Royal Flush defends title in North Canaan Bed Race

NORTH CANAAN — Spectators lined Main Street on Sunday, July 19, as the annual Bed Race returned with three teams competing for bragging rights and a tiny plastic trophy.

The field featured one of the event’s most recognizable competitors: The Royal Flush, a team from Perotti & Sons, a local plumbing business, which races a toilet mounted on a wheeled cart that has become the event’s signature entry. The company also fielded a second racer — a chair mounted on a cart that was still being assembled moments before the starting signal. Several runners pulled double duty to keep both teams in the competition. The Canaan Fire Company rounded out the field with a bright red utility cart pushed by firefighters and their family members.

Two popular characters from the float parade that preceded the Bed Race, Railroad Ray and Captain Canaan, served as announcers, welcoming spectators to the tongue-in-cheek “250th Annual Bed Race.”

The Well Drillers team sets off on the bed raceRuth Epstein

As the teams prepared to race, Jordan Long of The Royal Flush made his intentions clear.

“If we lose, I will be sorely disappointed,” Long said. “The bed race is everything, it’s always been everything. This is for all the marbles.”

The three teams took turns racing along Main Street, each hoping to post the fastest time.

Each team consisted of four runners and one rider and raced approximately 30 meters. Spectators cheered as the makeshift carts sped down the street, occasionally veering off course.

The Royal Flush crossed the finish line in 20.2 seconds to defend its title. The Canaan Fire Company finished second, just 0.15 seconds behind.

The Canaan Fire Company rallies the crowd. Madi Long

“We’ll come back stronger next year,” said Canaan Fire Company team member Tori Dodge after the close race.

The bed race was moved to Main Street this year in an effort to attract more spectators and encourage greater participation in the event.

Now a Summer Nights of Canaan tradition — and before that, a staple of Railroad Days, a multi-day summer festival dating to the early 1990s — the Bed Race was revived five years ago by Will and Samantha Perotti after the event had been dormant for several years.

“I remember going to them just as a kid before we could participate, when they were held on Railroad Street,” said Perotti. “They were super popular, and the people back then actually had real gurney beds or hospital beds with wheels. It’s more of a cart race now, but a bed race sounds way funnier.”

Even with the evolution of the race, Perotti said its appeal hasn’t changed.

“It’s always impressive to me that people wander out of their houses to watch us act like idiots.”