STARKVILLE — The Starkville Derby is about to bark back.
For the second time, hundreds of dachshunds will be racing in the Cotton District on Saturday. Last year, the derby drew more than 20,000 attendees, dog lover and event organizer Alden Thornhill said, but this year is going to be even bigger than the first.
“We have 200 dogs signed up, and we’re just expecting a great tail-wagging good time on Saturday,” Thornhill said.
The derby will be taking over Maxwell Street, Page Avenue, Colonel Muldrow Drive and part of University Drive early Saturday, with check-in starting for racers at 7 a.m. and festival grounds opening for attendees at 8 a.m.
At about 9 a.m., Thornhill said, there will be a kick-off with a flyover by Circle S Aviation, a performance of the national anthem by the Trebull Dawgs, and a bugler calling racers to their posts. Josh Hubbard, Mississippi State men’s basketball guard and the derby’s grand marshal, will also help to kick off the races.
By 9:10 a.m., dachshunds will be off to the races, with dogs zooming — or not — down a 100-foot green track. Viewers will be able to watch the action this year through a 20-foot wide “weenie vision” Jumbotron, Thornhill said.
“Some of the dogs get stage fright at the starting line,” Thornhill said. “Other ones, they understand the assignment and they take off. It’s always a good mix.”
The derby is organized into about 40 heats of races, Thornhill said, along with semifinals and finals to find the winners. There will also be three pretenders categories, for small, medium and large dogs that are not dachshunds to race as well.
Winning dogs will be honored by Mississippi State University Athletics on Saturday during the baseball game, Thornhill said.
“It’s definitely the sport of kings,” Thornhill said. “Kings, queens and weens.”
This year, Thornhill said, a few things have changed. The derby has a new theme, “Star Weens: The Derby Strikes Back,” since it falls on May 4, a day that is celebrated by many fans of the popular movie franchise “Star Wars.”
“We figured what better theme for shirts than one that includes Han Doggo, Boba Fetch, Princess Weena and Luke Dogwalker?” Thornhill said in a text message to The Dispatch.
The sequel derby also includes a visit from the Oscar Meyer Weinermobile, which will be parked on University Drive throughout the event. The derby will also include a kids zone, merch tents, food and drink vendors. It will also include an expanded artisan market.
SAAC Program Coordinator Juliette Reid said the arts council helped to organize this market as a way to give arts vendors another place to sell their work, since the next Cotton District Arts Festival has been postponed until 2025.
“We’re really excited to bring more arts to Starkville and the derby, and provide an opportunity for artists to make some money at the world’s largest weenie dog race,” Reid said.
The market will include 48 vendors selling both art and dog-related merchandise, Reid said, along with 15 food vendors.
While the dachshund races are fun, they also support a cause. Besides being a dog lover and dachshund owner, Thornhill also serves on the board of the Oktibbeha County Humane Society. Last year, Thornhill said, the derby raised about $20,000 to support OCHS.
This year, he said, he expects both of those numbers to be even higher, as the derby had already “doubled” the amount raised last year when Thornhill spoke to The Dispatch Thursday morning.
Michele Anderson, executive director for OCHS, told The Dispatch in an email that the organization’s annual budget is $800,000, with more than 50% of that coming from donations. The funds from the derby will go directly to help more than 5,000 animals that come through OCHS’s doors each year, she said, including paying for vaccines, preventative care and spay and neuter surgeries.
“We are blown away by the support of our community and grateful to the planning committee who have spent months planning this awesome event,” Anderson said.
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