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Good news for people who like funnel cakes and human-powered sculptures! The Humboldt County Fair is joining forces with the Kinetic Universe to produce the first-ever Kinetic Obstacle Exhibition Derby (KO-ED) on opening day this Saturday. 

Image: Kinetic Universe

The KO-ED will kick off at the Humboldt County Fairgrounds at 1:30 p.m. with the Kinetic Racers’ Pageantry Parade, followed by the Rutabaga Royalty Hobby Kinetic Creature Race, a “delightfully absurd” stick creature competition. (Think hobby horse racing. If you’re not familiar with the sport, do yourself a favor and click here.) The illustrious Ladies’ Hat Day competition will take place at 3:30 p.m. And for the main event at 5 p.m., the famed Ferndale Racetrack will be transformed into a chaotic obstacle course where eight kinetic teams will zig-zag through mud and hay bales, dodge water balloons and fend off rodeo clowns.

Wait, what?! I thought there was supposed to be horse racing on opening day! What gives?!

No, dear reader, there will be no horse racing at this year’s fair. Despite multiple attempts to save the time-honored tradition, the California Horse Racing Board (CHRB) rejected the Humboldt County Fair Association’s request, ending a 128-year tradition of horse racing at the fair. In a last-ditch effort to keep horse racing in Humboldt, the fair association submitted a secondary request to host three consecutive race weekends in October, but it was denied.

Looking to replace the money-making event — which brought in nearly $1 million in commissions and purses during a three-week run last year — the fair association teamed up with the Kinetic Universe to offer something a little different for this year’s fair.

“We’re thrilled to partner with the fair,” Jennifer Thelander, Kinetic Universe outreach director, wrote in a prepared statement. “They offered to build us a custom racecourse based on our wild ideas. Spectators will see racers challenged in ways they aren’t at the Kinetic Grand Championship — we can’t wait for everyone to see what we’ve planned.”

While you get yourself amped up for opening day, get a behind-the-scenes look at what it takes to prepare for the Kinetic Grand Championship in friend of the Outpost Ray Olson’s documentary series, “One Team’s Quest for Kinetic Glory!” The multi-part series follows racing team mPROM2 in the weeks leading up to the big day. Keep scrolling to check ‘em out!

A full schedule of this year’s fair offerings can be found here.

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