ATHOL — Paddlers in the 55th annual River Rat Race should expect to hear plenty of “Dilly! Dilly!” shouted from the thousands of expected spectators along the riverbanks Saturday afternoon.
Spinning off Budweiser’s humorous medieval court “Bud Knight” Super Bowl commercials, Girardi Distributors of Athol will be sponsoring the “Dilly Dilly” canoe, paddled by Rich Gerth and Chris Wiegert in this year’s installment of the six-mile Athol to Orange splash.
Gerth, from Ohio, is a retired Clydesdale horse handler. Wiegert is a Clydesdale horse handler from Merrimack, N.H. The majestic Clydesdales have long been used for promotions and advertising for the Anheuser-Busch Brewing Co.
Locals may remember the team of eight Clydesdale horses brought to Athol in 2012 for a week during the celebration of the town’s 250th anniversary. The team, housed on property across the street from Girardi’s on Hapgood Street, were on display for the public. They delivered ceremonial cases of beer from Girardi Distributors to a dozen restaurants, clubs and bars in the area, and were featured in the extended 10-division anniversary parade, which stepped off at the Athol High School and ended in the Lord Pond Plaza. Wiegert was one of the handlers charged with the care of the horses during that celebration.
The Athol Lions Club’s River Rat mascot visited the distributor recently, and was greeted by Starr Cummings, who has been employed by Girard’s for 35 years. She is head of the graphics department.
Cummings, of Athol, is in charge of all the promotional posters and signs for the company. Asked if she has ever paddled in the canoe race, she chuckled.
“Once, with Jill (Vallencourt) Drew, just to say I could do it,” she said. “That was enough!”
Starr’s father, the late Barney Cummings, who was editor of the Athol Daily News for 55 years, is credited with creating interest in the River Rat Race by publishing stories of the many characters who participated throughout the years.
As the race grew, so did local interest and fantastical characters, such as the Alaskan Sweethearts Alask’em Later and Snook Got Took, Little Mayors from Allakatrat, Chief Walla Woo, Wail Tail and Tippy Canoe and the Old Bear Too. Poetry and tales were penned about some of the characters, all long gone now, including Old Mic Mac.
The characters dressed up in wild costumes and marched in the annual promenade, sparking others to join in on the revelry years afterward. The fun continues to this day, and has bled over into the Big Cheese 5K race, where costumes — from Wonder Woman to Chicken Little – abound.
The elder Cummings also sparked a few contests along the way, setting the example in 1975 by paddling with his nemesis state Rep. H. Thomas Colo, and challenging Kermit Cook and Noah Edminster, superintendent and principal of the Mahar Regional School District, to take the “plunge,” so to speak. James P. Kelley, Athol superintendent of schools and Richard H. Smith, Athol High principal, coughed up the dough and entered one year, drawing the No. 318 post position.
Girardi’s was the premiere sponsor of the race and continues to be its main sponsor 55 years later. The company provides the racers’ official Rat Race T-shirts, given to all paddlers, as well as posters and other signage each year. The company also provides prizes that are given out for the Pro-Amateur races on Sunday morning in Orange.