KINGSTON – It was the kind
of excitement that only comes around once a year in Kingston. No, not
Santa Claus; not the New Year’s Eve ball dropping. Sunday was the
annual old-fashioned event where gravity pulled 21 competing go-carts
down Lower Broadway, for the 22nd annual Kingston Artist Soapbox Derby.
Over 300 delighted spectators cheered along the participants, ages ranging from toddler to senior citizen. The event was a marked increase from last year’s turnout.
Some of the creations carried a message. For others, including
Kids Division
winner
Alexander Franco, with his parents, it was just a day for fun
“We don’t do the judging ourselves,” organizer Sarah Olivieri, owner of Pivot Ground, a downtown hotspot, said. Co-director Sarah Bissonnette-Adler giggled in agreement. The two women have run the event for the past three years. “We have private judges that come in each year; we don’t pay them, they just volunteer because they love the Derby.” Olivieri explained.
The People’s Choice was awarded to Willy Wonka Tribute, created by Possibility Studios, a maker’s space on Greenkill Avenue. The prize was $1,000.
Alexander Franco, 6, who constructed a police truck buggy, took the $500 Kids Division prize, delighting his parents B.J. and Yukiko, who both accompanied the race as parental brake pads.
Gravity Control officers, clad in bright red matching Tee-shirts, lined each side of the boulevard to intercept runaway buggies – just in case.
Other favorite runners-up included Best Tribute to Horticultural Horror, which resembled a giant Venus fly trap on wheels.
A gay marriage awareness float, uniting Mr. Liberty and Ms. Justice, was sponsored by Legal Services of the Hudson Valley.
Also spotted were a rolling dragon, and a graffiti-tagged subway car.
