By Rhys Baker

Once again, a unique crowd-pleaser, the T-Rex race, is being held at this year’s Piotique celebration. Original T-Rex race organizer Mike Peerson says social media prompted a herd of inflatable dinosaurs to race down Fifth Street in Clay Center. “It came about as sort of a promotional thing for Java Junkees; it was our first Piotique after opening the shop. We were trying to get our name out and that kind of thing. We were just sitting around on a Sunday afternoon trying to come up with something and saw a video of a T-Rex using a snow blower or something.

Although the T-Rex race started as a dinosaur inflatable costume race, all inflatable costumes are welcome. There will be several heats and then a featured race. Peerson says the number of racers and the crowd mainly grew via social media. “Some of the participants posted training videos on Facebook. That created competition between some of the people who were going to participate in the first year really hyped up faster. That was a huge help. I think the first video that came out last time I looked had over a quarter million views, comments, shares, and all that stuff. The race just  really grew via social media outside of Clay Center.”

The T-Rex race will be held at 9:15 a.m. Saturday on Fifth Street between Lincoln and Court Streets. Registration is due today (9/26). The race has benefitted several non-profit organizations in the past, including C-CARE, Orange and Black Pack, Clay Center Youth Basketball Association, and the downtown speaker system via Grow Clay County.