An end to a 128-year tradition of horse racing and a drop in attendance and money-making at this year’s Humboldt County Fair? Not an insurmountable problem with some creativity, said long-time Kinetic Universe race organizer Jennifer Thelander and Kinetic Rutabaga Queen-for-Life Olivia Gambino. They teamed up with the fair board to transform the historic Ferndale Racetrack on Saturday into a first-ever Kinetic Obstacle Exhibition Derby of human-powered vehicles and fun-loving Kinetic team members in front of their fans in the grandstands. See the slideshow below for highlights of the day.
“We’re thrilled to partner with the fair,” said Thelander, Kinetic Universe outreach director, in advance publicity. “They offered to build us a custom racecourse based on our wild ideas.”
The mutual goal was to try to attract fair attendance in the absence of horse racing and betting fans. Saturday also included the Ladies Hat Day Competition, a long-time, popular Humboldt County Fair annual tradition. As usual, about 50 competitors wearing Most Outrageous to Most Glamorous hats showed up despite continuous light rain falling in early afternoon to compete for fashion glory and big prizes.
As Saturday’s racetrack events got underway in light rain on the first day of the fair, Gambino said the Kinetic participants were excited because they got to camp on the fairgrounds for two nights. “One of the things that I love so much about Kinetics,” said Gambino, “is that we want to bring year-round family-oriented Kinetic programming to Humboldt County, so getting this opportunity tickles me frickin’ pink.”
“What we love about this fair today is that in rain, fog or sunshine Humboldt’s people come out to get gritty and gorgeous and together,” said Kinetic Universe member Elle Penner. “And we are going to have 11 Kinetic sculptures do pageantry, do shenanigans, do some racing. We’re also having hat day. We’re embracing a tradition that’s happening for many, many a year here in Humboldt County. Let’s have some fun for the glory.”
“We’re just so lucky that we get the opportunity to participate in the way that we are this year,” Penner added. “We love the Kinetics Grand Championship, and we love that we get to bring just a small piece of that to the Humboldt County Fair. This partnership with the Humboldt County Fair could not be more perfect because it brings all the generations together and gives something for everybody to do all in the same place, all in special ways that are so signature.”
Smooth organization and scheduling suffered a little in this first Kinetic Obstacle Exhibition Derby and the continuous light rain no doubt affected attendance around 2 p.m., with the Kinetic Pageantry Parade of Kinetic Teams competing up in good spirits to show off their costumed creativity and theatrical and choreography skills.
The Rutabaga Royalty Hobby Kinetic Kreature Race followed as, one at a time, individuals riding their hobby horses leapt over and sometimes rolling over very low-bar hurdles in the track dirt in a timed race also judged for creativity.
Somewhere around 3:30 p.m., the 50 or so participants in the Ladies Hat Day Competition lined up, some in high heels, on the horse-apple-free racetrack to strut and dance their hats off in front of the judges. The stakes were high for the popular event organized by Debbie Retzloft-Olson and Cindy Olsen, and eventual winners of the event were named: Grand Prize of $1,500 to Olivia Gambino; First Runner-Up of $1,000 to Elle Penner; and Second Runner-Up of $500 to Carolyn Polasek. “Hategory” winners included: Best Couple or Group to June Moxon’s Sparkle & the Rhinestones team; Most Original to Yavanna Reynolds; Funniest or Most Outrageous to Tracy Jackson; and Most Glamorous to Tilly Thompson. Honorable mentions went to Alice Roberts, Lucy Lips, Barbara Sweigart and Ellie Green.
The Kinetic Obstacle Exhibition Derby began after 5 p.m. with a long, drawn-out Kinetic Obstacle Exhibition Derby Main Event that saw 11 teams competing in the race. The Swing Kids survived as the winner as the teams raced in two-vehicle heats over the dirt track’s speed bumps, a mud pit, a giant hill and hay-bale obstacles. The other teams included Daisy Belle/Team Fembot, Brown Chicken Brown Trout, Plan Bee, They Came from Out-o-Town, The Prehi”stoke”ic Woody, mPROM2, Clown School Dropout, Sparkle the Horse, Swing Kids 2 and The Royal Rolling Kissing Kab. No injuries were reported, and no racers had to be put down.
The fair continues Wednesday, Aug. 21, to Sunday, Aug. 24, with the 4-H livestock shows and auctions, carnival, live music shows, a chili cook-off with host Guy Fieri, a tractor pull, a lumberjack competition and other performances. See the full schedule at humboldtcountyfair.org.
This article appears in Global Solidarity at the Mouth of the Klamath.