Ostrich Festival 2008

Last weekened we witnessed the most hilarious and ridiculous sight ever. We had the privlige of attending the 20th annual Chandler Ostrich Festival! It all started when I was driving in my car and heard a commercial for the Ostrich Festival. I had never heard of such a thing, but of course my interest was peaked immediately :D I did a little web research and knew right away that I had to partake in this festive occasion. After one short conversation Casey was on board too, so Saturday we drove 20 miles south to Chandler to on an unforgettable experience. The whole set up was kind of like a mini version of the Western Idaho Fair. There were carnival games, rides, tasty fair food, booths, and the usual attractions. And then, there were the ostrich races...

Bleachers jam-packed with spectators encircled an arena where we witnessed 450 pound birds race around a track, mounted by ostich jockeys. It was crazy! These birds are so huge and so weird looking and have the most peculiar bodies with such long necks...and they were racing. What made it even more entertaining was the obvious lack of intelligence of these feathered beasts. To get the ostriches to go the direction they wanted, the jockeys would wave a little stick to one side of their head. The bird would see it and think "Ahhhh! A scary stick, I should run the other way!" and then would turn away from the stick. Within moments though, the jockey would wave the stick on the other side of its head and it would be turning again. Poor dumb birds. There were two different styles of racing. The first was what the announcer referred to as "featherback" racing (i.e. bareback). No saddles, no harnesses, just you and the bird (and the stick). The second was Ben Hurr-style chariot racing. These contraptions were harnessed to the ostriches and a jockey stood in it and ushered it onward to the finishline. What a spectacle. I am trying hard here to describe what we saw, but words really cannot even begin to convey the mayhem. After the races we went in search of dinner - Casey had an ostrich burger. (We joked that the ostriches were encouraged to win the races so that they would not become dinner.) Ooo, and we had our favorite fair food - tortatoes! The band Vertical Horizon played a great concert that night (free with admission!) where we met up with some friends. What a fabulous day it was.

"featherback" racing

chariot racing