Kinetic Kickoff Rolls With Giant Puns, Moving Sculptures, and a Heart as Big as Humboldt
Every Memorial Day weekend, Humboldt County practically worships wacky creativity.
For three days, human-powered sculptures wobble, splash, and occasionally collapse their way across the Humboldt Bay region in the annual Kinetic Grand Championship — a glorious mix of engineering, performance art, athletic endurance, and questionable decision-making .
Saturday’s kickoff brought crowds to the streets to cheer on clever takes made of metal, paint, and a lot of humor. In Humboldt’s Kinetic Race, it’s rarely enough to simply build a machine. Contestants are expected to lace their creations with jokes, visual gags, double meanings, and bad puns.
The crowd watching the Kinetic kickoff was nearly as colorful as the racers.[Photo by Mark McKenna]
The weekend opened with enough color and creativity to power Humboldt for months. [Helen Wheels getting their tech checked. Photo by Mark McKenna]
A steam punk sculpture getting Tech Checked before entering the Plaza. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Kinetic Day One included street theater, costumes, and dramatic collapses before the race even fully got rolling. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Racers spent as much time entertaining the crowd as pedaling.[Photo by Mark McKenna]
Ramp Master signals for the next team to come down for a break check. In Kinetic Sculpture Racing, the brake check is a mandatory safety inspection required before any amphibious vehicle (sculpture) is allowed to compete. Because these are human-powered, often heavy machines navigating steep hills, sand, and water, reliable brakes are strictly enforced for the safety of both pilots and spectators. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Arcata streets filled with cheers, bells, costumes, and the occasional confused tourist. [Peter Wagner Bounced Forty 9th Glory on the plaza. Photo by Mark McKenna]
Some competitors looked ready for a parade. Others looked ready for intergalactic diplomacy.[Photo by Mark McKenna]
Close-up details revealed just how much work teams pour into their creations. Hood ornament on the Dragstrip Divas sculpture. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Appealing to a section of the local culture, the sculpture on the right referenced the flower power that infused much Humboldt for a time. [Ken Beidleman’s Hippypotamus makes a break out of the Plaza onto the course. Photo by Mark McKenna]
Music and dancing broke out repeatedly as racers and spectators turned downtown Arcata into a moving party. [DragStrip Divas preform on the plaza. Photo by Mark McKenna]
Troupes of dancers and performers moved alongside the sculptures throughout the day. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
A tall bike rider takes a lap on the plaza. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
The Rebel Appliance beats down the empire as they take a lap on the plaza. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
The race brought together engineers, artists, performers, and plenty of delighted onlookers. [Bob Moss paints happy little bees on the plaza. Photo by Mark McKenna]
Costumes ranged from handsome and handmade to what can only be described as eye catching and unhinged. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Satire and absurdity have always been essential Kinetic ingredients. [Trooth Decay addresses the crowd at the plaza. Photo by Mark McKenna]
By afternoon, racers were already grinding through sand sections that tested both muscles and machinery. [Chitty Chitty Blig Bling rolls into the Manila Community Center. Photo by Mark McKenna]
A fish above the water on the Samoa Bridge. [Photo from Caltrans. See more here.]
Kinetic sculptures are often an explosion of color. [Photo from Caltrans]
With Eureka’s Carson mansion in the background, sculptures made their way to Halvorsen Park. [Sequoia Humane Society’s Home Base rolls past the Carson Mansion on their way to the finish line at Halverson Park. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Some teams tackled the course with surprising efficiency. Others embraced chaos as a strategy.[Rolling Thunder bolts down M Street to the finish line. Photo by Mark McKenna]
Peter Wagner bounced his way into Halverson Park in Eureka as the race reached it’s first day end point. [Photo by Mark McKenna]
Despite decades of tradition, the Kinetic Race still manages to feel like Humboldt discovering itself all over again — weird, inventive, funny, and impossible to ignore.
Psst: for those looking to watch the Splash tomorrow, there is a change this year. “Sculptures enter the water under the Samoa Bridge in Eureka between 9:07am and 11:07am and exit at the Wharfinger Public Boat Ramp.” (The Kinetic Website)
Join the discussion! For rules visit: https://kymkemp.com/commenting-rules
Comments system how-to: https://wpdiscuz.com/community/postid/10599/
Ever notice how the race brings in funky weather?
For The Glory of HumCo’s Famous Skies ✨😂
The coldest winter you will ever spend is one summer in Arcata, McKinleyville and Eureka.
It was really sunny on race day in 1991 (May 25th).
Funny to mention all the glitter. I love Kinetic. I’m an Also Ran Once For Rutabaga (shoker, right?! lol).
But it IS funny that a whole lot of hardcore environmentalists are involved with this race … and they’re clogging the waterways for miles with micro trash.
Fantabulous 🙃
Pretty sure by this post you’ve never met any.
This is the best circus in Humboldt…
Aside from the Clown-Act at Supervisor’s meetings…
For the Glory!!
Nothin like the Humboldt hippy race.. I will say it’s always funny watching the idiots attempt to cross the bay on their hippy powered machines, best part is seeing the ones that put too much pot and not enough thought into their contraptions swimming out of that stinking ass water when their stoner mobile sinks to the bottom. That’s good entertainment .
Every party has a pooper, that’s why we invited you. Party Pooper!