As part of the America 250 celebrations underway in Oneida County, the first ever “Race to Independence” took place over the weekend, anchoring the Saturday kickoff to the A250 season.

While the announcement of the winners itself was held at the Pavillion at the City Park in the evening, a good portion of the day (starting bright an early at noon!) was spent racing for through a series of clues, at least for members of the teams that spent the day in pursuit of a cash prize and infinite bragging rights.

At the end of the night, the Orange team, made up of Emily Jones, Trevor Jones, Emily Nelson, 

The first place Orange Team

 and Casey Nelson was the points winner and the recipient of the $500 prize to be divided up among the members.  Second place went to the Red team, made up of Bracken Degn, Hallee Degn, Joseph Kimberling, and Carbon Carter.  In order to “win” the race, the team was assigned a score for each of the separate events throughout the day, and come out with the best aggregate score.

The various locations throughout the day each had different tasks involved, from the more physical (such as target shooting) to the more crafty (flag  sewing, anyone?).  One highlight for onlookers was the “dinner” event held in the early evening at the park in Samaria.  Each team had to memorize a routine composed of 20 different moves, and perform it for “judges” who did not go easy on the contestants.  The combination of earnest effort and ridiculous action was a solid crowd-pleaser.

Beyond the two top teams, the event seemed to bring out both a spirit of competition as well as camaraderie in everyone on the course.  The other teams were (not in point order)

The almost first place Red team

Yellow - Hope Briggs, Stephie Briggs, Bridger Larsen, Danielle Larsen; Bright Blue – Lynsey Winward, Maycey Roberts, Ashley Wilson, Jasmine Griffin; Pink – Andrea Jones, Lacey Daniels, Kooper Daniels, Krichele Smith; Brown – Ezra Nielsen, Gary Blackmore, Phillip Nielsen, John Wall; Light Blue – Bailey Wise, Kelsey Jones, Gavin Jones, Brent Wise; Black – Jennifer Neilson, Lad 

The Pink team works on its coordinated routine in Samaria

 Neilson, Amelia Balappa, Levi Balappa; Green – Elise Reel, Kamas Reel, Dixon Reel, Dane Williams; Purple, Luke Waldron, Ben Waldron, Andrew Waldron, Dylan Waldron; Gray – Ken Nimer, Krystal Nimer, Karson Thorpe, Sydnee Thorpe.

Each event was paired with a historical event, idea, or person connected to the Founding of the country, and a bit of history was imparted to the racers along their route.

The various tasks stops along the way were overseen by volunteers, and included a wide variety of tasks.

It’s difficult to exactly convey how the event unfolded, but here’s an example of the clue that led team’s to Crowther’s reservoir: 

“The lanterns are Counted, the signal was clear, but the Roar or rebellion is what brings us here!  Our patience is gone, and the tax is too high We must march across town where the deep waters lie.  Take up your crates, leave the track far behind, Head for the harbor that we need to find.  Every patriot knows where the shoreline is wide, a Reservoir waits for the turn of the tide.  So build up your vessel, prepare for the splash, it’s time to make waves in a historic dash!”  

While it’s clear that the location has something to do with water, that could be any umber of places.  However, you might also notice that the capitalized letters spell out CROWTHERS, which is where teams ended up when they solved the clue.

At the reservoir, they were greeted with “Listen up, patriots!  It’s time for the Malad Tea Party!  Your mission is to construct a seaworthy vessel using only the cardboard and building materials provided at this station.  Once your boat is ready, you must choose one member of your team to don a life jacket, climb aboard, and paddle out to the center of the reservoir.  Upon reaching the center marker, your sailor must drop your team’s tea bag directly into the floating cup before paddling all the way back to shore.  But your task isn’t finished when you hit land – your team must completely disassemble your boat and throw all of your materials away in the trash bins.  Pay attention to cleanup, because leaving any cardboard, tape, or debris behind on the shoreline will result in an automatic point deduction on your final scorecard.  Grab your cardboard and start building!”

Once finished, teams were then given a clue that guided them to the American Legion Building, and so on.

All in all, it was an amazingly engaging day of activities, and it culminated at the City Park where a “Food Truck Rally was waiting to provide some additional fuel, and then a screening of “National Treasure” was shown on the pavilion bandshell.

Melanie and Brad Coleman indicated (is the nice way to put it) that they were not likely to host this event every year, but you never know… 

The committee was headed up by Brad and Melanie Coleman, and included Brenda and Don Daniels, Pam and Jeff Gibson, Kristle Jensen, JaNae Daniels, Karen and Bryan Kerr, and Troy and Cinniman Allen.