A picture from last year’s Great Holyoke Brick Race.
Reminder Publishing submitted photo
HOLYOKE — For the 14th year, the Great Holyoke Brick Race will once again be on the starting line and zooming into downtown on Saturday, Oct. 11 from 1-3 p.m., taking over Race Street along the canal in front of Paper City Studios and LightHouse Holyoke.
Part art project, part engineering challenge and part pure community fun, the Brick Race invites families, artists, school groups and teams of all kinds to design wild, wheeled contraptions that all share one common element: a standard building brick as the base.
From sleek racers to wacky rolling sculptures, no two creations are alike, except for the brick.
The race began in 2011 thanks to artists Dean Nimmer and Bruce Fowler.
Fowler talked to Reminder Publishing about the history of the race and the 14th iteration this year.
“We’re really looking forward to this year,” Fowler stated, “We had a really good year last year. People love it. They just keep coming.”
Fowler said the idea for the event started after him and Nimmer were hanging out and thinking of a fun event that could take place on Race Street.
“I don’t think there is anything like it. We’ve looked and we haven’t seen anything like what we have in the United States and we feel pretty good about that.”
After a few pit stops for construction on Race Street and the coronavirus pandemic, the event has grown into a crowd-favorite tradition with 50–60 race car builds and 400+ spectators cheering along the 100 foot concrete track built by artist Micheal Karmody.
The new track is only a couple years old. Fowler talked about the new track and said, “People love it. We have a brand new track and it’s much nicer than the old one. This means more people are showing up so it’s growing.”
This year, the Brick Race team has been working with students and faculty at LightHouse Holyoke, weaving the planning and build process into their school curriculum.
Fowler talked about the growing popularity of the event.
“We wanted to keep it small in the beginning but people were drawn to it. What’s really nice is the whole community gets involved. Guys and gals show up and help put the thing up and then we have the race,” he said.
Readers can register at thegreatholyokebrickrace.com/home.html. There are about 20 spots remaining as of press time.
For those who want to give their racer a trial run, there will be a test day and workshop on Saturday, Oct. 4 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at LightHouse Holyoke/De La Luz Soundstage, 114 Race St.
Readers can RSVP for test day at on the website as well as check out the event rules and guidelines.
The Great Holyoke Brick Race is made possible thanks to the Holyoke Local Cultural Council and generous local sponsors including Holyoke Gas & Electric, Witman Properties, Hampshire Towing, Clean Crop Technologies, bankESB, and many more.
The event is also proudly supported by Holyoke Art Inc., the nonprofit providing fiscal and technical support for art spaces, programs, and cultural events in the city. Learn more at holyokeart.com.
Everybody gets to race twice. Whoever wins moves on and then it continues until there is a winner. There are also prizes for different categories like best crash or best in show.
Trophies are painted bricks done by local artists for the first, second and third place winners.
“They really are nice to win one,” Fowler stated.
Fowler discussed his favorite part of the event and stated, “I love seeing the new people show up and the kids are just wonderful. They just have so much fun just sort of playing together and having something to focus on and run around and they really take to it. That’s been the funnest part for me, to watch who comes and enjoys it. Everybody enjoys it, everybody’s got a smile on their face all day.”
