The Ditch Pilots, picking up speed off the starting line of the Hopebox Derby Saturday July 22. Racers raised about $13,000 for flood recovery efforts in Montpelier. Photo by John Lazenby.
In the middle of flood and mud, there was the Hopebox Derby. Kids in Maria Arsenlis’s Wilder Arts Studio summer camp in Montpelier spent a week making their version of Soapbox racers, complete with boots on a stick for brakes. They raced Saturday afternoon next to the green at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Kids and parents came up with the idea of making their race a benefit for flood victims, and they got sponsors to donate to the four racing teams, the Ditch Pilots, the Vikings, the Rainbow Royals and Wings of Fire. So far they have raised over $14,000 (with donations still coming in) for the Vermont Community Foundation’s VT Flood Response & Recovery Fund and Montpelier Alive’s Flood Recovery Fund.
