Editing Watkins Glen, New York (section)

== Notable events and attractions ==
[[File:Seneca Lake from Watkins Glen July 2017.jpg|thumb|left|Seneca Lake from Watkins Glen]]

=== Watkins Glen State Park ===
{{Main|Watkins Glen State Park}}
[[Watkins Glen State Park]] is a 778-acre park with a 400-foot-deep (120 m)<ref name=RIoG_PS>{{cite book |title=2014 New York State Statistical Yearbook |url=http://www.rockinst.org/nys_statistics/2014/2014_Yearbook_Section_O.pdf |publisher=The Nelson A. Rockefeller Institute of Government |year=2014 |chapter=Section O: Environmental Conservation and Recreation, Table O-9 |page=674 |access-date=April 3, 2016 |archive-date=April 28, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428231718/http://www.rockinst.org/nys_statistics/2014/2014_Yearbook_Section_O.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref> narrow gorge featuring 19 waterfalls throughout less than two miles. It is considered a "flagship" park by the State of New York.<ref>{{cite web |title=Watkins Glen State Park History |url=https://www.watkinsglenchamber.com/watkins-glen-state-park-history |publisher=Watkins Glen Chamber of Commerce |access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref>

=== Auto racing at Watkins Glen ===
[[File:Cars drive through the Esses during the 2014 Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen.jpg|thumb|right|The Sahlen's Six Hours of The Glen at Watkins Glen International]]

Watkins Glen is noted for its role in [[auto racing]], being the home of a street course used in [[road racing]], a famous racetrack, [[Watkins Glen International]], one of the premier automobile road racing tracks in the United States, which has hosted the [[NASCAR Cup Series]] [[NASCAR Cup races at Watkins Glen|Go Bowling at The Glen]], [[IndyCar Series]] [[Grand Prix at The Glen]], and the [[IMSA SportsCar Championship]] [[6 Hours of Watkins Glen]]. The first Watkins Glen Sports Car Grand Prix was held in 1948 on public streets in and near the village. Organized by resident [[Cameron Argetsinger]], it was the first post-[[World War II|WWII]] road race held in the United States and it marked the revival of American road racing.

The original course ran for {{convert|6.6|mi|km}} and passed through the center of the village. The streets used for the original course remain intact today and a checkered flag marks the original start-finish line on the village's main street. During the 1952 race, driver Fred Wacker struck onlookers sitting on a curb on a corner coming down West 4th St. (State Route 409), killing a 7-year-old boy and injuring 10 others. The tragedy caused the end of street racing at the Glen and elsewhere in the United States.<ref>{{cite book |last=Defechereux |first=Philippe|title= Watkins Glen 1948-1952: The Definitive Illustrated History|year=1998 |publisher=Beeman Jorgensen |isbn=0-929758-17-X }}</ref>

A permanent racing facility, the Watkins Glen Grand Prix Race Course opened in 1956. It has hosted nearly every type of road racing, from the Sahlen's [[6 Hours of Watkins Glen]] (1948-current), the [[Formula One]] [[United States Grand Prix]] (1961–1980), and the [[I Love New York 355 at The Glen]] (1957-current), which was one of the few races on the [[Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series]] schedule not conducted on an oval speedway, the other being [[Sonoma Raceway]] until NASCAR added more road courses to the Cup Series schedule.

=== International Motor Racing Research Center ===
[[File:International Motor Racing Research Center.jpg|thumb|International Motor Racing Research Center]]
The International Motor Racing Research Center, a professional archive of motorsports history, opened in June 1999 in an annex of the [[Watkins Glen Public Library]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Our History |url=https://www.racingarchives.org/about-the-imrrc/our-history/ |website=IMRRC |publisher=International Motor Racing Research Center |access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref> The mission of the center is to preserve and share the history of motorsports around the world.<ref>{{cite web |title=Collecting, Preserving and Sharing History |url=https://www.racingarchives.org/about-the-imrrc/overview/ |website=IMRRC |publisher=International Motor Racing Research Center |access-date=20 July 2019}}</ref>

=== Personal Watercraft racing at Watkins Glen ===
Since 2014, Watkins Glen has hosted a weekend of IJSBA (International Jet Sports Boating Association) closed course racing, and has become one of the largest race venues in the sport today. Originally promoted in Region 8 by NEWA (North East Watercraft Alliance), until 2016 when East Coast Watercross purchased the series, racing has been in Seneca Lake, near Clute Memorial Park and Campground and is typically the last weekend in August. The event has always been free to spectators and features both closed course racing and freestyle competition using standup, sit-down, and sport class machines.

=== 1973 Summer Jam at Watkins Glen Rock Festival ===
The racetrack was also the scene of the July 28, 1973, [[Summer Jam at Watkins Glen]] [[rock festival]] attended by an estimated 600,000 people, one-and-a-half times the crowd at 1969's historic [[Woodstock Festival]] and a world record for the largest number of people at a pop music festival. The concert featured [[The Allman Brothers Band]], [[Grateful Dead]], and [[The Band]]. The music started at noon on Saturday and continued long into Sunday.

=== Phish festivals ===
On July 1–3 of 2011, the band [[Phish]] hosted Superball IX, a three-day music festival on the same grounds as the Summer Jam of '73. On August 21–23, 2015, Phish hosted their 10th festival, Magnaball, on the grounds. Phish planned to return to Watkins Glen for their 11th festival, Curveball, on August 17–19, 2018 but was forced to cancel when their permit was revoked due to floods contaminating the local water supply.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://phish.com/news/curveball-forced-to-cancel/|title = Curveball Forced to Cancel}}</ref>

=== ''True Love'' schooner ===
Watkins Glen is the home port for ''True Love'', a schooner built in 1926 that was featured in ''[[High Society (1956 film)|High Society]]'' (1956).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://wskg.org/history/true-love-schooner/|title=True Love Schooner|last=Johnson|first=Shane|website=WSKG|date=8 May 2014|language=en-US|access-date=2019-05-02}}</ref>

=== Farm animal protection movement ===
[[File:FarmSanctuary.JPG|thumb|Farm Sanctuary's headquarters in Watkins Glen]]
[[File:Schuyler County Courthouse, Watkins Glen, New York State.jpg|thumb|right|Schuyler County Courthouse in Watkins Glen]]
Watkins Glen is the home of [[Farm Sanctuary]], a national farm animal protection organization co-founded by activist [[Gene Baur]] in 1986. In 1991, the organization opened a shelter in Watkins Glen that has since provided lifelong care for thousands of animals rescued from abuse; hosted numerous public events; and welcomed thousands of visitors from all over the world, sharing with them views of militant vegetarianism.