03/20/2026
Jackie Ho
Results are in!
As with the Salmon River Winter Festival, we use a two-way method of scoring. RAW SCORE is the grand total of all points added up for each location. HIGHEST AVERAGE SCORE is determined by taking the raw score and dividing it by the number of visits recorded.
The only variable is that not everyone turns in their ballots! We held off until today to finalize as we got six ballots in yesterday. We sold over 250 ballots, we had 217 turned in (actually, 220---three had initials of sites but no scores)
RAW SCORE WINNERS: (top 5)
Off The Hook Tavern with 184 visits, 3,014 points
Sandy Pond Sportsmen's Association with 164 visits, 2,898 points
Buster's Pit Stop 2 with 170 visits, 2,864 points
3M’S Sand Bar & Restaurant with 173 visits, 2,672 points
Richland Hotel LLC with 178 visits, 2,659 points
The rest of the sites range from 1,060 points/68 visits to 2,376 points/155 visits.
Now for the HIGHEST AVERAGE SCORES: (top 5)
The Huckleberry in Lacona with ave. score of 17.9/20
Sandy Pond Sportsmen's Association ave. score of 17.67/20
Buster's Pit Stop 2 with ave. score of 16.85/20
Altmar Hotel with ave. score of 16.405/20
Off The Hook Tavern with ave. score of 16.380/20
The rest of the percentages ranged from 12.722/20 to 15.588/20. Average score balances out the "out of the way" places. For example RMMOC (the organizer) was low score on points with only 68 people stopping out of 250, but by averages, Dr. Hamilton's muffin pan potatoes placed 6th!
We decided to score half on product and half on service/site for this event. It was great to see that most places rated 8-10 on site and service. All in all the scores were generally higher than a wing walk, with this event being a more relaxed afternoon, less crowded and easy to do.
As we have heard, some ran out of product. We had calls asking if it was still on, and what did we think for numbers......we were uncertain as this was the first time we managed this event. We can tell you that the sites that ran out got hit the hardest first as their numbers closely match the rest of the top sites. RMMOC and Half-Shire had the least visits, as non-profits without a bar.---60 and 104 respectively. The lowest number for a business was 105, all other swere 124 and above, with Off The Hook Tavern having the most visits at 184.
Thank you to each and every business, the owners and their dedicated staffs who worked hard on a sunday to again deliver great product and prove the Salmon River Valley is a Foodie destination!
The 2027 Potato Walk will be Sunday March 14, 2027. We are NOT going to move it to a Saturday as we want to keep this event part of a St. Patrick's weekend, with Altmar Hotel's well established St. Baldrick's event as the big event. (We are pleased that they set another record!)
The Play it Forward fund at Rural & Migrant Ministry of Oswego County, Inc. deposited $2,686 in the bank after this event. There were a couple of small donations left beyond the 250 ballots sold.
This account exists to assist needy students in APW, Sandy Creek and Pulaski with athletic equipment either new, or from our growing inventory at RMMOC.
Special thanks to Robin Warren-Philips, Cassidy Philips, Rob Philips, Betty Warren (our lead ballot scorer), Denise Schneider (Sandy Pond Sportsmen's Association) and all the team at RMMOC and Half-Shire, and our great friends at Oswego County Tourism who worked on this. Credit to Brian Kehoe who built this event also!
The school athletic directors will be reminded of the fund and its availability.
Thank you to everyone for being part of the day, for your photos and comments!
