Royal flush: Maple Park’s Fun Fest features toilet bowl race

Five toilets lined the middle of Main Street in Maple Park on Saturday.

One toilet was painted pink and covered in glitter. One toilet was painted red and had a siren wailing from the top of the bowl. They were all on wheels.

The toilets, and their racing teams, were competing in a toilet bowl race.

As part of Maple Park’s Fun Fest, the race pitted team against team in heats of two to see who was the fastest.

Each team had to race down the street with one driver and two pushers. At the end of the street, a pusher on each team traded places with the driver and raced back.

 The winning team won a $100 prize, and the team with the best display won $150 for best in show.

Members of the team calling themselves The Motherload took home the best-in-show award. They spent three weeks painting their toilet pink and adorning it with glitter, said Beth Miller of Maple Park.

“Last year, the men won the race, so we had to show them up,” Miller said.

The field of competitors included former racers and first-timers.

Hunter Harris, 15, came from Cortland to proudly drive her toilet bowl to the finish line in her first toilet bowl race.

“We’re in it to win. But if we don’t, it’s OK. And if we embarrass ourselves, it’s OK,” she said before the race.

The Porcelain Pirates, led by Hunter, ended up in second place after losing to The Smell Block.

Pat Mundinger of the Maple Park American Legion provided a play-by-play of the race for the crowd gathered along Main St. and was happy to make light of the day’s events.

“This is as serious as toilet bowl racing gets,” he told the team.