By CRAIG FREILICH

POTSDAM – The traditional craft fair, antique car show and firemen's "Run to the River," along with a new craft beer expo, stage coach rides and "Ask a Geek" at the Tech tent will keep the final day of the Potsdam Chamber of Commerce Summer Festival “hopping” Saturday.

Market Street between Elm and Main will be shut down to traffic again to make way for almost non-stop music on the Northern Music and Video Main Stage as Potsdam welcomes locals, college alumni and visitors.

Sidewalk sales and other special attractions in the downtown core, in Ives Park, at Pine Street Arena and around the village will also keep people busy and entertained.

Tim Hatch, who used to be one of the attractions at Frontier Town, an amusement park at Glens Falls which closed in 1998, will offer stage coach most of the day.

The Potsdam Craft Beer Expo, a series of beer tastings organized by accountant Larry Reece, will continue in Fall Island Park, behind Evans and Whites Hardware on Maple Street, with seatings from 1 to 4:30 and 6 to 9 p.m. As many as 70 different beers will be available in three-ounce portions. Tickets can be purchased on the way into the expo.

Other highlights will be the annual parade Saturday evening at 5 p.m. downtown. Parade floats will come from the Potsdam Elks, the Potsdam Humane Society, and Building Blocks Day Care, and three floats from Norwood, from the Hobby Shop, Perry’s Big M, and the Hometown Café.

Marching or riding in the parade will be the Gouverneur High School Marching band, the Red Hens Potsdam and Norwood chapter of the Red Hat Society, and the St. Lawrence County Dairy Princess and her court.

After the parade, at about 7:15, the exciting Run to the River will simulate a fire emergency where firefighters on three trucks have to get from the fire station to the Raquette River from different directions and compete to be the first team to start pumping.

The "Tech Tent" will return to Ives Park near the Gazebo starting at 10 a.m., with "Ask the Geeks," who will answer questions about computers, the internet, QR codes, social media, gatdets, iphones, ipads and mobile internt. At 11 a.m., Rob Zolner from Northern Music & Video will display and explain 3G tables and mobile broadband. Frm noon to 1 p.m., Ryan Jones of Advanced Business Services will discuss the same items. And Ask the Geeks return at 1 p.m. to answer more questions.

SUNY Potsdam and Clarkson University alumni will also be back for the events, music, and the chance to see each other and friends made while they were here for school.

Also at 9 a.m. is the Potsdam Police Department car auction at the impound lot on the Hatch Road out Rt. 11B, and the fundraising Rotary Club Duck Pluck starts along the river at 9 a.m., concluding at 2:30 p.m.

At 9 a.m., a series of demonstrations begins at the gazebo in the park, including yoga, the game Medieval Combat, Jazzercise, and Zumba.

And the Orchestra of Northern New York’s Junque Sale opens at 9 a.m. in Pine Street Arena, along with the CORC Thrift Store’s sale. “The orchestra did so well there last year they wanted to stay there this year,” said Ballou.

At 10 a.m., sidewalk sales begin, as does the police auction downtown, the Fall Island Fair at Trinity Church, the Friends of the Library Book Sale, and the Farmers’ Market. From 11 to 2, lunch at Trinity Church’s Gourmet Café is served.

At 10 a.m. music starts at the Main Stage with Christian contemporary musicians John and Andrew Eastmond. They are followed by Minor Swing gypsy jazz, jazz with Crescent Street Jam, Latin ensemble Piquant!, and Kickin Kountry Cloggers, before a magic show at 2:30 p.m. with Rich Tenace and local kids.

Classic rockers 80 Proof play at 3 p.m., followed by the Acoustic Brothers at 4 p.m., and then there is a break at 5 p.m. for the parade and the Run to the River.

Music in Ives Park on Saturday includes Jack Kelley’s Little Big Band at 12:30, followed by singer/songwriter Rick Williams, and old-time fiddle jam led by Gretchen Koehler, and from 3:30 to 4:30, concert band music with the New Horizons Band.

Saturday evening music at the Main Stage is classic rock from Plan B from 7:15 to 9 p.m. and from The Debt from 9 to 11.

Once again the first block of Market Street will be blocked off to vehicle traffic beginning Thursday morning, so drivers are asked to move their vehicles from there by 6 a.m.

The Chamber wants to remind attendees that the blocked-off portion of Market Street is for pedestrians; bicycles and skateboards will not be allowed. There is plenty of free parking in the municipal lots on Main Street, Elm Street, Beal Street, and between Raymond and Depot streets.

Articles and a complete calendar of events are in the Potsdam Summer Festival tabloid included with this newspaper, and events are listed in the calendar here and online at NorthCountryNow.com.