Talk about hedging your bets: Empire City Casino’s Sixth Annual Fall Harvest Festival in Yonkers, on Saturday, October 11, from 4 to 8 pm, has something for everyone—including more beer than ever. Centered around the historic oval racetrack, the festival showcases New York State agriculture and horse racing and includes family-oriented activities like pony rides, a petting zoo, and live music, with New York-made foods for sale. There’s even an entire tent devoted to wings, where you can try sauces and vote for one to be featured at Empire Terrace restaurant, which overlooks the racetrack (check out its murals of old-time Westchester, if you haven’t been there).
But for the 21-plus crowd—in keeping with the tremendous beer offerings of the newer restaurants at the casino—there will now be a five-tent beer garden with dozens of craft beers selected by the cicerone at pinch, the casino’s Alain Ducasse restaurant known for more than 30 New York State breweries on tap. If that doesn’t have you hopped up enough, watch some of our elected officials (members of the New York State Assembly and Senate) compete in four non-wagering harness races at the Sixth Annual Legislators’ Pace.
Seriously—where else are you going to find all this?
Empire City Casino
810 Yonkers Ave
Yonkers
(914) 968-4200; empirecitycasino.com