In the early afternoon last Saturday, a couple hundred canoes hurtled down the Millers River from Athol to Orange competing in a raucous 55th annual River Rat Race. In canoe 83 were Mike Davis and Shane McDowell, who finished second over all.

It was the first time Davis had participated in the amateur paddling contest that has grown from a barroom dare to a signature community event for the North Quabbin Region.

“It was a different experience for me,” said Davis after the race, and that may have been an understatement, as he added, “It was my first time ever racing … It was a lot more chaotic than any other canoe race I had ever done.”

The enthusiastic chaos of the amateur race is perhaps the event’s hallmark characteristic, around which North Quabbin organizations and residents have grown the spring festival.

The canoe race itself has grown over the years, attracting hundreds of amateur and professional racers – some in beat-up old canoes and dressed in fanciful costumes, others in a more serious frame of mind and more seriously equipped.

The boats provide a spectacle for the people lining the river banks at key vantage spots to cheer on the paddlers or to watch the scrum of canoes jammed under the bridge in the opening minutes of the race.

But Saturday’s other related River Rat events have deepened and broadened what has become a spring tradition that a third generation of area residents are coming to enjoy.

The carnival, despite some concerns by town officials about maintaining it as a wholesome and safe entertainment, is a favorite among the young and draws crowds to its thrill rides and carney food.

The Big Cheese 5K foot race drew nearly 500 runners and walkers for what turned out to be a perfect early spring day that slipped in ahead of the tiresome snow and ice that followed on Monday.

And the River Rat parade was a lively display of community spirit and involvement as youth groups, local farms and businesses, veterans groups, politicians, high school musicians, churches, social service organizations, seniors, cub scouts and even military re-enactors marched down Main Street.

And while so many groups and residents make this event possible, the Athol Lions Club, which has put on the race for the past 26 years, was well represented with a float featuring a canoeing scene, amid a sea of marchers in trademark yellow, with their Sir Roars A Lot lion and the River Rat mascots helping club officers hand out treats to the crowd – as if the parade and Rat Race weren’t treat enough.

All the enthusiasm on so many fronts recalled the reaction of first-time canoeing competitor Davis as he summed up his experience:

“It was everything I expected it to be,” said Davis, perhaps channeling the thousands who organized the weekend’s events, attended or participated. Davis captured the spirit of the day when he said: “It was a lot of fun, a great experience; can’t wait to come back.”