By Amelia Kibbe
Advisory Writer
Officials from the adventure travel series “Fireball Run” have not disclosed many details about the filming and live streaming of the show at Saturday’s annual Bonagany Festival, but Lori Bennett-Kolasa, festival chairperson, said she’s happy to have the show be a part of a great tradition.
“It’ll be a great addition,” said Bennett-Kolasa, who has chaired the festival on Main Street in Allegany for the past 12 years. “Hopefully it will bring more people into our town to see all that we have to offer.”
The show consists of a 2,200-mile road trip across the continental United States. The competition’s 40 teams compete in a life-sized trivia game of sorts, traveling to some of the country’s under-discovered places. Additionally, largely through the use of poster distribution, the show aids in an awareness campaign that helps recover missing children, according to its website.
Executives for the show selected various Cattaraugus County and nearby Allegany County locations to be part of its tenth season.
However, Bennett-Kolasa added, the show will only be one part of a busy weekend for residents of Allegany and St. Bonaventure students and their families this Family Weekend.
“Years ago we decided to have Bonagany become a part of Family Weekend,” she said. “It’s been a good thing to improve the relationship between the university and Allegany.”
Family Weekend will begin Friday at 4 p.m. beside the Reilly Center with the second annual Polar Spray, which raises money for Special Olympics of New York. A home men’s rugby match and a performance in the Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts will also be included in.
Campus-related activities planned for Saturday include golf, an ROTC demonstration, a family fun run, a women’s soccer match, Family Weekend Mass, a piano show and music and games, he added. All the events are free of charge to students and their families.
“I think parents get really excited to come back to the campus to see what their students have been involved in,” DeFazio said. “They enjoy meeting friends. It also gives the students a chance to showcase themselves.”
He added that, in his opinion, parents in attendance represent all four classes equally. While the university does not record the number of parents who visit each year, the weekend greatly benefits local hotels and businesses.
Alongside the events on campus, Main Street in Allegany will be closed from before 8 a.m. until 6 p.m., and instead of traffic, the street will be filled with nearly 100 vendors—almost double the amount from previous years, Bennett-Kolasa said.
Vendors’ merchandise will range from food to crafts to information booths.
Five different groups will perform throughout the day on Main Street near Citizen Printing, she added. A mechanical bull and a photo booth, both popular with Bonaventure students, will also return this year.
As for “Fireball Run,” events will begin at 9 a.m. in front of the town hall building. Attendants can meet the show’s participants and take pictures.
The show, according to its website, is televised internationally and steamed in the United States.
For a full listing of performers and details about the vendors, visit the festival’s website, www.bonagany.org or its Facebook page.
“All our activities are free,” Bennett-Kolasa said. “We are just having a big party.”
kibbeaa13@bonaventure.edu
