MANCHESTER, Connecticut — With as many as 30 thousand fans who come out to see the Manchester Road Race each year, there are some who always seek the party scene in front of the Highland Park Market.
Every Thanksgiving, Highland Park closes its doors but opens its parking lot to hundreds of friends and family who come from all over the area to cheer on the racers.
“The minute the door closes at our store the night before Thanksgiving, the parking lot starts to get filled up -- they even put their cars there the night before, they get their grills set up so we love the tradition,” said Molly Devanney, the owner of the Highland Park Market.
Tris Carta, the longtime president of the Manchester Road Race agreed that the lot at the Highland Park Market is a top Road Race party space.
“I think the Highland Park Market is probably the premiere spot other than the finish line because of the people that come year after year after year, it’s a very special spot,” he said.
The Highland Park Market lot, strategically speaking, sits atop of the hill on Highland Street at mile marker two of the race. Jim Harvey, the elite runners coordinator at the Manchester Road Race said there is an added incentive for the top runners; the fastest male and female racers get a $1000 prize for making it to mile marker two before any other competitor.
“The athletes know there is a one-thousand-dollar prize to be the first across the (King of the Hill) finish line, there is a little surge,” he said.
Carta, the Road Race president, added that the Highland Park Market parking lot scene comes down to tradition on Thanksgiving Day.
“It’s one of the many, many stories of the Manchester Road Race – Highland Park Market’s Parking Lot. It has great people there, great stories of the people who are there, there’s a little magic there,” Carta said.
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