RIDGEFIELD — Zucchini can be a part of a balanced meal.
Balance also is a factor in a zucchini racing vehicle.
“Just make sure it won’t fall over,” Sam Vernon said.
The 12-year-old Vancouver boy was one of participants when this month’s First Saturday event in Ridgefield included a new attraction.
The official theme was a salute to the city’s Wild West heritage. But things got rolling, literally, with the inaugural Zucchini 500.
Sam, his brother Jack, 10, and their 7-year-old sister Mary all took part in the gravity-powered event.
The race was added to the schedule at the suggestion of an hombre who goes by the handle of Basil Bob. As Wild West nicknames goes, it’s got to be right up there with Buffalo Bill and Wild Bill.
But it’s actually a nod to some of the produce Bob Mayfield grows for his booth at the Ridgefield farmers market — which also helped bring zucchini racing to Overlook Park.
“I heard about it at a farmers market convention,” Mayfield said.
Mayfield brought a couple of bags of Lego parts so racers could build their own racing frames, complete with wheels. Organizers also had 10 or so zucchinis available as loaners.
The Vernons, however, took the “run what you brung” approach to racing. What they brung was some produce grown by their grandmother, Linda Coop. The racing fleet consisted of two zukes, for Sam and Jack, and a cucumber for Mary.
Fabrication required a lot of brick-snapping and on-the-fly design decisions. Two axles or three? Are seven rubber bands enough to buckle in the zucchini?
After some final touches — for Mary, it was a liberal application of “My Little Pony” stickers — it was time to turn ’em loose. A straight run down the wooden ramp required a careful release, since these were not remote-controlled zucchinis. (Wouldn’t that be a GMO achievement!)
“I started it diagonally, and it hit the side,” Jack said after a bouncy ride.
They also experimented with a mini-racer. It featured a 1 1/2 -inch-long Mexican sour gherkin that came from Basil Bob’s stock of produce.
The veggie-mobiles certainly were an appropriate nod to the city’s agricultural heritage. But other events on Saturday’s schedule were designed to highlight historic people and places. Brad Anderson, curator of the Clark County Historical Museum, has designed a walking tour that explores the downtown core.
Anderson also explained that the town’s original name was Union Ridge, thanks to men who’d fought for the Union during the Civil War before settling here.
And they’re not — from our standpoint, anyway — unknown soldiers. One of those men was featured a couple of years ago when the Clark County Historical Museum looked at the Civil War from a local perspective.
Albert Marion Edmonds enlisted in the 6th Kansas Cavalry Regiment on Oct. 4, 1861. According to Civil War references, the 6th Kansas Cavalry saw action in what was described as Indian Territory and the frontier district. By the time Edmonds finally headed for the Wild West in the late 1800s, he might have found it pretty tame by comparison.
