Turtle Racing In Longville Minnesota

There's a town in Cass County, Minnesota that gets it. It's name is Longville and they're located a half our from our lake cabin. Longville has a population of around 150 but from June through August, on every Wednesday, it zooms to over 1,000. The people of Longville understand when it comes to providing fun and putting some cash in their coffers they have the answers. Forty some years ago a guy had an idea to put money into the town businesses. He took a paint brush and painted a large white circle on main street. Then he painted another circle, this one yellow, about twenty feet outside the first. There are hundreds of lakes in Cass County that surrounding Longville and these lakes are filled with turtles the size of saucer plates. "Wouldn't it be fun", he said, "to have races for the kids". and put some money into the town treasury? And he did.
Yesterday, Lizzie and I along with my son and grndchildren, Oscar and Vieve tooled on over to Longville to see and participate in the turtle races.
The races began at 1:30 pm but the line to register started forming at 11:30. It costs $3  for each child to race their turtle. The lady at the counter told me it would be around 2:30 when numbers 170 and 171 would have their race. She was on the shy side by a half hour. In the meantime Good Ol' Grandpa forked over $10 for game tickets; fifty cents apiece. There are other games for the kiddies to be played. Entrepreneurship demands more than one 'come on'. While we were standing in line for our tickets we all had to have a real lemonade with a lemonade piece in it. Cha-ching; $2 apiece. The closer we got to noon the hunger pangs began. Thank goodness for three small baskets of chicken wing dings at $5.50 apiece, one bag of popcorn at $1.50 and something we called a 'pigs ear' back in the old days. It's a large, flat piece of bread with Cinnamon and sugar on it for $2.00.
The kids play their games for a couple of hours. One involved putting a golf ball and Oscar got a hole in one. He won a free round at a miniature golf course. Swell. That would mean he'd get a freebie while I paid $5. It was a fake out on my part. I told the Big O we should frame his 'hole in one' certificate to show his friends.
Finally, after emptying my wallet it was time for the kids to race their turtles. The people who run this event have fifteen kids race at one time. There are over 300 participants(at $3 apiece). It takes approximately twenty seconds to run a race depending on how much giddyup your turtle has in his system. We found out later that our five year old Genevieve thought she had to put a saddle on her turtle and ride it. Funny, huh? "On your mark, get set, go"! said the lady. And our four legged friends did just as they are portrayed--one didn't move. It was nap time. The other went forward three feet the did a massive U-turn and parked it's butt right where it started.
In a flash it was over and the kids shuffled out the exit sign so a new group could come in.
As we headed for the car my son told me he needed to fill his tank to the tune of $55 and it was then that it hit me. The founder of Turtle Days was brilliant. There was music, a hula hoop contest, everyone(except me) did the ridiculous Y-M-C-A move when the song by The Village People came over the microphone. I didn't do the hokey pokey, either. I've always been a reluctant participant in these events but I'll watch those who do. People were laughing and joking and opening their wallets without giving it a second thought. Vendors brought in their vehicles and parked them on the street. The local businesses had folks rummaging and looking at their wears. A town of 175, for one day a week, had population of well over a thousand and those folks were eager to open their wallets and dump the contents on the ground if asked.
You do know where I'm going with this. Nobody was forced to give up their money. They did it with a passion. They weren't shamed into sharing their hard earned cash. The citizens of Longville had an idea years ago and it must have paid off because forty years later it's still working. Only in socialist countries do citizens shovel dirt to one corner of a room then shovel that same dirt back to the original starting point with no incentive for profit.
Longville, Minnesota and it's 'Turtle Races" exemplify what America is all about.
http://www.longville.com/turtleraces.html