Fireball Run, a television and internet streaming series, will be crossing New York state in late September, passing through southern Saratoga County in September.
The Fireball Run is a live action trivia pursuit, adventure travel competition that has “missions” or tasks framed as trivia. Each 26-episode season is filmed in a section of the country, edited, then streamed over the internet in the U.S. and shown on television stations.
Welcome events are planned in Ballston Spa and Clifton Park, according to the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County, as 40 competing teams vie for top honors in solving clues and engaging with historic artifacts. Contestants also aid in the search for America’s missing children, and to date 48 children have been found in part by their efforts, according to program officials.
The contestants will be in the area on Sept. 29 and 30.
The event is not a race, organizers said. Teams earn points for completing tasks after having driven to spots of interest, many times historical, based on clues. Points also can be deducted for things like speeding.
The 2016 rally will be going up and down the Hudson Valley as well as the surrounding states from Sept. 23 to Oct. 1. Estimates put the financial impact of the presence in a community at $250,000 per day, according to the production company.
The rally will arrive in Ballston Spa Sept. 29 and Clifton Park on Sept. 30.
In just eight days the production company will film 26 episodes that are 22 minutes long each and cover a 2,000 mile area.
Two local men were selected to captain two of the 40 teams in the race. They are John Bove of Mechanicville and Kevin Koval of Halfmoon.
The winner of the rally wins bragging rights and a plastic road sign announcing the team's victory.
The 2016 edition of Fireball Run is also the show's 10th anniversary. Because it is a contest, details of the visit are not revealed until after arrival of contestants.
"I am excited to welcome Fireball Run to southern Saratoga County," said Pete Bardunias, president/CEO of the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County, lead local organizer of the event. "Our 17 communities, plus a few of our nearest neighbors have always been a sort of fly-over country, often overlooked by travelers in their quest to reach more well-known locales. This is our chance to show people what they've been missing."
"Clifton Park is excited to host a dynamic show with a very meaningful mission of helping families across the nation," said Clifton Park Town Supervisor Phil Barrett. "Fireball Run will provide a boost to the hospitality sector of our economy and highlight new initiatives we have unveiled in 2016 in cooperation with the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County."
Ballston Spa Mayor John Romano said, "We have a very tight-knit, community oriented village which lends itself perfectly to an event like Fireball Run. Film production companies have chosen Ballston Spa before for its picturesque, upstate New York charm. The Ballston Spa Business and Professional Association has toiled hard to preserve our downtown, and we appreciate the work of the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County to promote our area as a destination."
Regarding the search for America's missing children, every driving team is assigned a child missing from their home of origin and they are provided 1,000 missing child flyers to distribute along the 2,000-mile journey.
The town of Clifton Park, village of Ballston Spa and the Chamber of Southern Saratoga County said they are proud to stand together to support the Fireballers this fall.
"The Fireball Run will not only bring positive international attention to Saratoga County and the 112th Assembly District, but the participants will help in a cause that's near and dear to my heart, the search for missing persons," said Assemblyman Jim Tedisco, who is the legislative sponsor of Missing Persons Day in New York.
The public is invited to visit the welcome event in Ballston Spa on Sept. 29 and the farewell in Clifton Park early on Sept. 30. More details will be available at www.southernsaratoga.org, www.cliftonpark.org, www.ballston.org.
The production is headquartered in Orlando, Fla. It is reportedly viewed by a worldwide audience of 1.7 million and could bring over $1 million into New York state in the form of cash and in-kind investments, according to the Chamber.
For more information visit www.fireballrun.com