Sep 7, 2006

we are all opisthobranch fans now

"If you are into betting on snail races," the article opens. What do you mean, "if?" Isn't everyone?

Heck, in Elma, where I lived for a decade, and my parents still dwell, slug races once defined the town's very existence. A forum user called Chronic Monkey writes,
Back in the day, my old stomping grounds of Elma, Washington, hosted the annual SLUG FESTIVAL! Yes, it was 3 days of fun and merriment dedicated to everyone's favorite gastropod, the noble slug, culminating in the ultimate event, the SLUG RACES! Imagine, if you will, 8 slugs barreling down the track at blistering speeds, competing against one another in a life and death struggle to win the title of the Fastest Slug in the State of Washington. Unfortunately, Elma's snootier town elders felt that a slug festival did not bestow grace and diginity upon our small community, and it was replaced with the mind-numbingly dull Blackberry Festival. That little celebration was thankfully put out of its misery after about the 5th year into it. I always dream of the day, though, that the Slug Festival returns to Elma for good!
Amen, brother/sister. The last slug race was the day the music died.

Learn all you need to know about slugs here.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Dear Jim, I've recently acquired my Grandpa's old VHS tapes of the Elma Slug Festible (he was Ron Woodman-President of the whole thing) and so I decided to do an internet search to see if anyone still talked about it. I was really young when the Slug Festival was around and with the Black Berry Festival. I remember very little however now being 24 and watching these videos I would love to see the Festival make a comeback. Glad to see I'm not the only one.

Jim Anderson said...

That's cool... and it'd be doubly cool if you could find a way to upload some clips to YouTube!

Anonymous said...

Dear Jim, I, too, once lived in Elma and fondly remember the slug festival. I 'googled' it tonight just to see if it still existed. I think I must have been 4 or 5 the last time I went in to early 80's. Thanks for your witty blog. It's great!
Sincerely,
Heather