On Saturday morning, the skies were gray above Arcata. But the town square was bursting with color, as crowds of people in costume surrounded dozens of gigantic moving sculptures.

Teams Dolly Spartan and Dolly Partonon do a lap around Arcata Plaza before the race. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Before the race starts, teams gather in Arcata Plaza to show off their pageantry and art vehicles. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

There was Dolly Spartan, which was not to be confused with Dolly Partonon; a black spy vehicle that spit fire; a group of bees that also danced.

A broken airplane was adorned with penguins and the environmentalist message: “They can’t fly. Neither should we.”

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Every year, Arcata Plaza fills with hundreds of spectators ahead of the Kinetic Grand Championship. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Kinetic sculptures started the first leg of the race on Saturday, May 24, passing dairy farms and fields towards the coast in Humboldt County. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

At noon, the race took off through town, past dairy farms, then to the beach, as part of the first leg of a three-day race called the Kinetic Grand Championship.

The race, known as the “triathlon of the art world,” took place Memorial Day weekend in Humboldt County. Founded in 1969 by artist Hobart Brown, it’s a local tradition where teams race homemade human-powered art vehicles over 50 miles of land, sand, water and mud.

In Arcata, several teams build their race sculptures in the Kinetic Lab, a warehouse dedicated to kinetic artists and metal workers. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Most teams consist of a pilot, pit crew and a group of costumed peons following closely on their own bicycles. The rules are lengthy, but cheeky, advising each team to keep “an item of comfort (we recommend a teddy bear)” on their craft at all times.

Team Reno Cowsino parades its vehicle around Arcata Plaza before the start of the race. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

A member of the pit crew bikes around Arcata Plaza at the start of the Kinetic Grand Championship. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Kinetic sculpture Malice in Wonderland reaches the finish line in Ferndale, California, on Monday, May 26, 2025. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Contestants are judged on everything from their artistry and engineering, to how big of a splash they make entering Humboldt Bay. Bribes are encouraged.

Malia ‘Pork Chop’ Matsumoto (left) and partner Lush Newton (right) prepare the kinetic sculpture Ghoul Scout Pine Box Derby at the Kinetic Lab. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Malia ‘Pork Chop’ Matsumoto prepares to descend a sand dune to the beach. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

This year was Malia Matsumoto’s first time ACE-ing, a special category for pilots who carry everything they need during the race. “Any flotation, any tools, any pumps, anything that’s going to allow the machine to propel itself forward,” she explained. “And I have to do it under my own power without help from anybody, in a certain amount of time.”

This is no small feat, considering the machines, which can be hundreds of pounds and outfitted with over 100 gears, must traverse miles of sand dunes and cross both the Eel River and Humboldt Bay.

Kinetic sculptures cross Humboldt Bay as a band plays on the second day of the race. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Kinetic sculpture Neverending Glory prepares to cross the Eel River on the third morning of the race. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Ziggy Starfish takes a break at the Manila Community Center on day one of the race. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

“When we took it out last year in the race, I had this little thing click in my heart that said, ‘You’re ready, and it’s time to do it this year.’”

Reno Cowsino pilot Joel Clark adjusts the gears on his kinetic sculpture. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

June Moxon, the longest competing participant, is 73 years old and racing for her 43rd year. She says one thing above all else keeps her coming back: “The glory!” This year, she pedaled a sculpture of a horse rigged with strings that move the eyes and mouth, like a puppet.

June Moxon’s kinetic sculpture SPARKLE & Rhinestones gets a new paint job the day before the race. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

“For the glory” is the race motto and hits on the staunchly anti-capitalist nature of the event. “It says a lot about the way that our society currently kind of expects you to be on the grind,” Moxon’s teammate Richie Precedent says. “This flies in the face of that. This is taking time out of your regular life to do something that is absolutely absurd for nothing more than the joy of doing it.” This year, he took on choreography for his team, an area in which he has no expertise. “That is the entire point. It can be frustrating, it can be heartbreaking, but in the end, you do it for the glory.”

Left, a trophy for a past Kinetic Grand Championship sits in the Kinetic Lab in Arcata. Right, Quest-ionable Decisions takes off from the plaza. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Memorabilia from past kinetic races sits in the Kinetic Lab. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Zachary Lathouris hasn’t missed a race since he moved to Humboldt in 2013. “There’s truly nothing like kinetics. If this race existed in any other city, I really think it would be a much different thing. You’d see a lot of banners for companies and corporate logos everywhere and people wouldn’t be able to mill around.”

Across Arcata Plaza, pilot Jenny Weiss stood next to a carriage-sized sculpture of a tooth. She was adorned with a necklace made of her own wisdom teeth and a matching barrette.

“This is adult daycare for me and my friends,” she says. “Keeps us off the street and out of trouble.”

Even Eureka Mayor Kim Bergel is participating, running for the title of Rutabaga Queen at an ancillary pageant event. On the plaza, she dances to the band and hands out glittery rocks, encouraging people to be kind. “Kindness is free, and we need to continue to give it.”

For her, it’s all about inspiring the next generation. “Hobart Brown, our glorious founder, used to say that we grow up as adults and have fun so children will want to grow up. That’s what we’re out here doing today with all these glorious people. We’re so thankful to be here.”

A previous year’s Rutabaga Queen at the finish line of the race in Ferndale. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Ten-year-old Onyx Markham agreed. “It shouldn’t just be for Humboldt; it should be across America because of the fun of it, and they can try new things.”

Team Phat Pony crosses the finish line in Ferndale, California, without their machine, but still carrying their art. (Anna Vignet/KQED)

Racers crossed the finish line in Ferndale on Monday, some walking without machines intact, carrying only their art. The spectators roared all the same: “For the glory!”

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