Confederate Railroad, Ronnie McDowell to perform at Raceland event

RACELAND — Raceland Race Days will celebrate its 30th year with an all-star musical line up at the city’s park, just off U.S. 23.

The event is free and runs from Thursday-Saturday and among its musical acts are Confederate Railroad, Walker Montgomery, Ronnie McDowell and Cletus T. Judd.

“It’s pretty big this year,” said committee member Don Sammons, adding that they expect a few thousand people to descend upon their little town.

“We got around 3,000 people last year for the Kentucky Headhunters,” he said. “We expect to exceed that every night. It gets busy. But we plan to have a good time this year.”

When asked how they could afford to bring in such big names acts, Sammons replied “a lot of work, a lot of lunches.”

The Raceland Race Days committee sells lunches 50 weeks of the year on Fridays and raises the bulk of what they need for the bands

“We don’t do it the week of Race Days and we take the next week off to recuperate,” Sammons said with a laugh.

Another highlight of Race Days are actual races.

“We have stock and modified lawnmower races,” Sammons said. The racers do three laps around the block. “We’ve clocked some of the modifieds doing about 30 miles an hour. On a lawnmower, that’s moving.”

There is also a stick horse derby.

“We’re calling that the ‘Run for the Rose,’” he said. The winners in the kids and adult races will indeed get a rose if they win. “It’s a plastic rose, but still you can win the rose.”

Among the events is a walk-in dog vaccine clinic by The Tribune columnist Dr. M.J. Wixsom of Guardian Animal Medical Center. There will also be a Race Days dog show.

There will also be a 5K race with the proceeds going to support the Raceland High School track team. There will also be food vendors, inflatables, the BARKer Farms petting zoo, local music acts, a watermelon eating contest, and a pageant.

And since there isn’t enough parking for a couple thousand people, vehicles will be parked at the Assembly of God church, the First Baptist Life Center and the Raceland High School. Then a shuttle bus will take people to the event and then back to their vehicles afterwards.