VERGAS, Minn. (KVRR) — A town in Minnesota commemorates its yearly celebration like a street reasonable however includes what some are calling the race of the year.
“Looney Days is the annual town festival here in Vergas. They’ve been having it a long time back. We’ve been trying to figure out how long it’s been going on. It’s been going back into the 60s sometime. Tons of free events. Street dances, parades, street fair downtown. There’s lots of stuff on sale. It’s just a big event for the city to get together” says Digger Anderson, the host of the Wiener Dog Race.
Nothing is as popular as the yearly dog race including around 75 racers.
“We started this eleven years ago, kind of on a whim. It started out with a handful of dogs and 75 or so spectators. Now, it’s growing year after year after year where it’s kind of become the sanctuary event of Looney Daze on Saturday morning. It brings a ton of people into town. We have the races, get it done in an hour and everybody’s still got the whole day to enjoy themselves,” Anderson said.
He says it indicates a lot to him to see how the occasion became a Looney Daze staple.
“I’ve raced wiener dogs and I’ve owned wiener dogs over the years. I’m down to one wiener dog, now. He’s 14 years old but I’ve got a special place in my heart for wiener dogs. They’re a cool dog and I’ve just enjoyed them. Now, for me, getting up in years myself, just down to the one wiener dog, to be able to see young wiener dogs and the young families come in and have fun running these races and watching little kids faces light up. They just love these races and I just enjoy having the opportunity to do that.”
Racers originated from as far as Florida, Texas and Nevada to participate in the races.
