Chelsea
At the 23rd anunal rally last weekend, 234 adults in 76 cars attended — the highest draw since the event began. The rally is always held the Sunday after Mother’s Day.
“There’s a lot of older folks. There’s a lot of folks in their 20s and 30s that do it too,” said Will Gilman, founder of the rally. “The fun part is that old folks can compete with the young ones just as well because it’s not an athletic competition.
“It’s an even playing field.”
Gilman, who has lived in Chelsea his entire 59 years and has been proprietor of Will’s Store for 31 years, started the rally as a fundraiser for the town’s Babe Ruth Baseball League, for which he was the treasurer.
“I found out by volunteering to be the treasurer, you became the fundraiser,” he said.
The league would do raffles for Red Sox tickets, but as those games got more expensive, the league’s return wasn’t as high. Gilman knew about an annual road rally in Randolph and decided to do something similar in Chelsea. “I wanted to find things to do that were fun to make money,” he said. “I’d rather do something that the folks who give you money got something back for it. They’re getting to go out in the road rally and have fun.”
Participants pay $10 per adult (children under 12 are free). This year, the rally brought in $2,340.
After the Babe Ruth League folded, the rallies continued, each year choosing another nonprofit to support. During the recession, they raised money for the Chelsea and Tunbridge food pantries. The last two years the rally has benefited the Robert Gould Athletic Field at the high school.
The Babe Ruth League has since been revived and, in future years, the proceeds from the rally will support it and other Chelsea youth baseball programs. “The rally’s gotten big enough now that it could support more than just the Babe Ruth now,” Gilman said.
The rally works like this: Participants gather at a starting point and are given a list of clues. They set off at two-minute intervals. “Every time a road joins the one you’re on, you have to find a new clue to tell which way to go,” Gilman said. Most of the rally takes place on dirt roads. When Gilman puts together the route, he tries avoid busy, paved roads. “Safety is always a concern,” he said. “It’s never been an issue.”
Each year, Gilman constructs a new route, comes up with about 100 clues, and establishes four checkpoints, where participants receive more clues. He tries to keep the clues simple in the beginning so as not to deter people who are participating for the first time.
“I ride the roads for a couple weeks, five or six times,” he said.
This year’s rally started in Chelsea and covered 77 miles through Randolph, Brookfield, Roxbury, Berlin, Northfield, Granville and Braintree. It ended at the floating bridge in Brookfield.
“A lot of the roads that were on this year have never been on (the route) before,” Gilman said. “My goal is to have 80 percent of the cars finish.” This year, 54 of the 76 completed the course, or 70 percent.
At the end of the rally, organizers hold a cookout for all participants and volunteers. The winner is the team that completed the course in the fewest miles, along with mileage credits from bonus questions answered along the way. This year, Karl and Carol Flint, of East Randolph, came in first with a final tally of 64.6.
“The winner gets their name on a trophy and bragging rights for the year,” Gilman said. The perfect reward for supporting the community and taking part in what has become a Chelsea tradition.
James M. Patterson can be reached at jpatterson@vnews.com or 603-727-3230. Liz Sauchelli can be reached at esauchelli@vnews.com or 603-727-3221.
