By Tony Wittkowski | Reporter | MLive – Muskegon Chronicle
MUSKEGON, MI — While spectators and residents showed up to the weekly Party in the Park in Hackley Park on Friday, June 6, four girls raced horses for a 50/50 raffle.
The girls wore stuffed horse costumes with suspenders looping over the runner’s shoulders. The horse’s legs would dangle around the runner’s sides as they ran.
Four girls get ready for their horse race, which allowed spectators in the audience to buy raffle tickets as a bet on the horse. (Tony Wittkowski | Reporter)
Mary Beth Hegedus, Muskegon County Fair Association’s Horse Committee Fundraising chairwoman, said they got the idea from watching YouTube videos from England where a few racers took part in a pantomime race.
The raffle, along with the race, was created to help raise money for two horse arenas for the Muskegon County Fair Association that are planned to be built within the next few years, Hegedus said.
“We have four horse shows a year that go toward the horse committee budget,” Hegedus said. “Then we also have a capital fundraising campaign and people can donate through the community foundation or businesses can sponsor just directly to the horse committee.”
With a goal of $150,000 in mind for the new arenas, the committee began chipping away at that total by raising more than $500 from the raffle alone.
The four girls lined up and waited for the band’s drummer to hit his snare as the starting gun. The four racers proceeded to run through a steeple chase, run down and back over hale bales around a crowd of cheering spectators.
The band’s lead singer acted as the race announcer, and called the race in a fevered voice as Fruitport resident Madaline Knight crossed the finish line first.
Knight, who raced as the No. 1-seeded racer, first heard about the race through her mother, who is a member of the horse committee that started the event.
“I just thought it would be fun, and it is for the horse arenas,” Knight said.
As for Hegedus, the event was a good way for the horse committee to get one step closer toward their goal.
“Everybody is having a good time, we had no problem getting any volunteers,” Hegedus said. “So, we would love to try and do it again as long as it is profitable for us.”
Tony Wittkowski is a staff reporter at MLive Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at twittkow@mlive.com and follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.
(Author’s Note: This article was originally published on June 8, 2014)
Tony Wittkowski 