Around the region, there are a slew of events for fans of music, food, exercise, nature, cars, fire towers, bikes and parades.

There are low chances of rain, highs in the 70s and 80s and plenty of sun predicted by the National Weather Service.

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Barbecue

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The I Love BBQ and Music Festival in Lake Placid will fire up the grills starting today and running through Sunday.

Along with savory food, the festival brings music, cornhole and demonstrations from the Paul Smith’s College woodsmen’s team. Barbecue teams from the U.S. and Canada will compete Sunday in the Kansas City Barbeque Society contest.

The festival will be held at the North Elba Show Grounds on state Route 73. Admission is $6/adult and free for children under 10 years old.

More information on the festival can be found at tinyurl.com/4zx66dxu and www.ilbbqf.com.

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Bike fest

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The Wilmington Mountain Bike Festival will be pedaling through the Whiteface region starting today, and running through Sunday.

The self-proclaimed “mountain bike capital of the Adirondacks,” Wilmington holds several trail networks managed by the Barkeater Trails Alliance. This festival is a “major fundraiser” for BETA and is an event “for those that want to ride bikes until they drop” or for those who want to relax and enjoy riding around.

The event is based in the Wilmington Recreation Park, were people will be camping near the jump and pump track park. The festival features single track riding at the Flume and Hardy Road, as well as rides in Lake Placid and Elizabethtown.

Things kick of tonight with a group ride in Wilmington on Hardy Road and barbecue afterward.

Group rides and clinics in Wilmington and Lake Placid all through Saturday with an evening dinner. The band The Outcrops will perform at 7 p.m. at a concert open to the community with a suggested $5 donation at the gate. The evening will round out with a bonfire

Wilmington group rides pick up again on Sunday, including the kids races an “a screaming 3-mile descent” on Poor Man’s Downhill.

A schedule for these rides can be found at tinyurl.com/bdzbzr5m.

Online registration is closed, but people can still contact the organizers. Registration for kids’ races is still open at tinyurl.com/bxpxdmxd.

E-bikes are not allowed on group rides because their use is prohibited on Adirondack Forest Preserve lands, “where 99% of the trails in Wilmington are located.”

“BETA is not against e-bikes, but our hands are tied on this one,” according to the event website.

More information can be found at wilmingtonmtbfestival.com.

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Tupper Lake Triad Challenge

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The Triad hiking challenge on Saturday goes up three of Tupper Lake’s most iconic mountains — Coney, Arab and Goodman.

The event costs $45 per person or $135 for a three-person relay team, with proceeds going to local Rotary Club projects.

Racers will check in at 8 a.m. at Coney Mountain for a 9 a.m. start. The first 40 participants get shirts, lunch vouchers and a free pint of beer.

For more information call 518-359-3328. And for race and mountain questions call Ted Merrihew at 518-593-3355.

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St. Regis Tower lighting

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As the sun sets on Saturday, Bob Brand, Rich LaBombard and Tom Hirshblond will hike up St. Regis Mountain in Paul Smiths carrying packs filled with propane lanterns and LED lights. Their goal: to light up the 105-year-old fire tower on the summit, showing where, for 80 years, fire observers sat for long hours, surveying the landscape for burning hazards.

The lights on St. Regis will go on at 9 p.m., at the same time as around 40 other fire towers across New York state.

Brand said the New York State Chapter of the Forest Fire Lookout Association has been doing this for the past 10 years and St. Regis has been lit up for seven. He’s been hiking up for six now.

He does it because he enjoys the camaraderie of participating and putting on the unique light show.

Brand’s wife, Mary, said she always watches the lighting from the Lake Clear Lodge, which holds a viewing from their beach, and that the group gathered on the shore there always cheers loudly when they see the lights go on.

There will also be fire tower lightings on the local Hurricane, Azure and Arab mountains, according to the FFLA.

The illumination equipment is pretty light, Brand said. At least, in comparison with the other tools and supplies he’s carried up the trail to work on the tower over the years. He recalls lugging bags of concrete up the mountain to replace the tower footings, along with water to mix the dust with.

The goal is to call attention to the role the fire towers played in protecting the people and woods within eyeshot of the summit.

The fire towers became less necessary in the 20th century, and the state slowly decommissioned them. Local towers were then manmade structure in a wilderness area, not allowed due to the “Forever Wild” clause of the state constitution which created the Adirondack Park. The vacant tower was falling apart and dangerous. The stairs had been removed and there was talk of the state taking the tower down.

But the Friends of St. Regis Mountain Fire Tower advocated to save it. They got a small area around the tower designated as a historic area.

“Bureaucracy works both ways,” Brand said.

He has a list of all the fire observers who worked high above St. Regis. Brand will carry this list up with him and read as the lights burn for half an hour.

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Car show

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The 41st Olympic Car Show will rev up over the weekend in Lake Placid.

Saturday at 6 p.m. is a “cruise night” starting at the Lake Placid Volunteer Fire Department at 456 Old Military Road. The machines will roll down Main Street and around Mirror Lake.

The main event on Sunday will kick off with a parade at 11:45 a.m. and a meetup from noon to 4 p.m. at the Olympic Speedskating Oval in Lake Placid. This event is put on by the Lake Placid Ski Club and the LPVFD.

Vehicle registration costs $20 or $30 at the gate. Spectator admission is $5 per adult and $3 for children under 12. For more information go to tinyurl.com/ypct3y37.

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Northern Current

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On Sunday, the fourth annual Northern Current music festival will bring in nine bands with genres ranging from Afrobeat to Americana, blues to Balkan jazz, and contemporary folk to cosmic country.

Northern Current is free, family friendly and runs from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 3 in Riverside Park.

The festival features a “kid zone” with activities from Play ADK and ADK Art Rise, local food vendors and band merchandise.

More information on the bands can be found at tinyurl.com/yc7ds7z8.

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AuSable Forks Parade

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Officials at the town of Black Brook, which includes the hamlet of AuSable Forks, are preparing for what they anticipate will be the largest parade in the town in decades. On Sunday, tons of floats, fire trucks, dance groups, musicians, community organizations, stilt walkers and classic cars will roll through town starting at 1 p.m.

Later that evening, a fireworks show is scheduled for 8 p.m. in Clock Park.

On Saturday and Sunday, the town is having a communitywide yard sale, as well as entertainment and vendors in River Park.

Information on road closures for the parade and fireworks from the town’s safety director can be found at tinyurl.com/dp3r8dzf.