Saturday, May 29, 2010

kinetic sculpture race - arcata, ca

in arcata today,
the noon whistle blew
as it does every day.
but today's whistle signalled
the start
of the 42nd annual
►kinetic sculpture race◄
a 3-day race
along the roads and beaches and waterways 
of northern california.
the race is held every memorial day weekend,
beginning saturday on the arcata plaza
and ending monday in downtown ferndale.
(photos are mine from 2007)

here's ned watching the race in 2007 (he was 2):
i lived there for many years
and this unbelievably cool race
which fuses
art
and
engineering
and
sustainability
and
full-on wackiness
is the pinnacle of the creativity and diversity
that defines life in arcata.

please
 to check out the official website
with live streaming video.

a few things you need to know
about the kinetic sculpture race:
1. all machines must be solely human-powered
2. some of the teams spend all year building their machines
3. there is a kinetic sculpture museum in ferndale
4. there is a rutabaga queen
5. machines & teams are judged based on criteria such as:
kinetic thrills, humor, theatrics,
glory, crowd appeal, and bribes for the judges
6. there are 7 pages of rules (click here to read them).
one of my favorites is this one:
Since mothers are discouraged from running alongside,
racers must carry a comforting item of Psychological Luxury
no smaller than a restaurant coffee cup at all times.
An old security blanket (your "binkie", or whatever you called it!),
a soft teddy-bear or sock doll will suffice.
"Teddy Bears" are highly recommended
or an unreasonable facsimile thereof.

(please note: the name of the race has been officially changed to
"kinetic grand championship" for some complicated legal reasons.)

1 comment:

Rebecca said...

I'm all for "Full on Wackiness!" Love your photos... xoxo

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