NORTH ADAMS — With the wave of green flags by volunteer Nellie Lopez, the competitors were off and racing down Main Street as the crowd cheered.
Halfway down, the wood fairies began racing around their mushroom and flower-bedecked bed as two of their number exchanged pajama. Beside them, the head of the local hospital was trying slip into a nightgown and into a bed labeled "Bed Bugs."
It's not as bizarre as it sounds and it's on its way to becoming a traditional part of the city's Fall Foliage Festival. It's the Fall Foliage Charity Bed Race.
"I think it was just super this year," said founder Brian Flagg of the race's sophomore year. "We had twice the number of teams and twice the number of sponsors. It was absolutely fantastic."
Flagg had seen races likes this before and thought it would be a fun way to raise money. The event benefits programs of Northern Berkshire Healthcare.
In the double-elimination competition, a team of four pushes a decorated bed with one teammate in it. At the halfway point, the team member in the bed switches with another — along with a pajama or nightgown at the same time. The teams then race to the finish.
Flower Power
The size of the beds last year all heavy patient beds donated by North Adams Regional Hospital) and the style of pajama chosen gave a few teams the edge last year. That lesson was taken to heart by this year's teams, many of whom built their own, lighter beds and picked loose nightgowns that easily dropped over their heads.
Reigning champs Bronco Entertainment were worried they wouldn't hold onto their trophy. "They're pitting us against a bunch of high school kids. We're older and fat," said returning team member Lita Williams (who, along with her teammates, is neither old nor fat.) "We're giving it 100 percent," said David Cellan, also of last year's winning team.
But the Broncos ran against four teams last year — this year the competition was up to 11. Among the top contenders were the Wacky Racers from the maintenance department at NARH (which again donated beds), team Ralph from Drury High School, the Pressure Cookers and the Bed Bugs, also from the hospital with NARH President Richard Palmisano competing.
And those fairies? That would be team Mystery, who turned their hospital bed into an autumn wood glade of bright purple flowers and mushrooms. The team of fairies Whitney Frost, Kaitie Hendrickson, Aubry Frost, wizard Tyler Spencer and Celtic dad Kendall Frost won a gift basket for being the most creative.
They'd talked about doing cowboys and Indians but realized they already had what they needed to do something more fantastical, said Hendrickson.
"We're all kind of stuck in our own fantasy world," said Whitney Frost. "And we wanted something that would be a shock to the eyes."
Wacky Racers
The weather cooperated for the most part but the air was definitely crisp and the crowd thinned as the two-hour event wore on. Williams, a well-known country singer, serenaded the crowd during a brief intermission. WUPE radio host Sherman Baldwin took the mike and reminded people about Breast Cancer Awareness Month and pink chains being created by Reach Community Health Foundation to raise awareness. The chains were being draped over the trees along Main Street.
The race wasn't without its controversy — or danger. One volunteer was struck by one of the beds and a child who darted into the lane lead to the determining heat between Ralph and Wacky Racers to be rerun.
The earlier trash-talking Ralphers (named for a T-shirt spotted at Western Mass. Division II that simply said, "Ralph") vowed to "dominate" the competition. But their win in that next final heat was overturned in the rerun, when team Ralph was caught up in a nightgown as the older Wacky Racers pounded to the finish line.
Ralph — Jake Hopkins, Nick Arden, Donyel Daugherty, Peter Dassatti and Jack Guerino — picked up third place. The Wacky Racers found themselves in the unenviable position of trying to win two in a row against Bronco Entertainment, which hadn't been beat yet.
Ralph
Don Boudreau, head of maintenance, Darryl Smith, Mark Therrien, David Wiles and Jason Rose tried, but couldn't catch, Bronco, which glided to another victory.
"Can you believe that," said Flagg, the emcee, who also happens to own Bronco Entertainment. He said later that the low-slung bed had spent the winter sitting outside and someone had taken off with some of pieces. It had been welded back together at A-1 Septic and given a quick coat of paint.
Williams, Cellana, Chad Cellana, Joe Cellana and Joe Girard happily collected their trophy and started thinking about next year.
Flagg said there definitely would be a next year. "This has been a great success and I think it will continue to grow."
Thank you SO MUCH iBerkshires and BoxCar Media FOR BEING THERE! You have been a great supporter and contributer of this initiative and without the help of the community (of which there was a lot) we could not do this. Your article was fun and spirited, the pictures colorful and inviting, and thanks for the video on You Tube!
