the schedule shakeup. The three-day event will feature the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, the O\u2019Reilly Auto Parts Series, and the Cup Series finale on Sunday.<\/p>\n
Watkins Glen International President Dawn Burlew thanked the state for its efforts, saying it will give fans \u201cthe opportunity to truly enjoy all that Watkins Glen has to offer.\u201d The local chamber of commerce also praised the decision, calling it a smart response to NASCAR\u2019s unexpected move.<\/p>\n
Even with the early opening, there\u2019s no guarantee the economic hit will be fully avoided. The August race traditionally drew thousands of fans who spent the weekend exploring the region\u2019s wineries, restaurants, and attractions under the summer sun. Whether that same energy will show up on a chilly, muddy May weekend remains to be seen.<\/p>\n
Reservations for the early camping weekend open October 27 at 9 am, and officials\u00a0say they expect the\u00a0100 available sites to go quickly.<\/p>\n
The 5 Best-Selling Cars In New York State6 Vehicles That Are Banned From New York Roads<\/p>\n
These six vehicles are prohibited from being operated on New York roads.<\/p>\n
Gallery Credit: Canva\/Unsplash<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It looks like New York State is doing its best to make the most out of a bad…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":328901,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[1406,62,149542,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-328900","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nascar","8":"tag-nascar","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-the-boris-show","11":"tag-united-states","12":"tag-unitedstates","13":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115428695044980914","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328900","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=328900"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/328900\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/328901"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=328900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=328900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=328900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}