Boilermaker participants were happy that beer remained part of Utica's race weekend

The sun beat down, the band played classics and the beer flowed freely at the jam-packed Boilermaker Post-Race Party outside the F.X. Matt Brewery on Sunday, an annual event that nearly took place without the beer this year.

Back in 1980, beer wasn’t quite such an integral part of the race with only 34 kegs drunk at the part, according to the Boilermaker Road Race. That grew to 120 kegs by 1997 and 140 kegs in 2002.

By 2015, the party grew to 315 kegs, although consumption has since slacked off with organizers expecting this year’s party to go through about 150 kegs of Utica Club.

The state legislature accidentally repealed last year the law allowing alcohol to be served at the Sunday morning event. State Sen. Joe Grifo, R-Rome, and Assemblywoman Marianne Buttenschon, D-Marcy, introduced legislation to restore the tradition and Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the passed bills into law on June 27.

Standing with a cup in their hands, friends Erica Doran and Stella Callahan, both of Latham, gave looks of horror and cried out, “Noooo!” when told that the race had nearly happened without beer.

But, the beer is not the best part of the race, they declared, still full of pep after driving in from Latham that morning and running the 15k.

The pair, who wore matching pink tank tops that said, “My running bestie” with arrows pointing to the other one, don’t run as many races as they used to, Callahan said.

But the Boilermaker is special. “We love the race because of the energy,” she declared. The spectators, she added, make the Boilermaker amazing.

Callahan has run it three times and Doran twice.

Doran has been a part of the Boilermaker for much longer, though. When she was in her 20s, she sang at the post-race party for years with the band Nik and the Nice Guys. One of her bandmates always ran the 15k and then ran up on stage to play with the band, she said.

When Doran hit her 30s, she decided to try running the race, she said.

Beer growth

Back in 1980, beer wasn’t quite such an integral part of the race with only 34 kegs drunk at the part, according to the Boilermaker Road Race. That grew to 120 kegs by 1997 and 140 kegs in 2002. By 2015, the party grew to 315 kegs, although consumption has since slacked off with organizers expecting this year’s party to go through about 150 kegs of Utica Club.

Lots of other beverages were served, too, this year, including Sqwincher sports drinks, Pepsi products, chocolate milk from McDonald’s and yogurt smoothies from Chobani.

The post-race party would have been disappointing without the beer, said Gary Garofalo, of Rochester, who grew up in the Utica area and ran the 15k Sunday for the first time in more than a decade. He started to say that the party is the best part of the race, but stopped and corrected himself.

The spectators make the Boilermaker, he said.

Garofalo was with his friend and former neighbor Dave Tillman, of Honeoye Falls, who was forced by a bad back to scrap his 15k plans and run the 5k. His doctors had told him to take it easy, but he still felt great after the race, he said.

“I didn’t stop,” he said. “I ran the whole damn thing.”

Though not an area native, Tillman agreed that the Boilermaker is special. “It’s the people encouraging you as you run it,” he said. “it’s just the pedestrians.”

There are always people slapping hands, offering water and sometimes even beer, he said. “I will always,” he said, “do this race.”