Zucchini races return next week at Canal Village Farmers’ Market

File photos by Ginny Kropf: Here is a sampling of some of the creative zucchini race cars youth made at the Canal Village Farmer’s Market  last summer. The event returns the next two Saturdays.

MEDINA – With the Canal Village Farmers’ Market now open at its original home at West Center Street and West Avenue, market manager Gail Miller has announced the return of the popular zucchini races for the next three Saturdays.

On July 19, 26 and Aug. 2 the races will begin at 10 a.m. and last until 1:20 p.m. The races included categories for children and adults.

Inspired by a story from the Farmers’ Market Federation of New York, Miller hatched the creative idea last year.

“We really didn’t know what to expect last year, but we had more fun than we imagined,” Miller said. “This year, we’ve made some improvements, including a better track. We’re really looking forward to it.”

Last year, 15 youth participated in the event. Components of the races, including zucchini, are provided by the market.

(Left) Dave Miller gives two zucchini race cars a trial run to check out the track he built, before the competition starts at Medina’s Canal Village Farmer’s Market last year. (Right) Bishop Stanton, 9, checks out a zucchini race car last summer before beginning to build his own.

Children and adults who register for the races will each have access to all sorts of stickers, flags and fun stuff with which to decorate their racers, Miller said.

“Both kids and parents had a lot of fun creating their customized racers and sending them down the track,” she said. “Since the parents and by-standers all had so much fun, the market is encouraging the ‘young at heart’ to compete also. How about challenging your friends, neighbors or your siblings to compete for a zucchini race throwdown. And, of course, we’ll again have the Outlaw Class, which is great fun.”

Certificates and prize vouchers from Confection Connection and NOLA Snowballs will be awarded for the fastest, weirdest, coolest and best crash.

Racing classes will be:

• Sprout – under 8.
• Tenderfoot – 8 – 16.
• Young-at-Heart – 16+
• Outlaw Class – Open to all ages and any vegetable. Entrants can use their imagination to create a racing vegetable, keeping to the vehicle specs in the rules.

Participants can get additional information and register at the market in age-group categories, starting today (Saturday) at the manager’s tent.