Hi All,
Just a short while ago, Bryan and I returned from our first ever July 4th parade in our new community of Council, Idaho, along with the "World Famous" porcupine races. I bought a T-shirt (pictured below) to commemorate this momentous occasion. (Sorry I forgot to rotate the photo before posting it, but you can read it okay either way.)
So the proceeds from this event's T-shirt sales helps the local chamber of commerce fund their fireworks display. There is also a Breakfast, a Free Bounce House at City Park, an Art Show, a Quilt Show, and a Beer Garden in downtown Council, along with various food vendors. Bryan and I ate a delicious Beef Barbeque lunch prepared by the local Sr. Center. Following the Porcupine Race, the Lawnmower Drag Races take place. (We did not stay for the Lawnmower Races. Maybe next year. :-) )
So here's the back story to the Porcupine Race, as told to us by Justin, one of the men helping Bryan build our house.
Every year, the night of July 3rd, teams who are sponsored by local businesses go out and catch a porcupine. (Apparently, porcupine's are docile creatures and they don't "throw" their quills like I thought they did.) They name their porcupine. Some of this years contestants were "Cuddles, Type O, Buddy, Tiny, Brutus, Fire-Fast" etc.. These porcupines ride through the July 4th parade so folks can get a first look at them. Following the parade, folks gather at the school's football field and there are auctioneers who "auction off" the porcupines and their handlers. Average price for a porcupine this year was between $125.00 and $225.00. The business sponsor of the winning porcupine receives the $ raised. From what I am told, he generously tips the porcupine "handler" team who caught and raced the porcupine. There are rules to this race. Porcupines are treated humanely. One handling team was disqualified, despite their 2nd place in their heat run because they apparently "shoved their porcupine over the finish line. The handlers are not allowed to mistreat their porcupine in any way, and pushing or shoving is a major "no-no". (I was told that the crowd boo-ed very loudly last year when one team seemed to be rough handling their porcupine.) In any case, six porcupines are run per heat. The porcupine "handlers" start at one end of the field with their porcupine underneath a garbage can. When the starter says "Go!" they lift up their can, and then they need to coax their porcupine to run to the other end of the field using their garbage can as a means to keep it from running backwards, and a broom to "gently guide" it in the proper direction and keep it from climbing the fencing. I was surprised at how entertaining and fun it was to be at the race. The first & second place heat winners from the three heats then run in the final Championship Race for the prize money.
The porcupines are returned to the spot in which they were captured.
I wanted to take video and post it here, but my video camera's battery was dead...and I had not remembered to charge my phone overnight, so it too did not have enough battery to record the race.
Here's a link for you to read a press release I found for the Idaho Statesman Newspaper from today's race.
The youtube link shows the 2010 race, so you can get a flavor of my race experience today.
Enjoy!
I'll post more later. Just wanted to get this out for your July 4th pleasure.
