CANAAN — Cora Robert showed up at the Soap Box Derby ready to defend her title.
The 6-year-old from Grafton had won the race last year and, after getting in some practice runs at Mascoma Valley Regional High School, was looking forward to the race, an annual event during Canaan Old Home Days.
“The breeze,” Cora said, is her favorite part.
It’s easy to see why. The soap box cars are perched on a ramp, held up by small metal barriers. Two participants, wearing helmets, climb in the cars and hold on, before a member of the Canaan Lions Club releases a lever. Then they go flying down the hill on High Street and across Route 118, where a Canaan police officer stops traffic, to On the Common Lane, where the racers hit their brakes. A wall of hay bales is set up in case the drivers need help stopping.
“I think this is a great tradition,” said Cora’s mom, Christa Robert. “She gets excited because she wants to race like her dad.”
Cora’s father participated in the Soap Box Derby, and the cars have been passed down through multiple family members, getting new paint jobs along the way. Cora chose teal. She came in first for the second year in a row.
Tradition is the unofficial theme of every Canaan Old Home Days. Many activities that have been going on for decades like the Soap Box Derby, the breakfast at the Masonic Hall and the Belt Sander Race at Canaan Hardware have become multigenerational.
Still, one important tradition is slow to trickle through the generations: organizing the event itself. Helen Rocke, one of those organizers, said there is a need for newer — and younger — volunteers to step up to help run the event.
“It’s down to a very small committee and people that are 80 years old and getting tired,” said Rocke, of Orange, who has helped organize the event for more than 40 years. Currently, the Old Home Days Committee has seven members, but it could use 15. While many businesses and organizations host events, there is still a lot of work that needs to be done. They haven’t had to scale back yet, and they’re determined not to.
“It’s hard because a lot of the young people are working two jobs; the financial state right now is not good. They have to do that to make ends meet,” Rocke said. “So it ends up most everyone on the committee is retired and tired.”
If the crowds were any indication, that hard work is much appreciated. People gathered at the Masonic Lodge beginning at 6:30 a.m. Saturday for French toast, bacon and beverages served by the Masons. Porcelain pitchers held real maple syrup, and volunteers made sure none went empty.
Mason members Scott Borthwick and Dan Fleetham Jr. served up breakfast to a steady stream of visitors, often greeting people by name.
“It’s just a time to celebrate the town, people in the town, bring people to the town,” said Borthwick, who chairs the Canaan Selectboard.
“It has a lot of meaning,” Fleetham Jr. added.
That meaning was emphasized by the spectators who lined High Street and the Town Common to cheer on the soap box racers. After the cars reached the bottom, parents, other adults and the racers themselves helped carry or roll them back up the hill to go again.
“It’s just for everybody, and it’s so much fun,” said 11-year-old Mia Wilson, who was participating in her second Soap Box Derby. She chose white, pink and black for her car.
Robin Dow Parker was at the derby to assist her children, Isabelle, 10, and Kenton, 8, before heading back to Canaan Hardware to run the belt sander race. Dow Parker raced a soap box car when she was younger and was happy to see her children taking part, too.
“It’s just all part of the charm of the town,” said Dow Parker, who runs Canaan Hardware. “I love it. I absolutely love it. It’s fun to see the tradition continue through the town with future generations.”
Nine children ages 6 to 11 took part in the Soap Box Derby, said Harry Armstrong, of the Canaan Lions Club, who served as the announcer and passed out medals and a bag of barbecue chips to each participant. The top three earned trophies.
Any child age 6 to 15 can race, he said. Cars are often passed around the community. If one family’s children has aged out, the car goes to another one.
“It’s so wonderful the way people help us out,” Armstrong said.
After the Soap Box Derby ended, it was time for belt sander race, where 21 people — above the usual 15 to 16 participants the race usually draws, Dow Parker said — attached their decked-out belt sanders to extension cords and raced them along a wooden track propped up by 10 black trash cans filled with water. Volunteers at the end of the track wearing sturdy gloves catch them.
In addition to dressing up the belt sanders, racers also name them. There was “Orange Crush,” “Bernie Sander” and the “Tortoise,” which, despite its name, ended up coming in third. A good bit of good-natured trash talking usually ensues. At the end of every heat, the racers shake hands.
“I come back every year for this,” said Keegan Caraway, owner of the Tortoise, who grew up in Canaan and now lives in Troy, N.Y.
Missie Rodriguez, of Canaan, got a belt sander from a friend and after decking it out in tie-dye tape, christened it the “Tie Dye Baron.” She won three races.
“It’s a great, fun thing,” said Rodriguez, who wore a T-shirt to match her belt sander. “Kids can do it. Adults who are kids at heart can do it.”
Nine-year-old Avery Golkin took first with his belt sander “Big, Blue, Yellow,” which featured a blue-and-yellow truck. It was his first year participating in the race, and he borrowed the belt sander from a friend.
“It was very fun,” said Avery, who splits his time between Canaan and New York City. “Especially watching all of the other sanders go.”
Earlier that day, spectators began lining Routes 4 and 118 and various side streets to watch the annual parade. In accordance with this year’s Wild, Wild West theme, vehicles had cutouts of horses attached to them.
Bill Bellion, who retired earlier this year as the town’s fire chief and emergency management director (with various other job titles to boot), was the grand marshal along with his wife, Edie. Parents advised their children to be wary of traffic before running to grab candy thrown from floats. The nimble convertible Leapin’ Lena popped wheelies, the Batmobile made a rare appearance outside Gotham City and Batman’s archnemesis, the Joker, passed out candy. Concert bands pulled by vehicles played marches, and emergency vehicles greeted each other with sirens and horns.
Phill Heuerman stood on the common watching with his sons, Connor and Liam.
“The Batmobile,” Connor, 5½, said when asked what his favorite part was. Then he paused. “And the candy. Both.”
His 3½ year old brother loved “the stuffed lion,” which was in a cage being pulled by a member of the Canaan Lions Club.
“He loves lions,” Connor explained. “That’s why.”
Heuerman and his wife moved to Canaan from a small town in central Maine. Activities like Canaan Old Home Days didn’t take place there.
“This is special and significant,” Heuerman said. “The whole community is so family-oriented, comparatively. I feel like this community really puts its citizens, its members first. They make them a priority.”
Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
