It's Memorial Day Weekend, when Humboldt County resident's fancies turn away from gardening, and toward kinetic sculpture. This weekend marks the 42nd anniversary of the race, which is hands down, my favorite thing in Humboldt County (and that's saying a lot). I've written about the kinetic sculpture race before--notably last year, when I was able to witness it for the first time.
This year was even better. I was honored to be selected as an art judge. I got a ringside seat for all of the action with my fellow judges, Tina, George, Jimmie, Lisa and Peggy. We tried our hardest (but probably didn't succeed) to turn a blind eye to the rampant bribery (a must for any team that wants to succeed in the race) and judged the teams in the categories of kinetic thrills, color, costumes, variety of materials and original design.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with our Humboldt customs (ahem), the Sculpture Race is a 3-day, 42-mile race from Arcata, California to the Victorian village of Ferndale. The sculptures must survive a grueling course that takes them over pavement, sand (and sometimes mud) and two separate water crossings.
On day one, the racers are judged on art, engineering and pageantry, then begin their trek on pavement, but soon move to traversing the sand dunes of Samoa. Day 1 culminates in "DEAD MAN'S DROP", which is a steep, sandy incline that the machines have to survive intact. The vehicles then make the short drive across the bay bridge to Eureka, where they wind up the day at the finish line downtown.
Day two begins with a water entry at Eureka's marina. The sculptures, aided by a variety of floatation devices, must negotiate a treacherous boat ramp, then a journey across the bay. The above video is of another one of my favorites, a kinetic taco truck sponsored by Rita's the taqueria around the corner from my house. Notice the grace with which the truck enters the water.....not all of the sculptures have such a graceful entry. After the sculptures exit the bay, they begin the journey South along Highway 101 to the day's finish line at Crab Park.
On the final day, the racers start the final stretch with a moonlight water entry at 1:51 AM. The sculptures (most of them anyway) come limping into downtown Ferndale later that afternoon.
Deciding which sculptures were the best was like a torture of the damned! I won't reveal what my top choices were, but I can show you some photos and videos of some of the sculptures that caught my eye.
I was definitely smitten (in a completely honorable "beauty of the human form" type-way) with Classical Nudes, a monstrous kinetic sculpture weighing in at around 1,700 pounds. This video is of their "pageantry" performance, in which the racers perform a recreation of Michelangelo's "Creation of Adam" against a portable backdrop. They are accompanied by a bevy of angry nuns and priests that run around with fig leaves on sticks trying to censor the beauty of the natural human forms. Astounding. The Classical Nudes had some problems on the water section of the race on the second day, but eventually prevailed.
Here's a shot of the Kinetic Taco Truck in action, courtesy of my pal Velma. The sculpture included a pair of animated Dia de los Muertos skeleton drivers, powered by humans in the backseat. The sculpture included a beautiful Ofrenda, which is unfortunately on the other side.
One of the kingpins of the kinetic world is Duane Flatmo, a local illustrator, sculptor and all-around renaissance man. His entry this year was entitled "The Crustation Wagon"--presumably because it was a crustacean that was encrusted with hundreds of aluminum pie pans and other baking implements. There was an impressive kinetic element to the sculpture, with the claws and tail all mobile. Check out how impressive the "Crustation" looks on the water.
There were plenty of other amazing sculptures that I don't really have time or space to go into here. One that I got some good footage of, though, was an oversized picnic basket sponsored by Eureka Natural Foods. This was the second year this sculpture entered the race--unfortunately, last year the rig didn't make it too far out of the Arcata plaza before breaking down. So far so good this year. The picnic basket entered the water like a champ, carrying its drivers, Moses-like through the bullrushes and on to glory.
Speaking of glory.....that's what the Kinetic Grand Championship is all about. There aren't gigantic cash sums at stake...instead, it's all about "glory", that intangible bit of madness that permeates every element of the sculpture race. I feel incredibly fortunate to live in a place where generations of children are raised into racing dynasties that pour their soul into the race every year.
If you haven't visited Humboldt County before... I beseech you to take the five-hour drive up the coast from San Francisco (or the seven-hour drive down from Portland). We've got redwood trees, an amazing coastline, fabulous Victorian houses, and a famous agricultural industry (I'm referring of course to the Humboldt Dairy industry). The best time to visit would of course be the Kinetic Grand Championship, which occurs on Memorial Day Weekend each year.
I'm going to leave you with two different short videos that show the 36-odd vehicles from this year's race circling around the Arcata plaza on the beginning of their journeys. You can also check out my Flickr gallery of photos from the race, and of course the Kinetic Grand Championship website, which contains a live feed of the race!
FOR THE GLORY!
