Vergas Looney Days Weinerdog Races Return August 12th

VERGAS, MINN (KDLM) –  The Vergas Looney Days Weiner Dog races return for its 12th year Saturday, August 12th.

“It’s hard to believe it’s been ten years already,” said Digger Anderson, who coordinates the running of the wieners every year. “But here we are again. We’re expecting up to 50 wieners, it’s gonna be crazy. It’s gonna be all wieners all the time in Vergas that Saturday.”

The race, now in its 12th year, began in 2012 after a brainstorming session for something unique that Vergas could do for their annual festival.

“It’s crazy,” says Anderson. “Every year, we have people that plan their vacations around Looney Days and the Wiener dog Races. People are coming in from out of state, they rent cabins around here. They schedule their time up here around people’s wieners.”

In 2012, there were 25 wieners in the inaugural races. This year, Anderson expects around 50, plus around 2,000 spectators shuffling through the ballpark to watch a race or two then head downtown to shop the merchants and check out the rest of the Looney Days activities.

“We’ve had wieners from ten states over the years,” said Anderson. “As far away as Texas, Rhode Island, California…most of our weiners come from Minnesota, Wisconsin, Iowa and the Dakotas. But we’ve already got a wiener coming from Las Vegas this year that is all registered and ready to go.”

Admittance into the race is pretty simple: if it looks like a wiener and acts like a wiener, it can run.

“We get wieners that have never raced before, we get wieners that come into it expecting to win,” said Anderson. “Some of our wieners, they practice all year long. They’ll perform several regular sprints throughout the year. Then we’ve got other wieners that find it more effective to train less often. They’ll train on occasion. Sometimes, they’ve got longer training sessions. Then of course, there are other wieners that prefer to stay to themselves and they really just anticipate this once-a-year opportunity that we have here in Vergas. We get wieners of all ages, sizes, shapes, colors. It’s so much fun.”

Wieners can get registration information on the City of Vergas website, or can simply register before the event. Racing starts at 9 am sharp. First place in the race gets a handcrafted trophy from Forest Edge Gallery of Vergas. There will also be a random drawing for another trophy.