Houlton hosts Northern Maine Soap Box Derby At 12th annual event, kids take in the ‘thrill of the hill’

HOULTON – When Kendrick Wilson finished his heat during the 12th annual Northern Maine Soap Box Derby on Saturday, a volunteer was right there to give him a high-five.

And like the scores of competitors who raced down Derby Hill in Houlton over the weekend, Wilson smiled, heaved himself out of his cockpit and shook hands with his competitor.

Dave Harbison, event co-director, said on Saturday that watching the kids compete and seeing their smiles is the main reason he and so many others have been involved in the derby since it started in 1996.

“It’s just fun. It’s for the kids and it’s an enjoyable day,” Harbison said. “Just about everyone here, from the people at the bottom of the hill to the people up there at the top of the hill, have been here since day one.”

This year, 60 youngsters participated in the event – 40 in the stock division, which has a limit of 200 pounds for car and driver, and 20 in the superstock division, with a 230-pound limit. With that many racers and an average annual budget of about $20,000, Harbison said it takes a lot of organization and volunteer effort to pull off the event. And each year, he said, both the sponsors and the volunteers come through.

Harbison pointed out that some of the volunteers’ kids used to compete in the races and have gone on to college, but their parents keep coming back every year to help out.

“It’s infectious, I guess,” Harbison said.

This is the second consecutive year that he has co-directed the event with his daughter Sarah. The 19-year-old said Saturday that she raced from 1997 to 2004 and snatched a second-place finish in her second year of racing.

“That got me going,” she said. Which is why it was a no-brainer when her dad asked her last year if she wanted to help direct the event. Now in year two, the younger Harbison said she still loves the derby, even though she’s involved in a different side of the race.

“It’s fun when you watch the kids,” she said. “It’s good to see all the hard work pay off.”

After hours of competition, 11-year-old Lucas Grant was excitedly waiting to race as one of the top eight finalists. He said this was his fourth year at the derby and that he kept coming back because he loved the “thrill of the hill.”

Grant was preparing for his next race, against his friend Nathan Bouchard, 9. Both had been in races where orange cones had gone flying, but were focused on the heats to come. Bouchard said he was racing for the first time “because my sister wanted me to.” He was hoping to race against his sister Sarah, who took seventh place last year, but instead he had been racing against some of his best friends.

Grant and Bouchard knew that was part of the race, but they were trying not to think about it. They had their minds on something else: Akron, Ohio. That’s where the derby’s top stock racer and superstock racer will go to compete in the mother of all soap box derbies: the All-American Soap Box Derby.

They didn’t have long to daydream, though. Minutes after their last heats, volunteers told them it was time to head back up the hill.

“Remember what I told you,” Sarah Bouchard called to her brother as he piled into a sport utility vehicle with Grant and the other top racers.

And, pulling a trailer full of derby cars behind it, the vehicle took the hopefuls back up Derby Hill for another run.

Northern Maine Soap Box Derby officials announced over the weekend that Grant, of Houlton, was the first-place stock car division winner and Brooke Smith of Mars Hill was the first-place superstock car division winner.