Running of the Rodents

Festival Location: Louisville, KY, USA

Festival State: Kentucky Festivals

Festival Type(s): Bizarre Sports Events, Bizarre Festivals

By: © Nelson Taylor 2009

There's no better way to take a break from the rat race than....racing rats. Begun in 1972 by a science professor at Spalding University, the annual Running of the Rodents (which takes place in April, just weeks before the Kentucky Derby) is all a part of campus Rat Week. But it isn't just all fun and games. The care and training of the rats teach students important information about behavior modification techniques. Whatever that means, right?

Anyway, toss away all the erudite mumbo-jumbo and you got yourself a humdinger of a hotwheelin' hoopla. While outsiders are not welcome to race their own rodents (read: fear of unnaturally enhanced sewer sleaze), regular folks like you and I can take part in the Rodent Parade, the Rat Hat Contest, and the Fruit-Loop Eating Contest. Why Fruit Loops? Rats go hog-wild over them, of course.