STARKVILLE — “Ladies and gentlemen, start your wiener dogs,” Alden Thornhill, organizer for the Starkville Derby, told The Dispatch.
Dachshunds will take over the Cotton District from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday for the inaugural Starkville Derby. Roughly 150 dachshunds are registered to race along University Drive. The event also will include an art market, food trucks and live music.
Thornhill, a dachshund owner and lover, has been organizing the Starkville Derby with his team since November. He said he was inspired by how funny the derby could be and his own dog, Memphis.
“You don’t have to go to Kentucky to see good racing this Saturday,” Thornhill said, referring to the famous Kentucky Derby horse race scheduled in Louisville the same day.
The Starkville Derby will include three heats of dachshunds divided by age raced on a turf track blocked with fences. There will also be several heats of “pretenders,” which includes all dog breeds divided by breed size dressed up in hot dog costumes.
Thornhill said they are anticipating more than 5,000 to attend the derby, including participants and the crowd. These attendees are coming from all over, and Thornhill said he hopes it will be a great event for everyone, young and old.
“We have racers coming in from as far as Denver … North Carolina, Nashville, Knoxville, New Orleans, Florida. It’s certainly spread all over. We definitely could have gotten more,” Thornhill said. “But my wife had a good point that we don’t have enough time with the city to block off the street to have 500 dang weenie dogs racing.”
The derby will also include appearances by Mississippi State men’s basketball Coach Chris Jans as the grand marshal and MSU Athletic Director Zack Selmon. It will also include performances by Miss Mississippi Emmie Perkins and the Starkville High School Singers.
The Starkville Derby is being held to benefit the Oktibbeha County Humane Society. So far, it has raised more than $16,000 for the shelter, Thornhill said.
Jan Jackson, a board member for OCHS, said this derby has already become the humane society’s biggest fundraiser for the year, surpassing the Dog Paddle and its Celebrity Wait Night at Harvey’s. She said the derby will give the animals in OCHS much needed supplies and may give some of them a new lease on life.
“The impact to me is huge,” Jackson said. “Every penny that comes into the shelter is put towards the animals we care for, and on any given day, it could be up to 250 animals. … I think this is going to top the other events when it comes to fundraising and bringing in the largest amount I think an event has ever brought in for us.”
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 47 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
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