2025 Kiwanis Bed Races kicked off the Louisiana Forest Festival events in the middle of Main Street on Friday, April 25, reviving an exciting tradition that had lain dormant for years.
Bed Races are a unique style of team racing consisting of four strong pushers, 1 crazy rider, and a racing bed with mattress and all. The Start/Finish line was at the Winn Farmer’s Market. The teams had to push their bed up the hill past the Winn Parish courthouse and turn around at the City of Winnfield Mayor’s office. Then they ran back up and over that same hill past the Pharmacy Services and the Bank of Winnfield.
The Dodson FFA and Winnfield FFA teams faced off in the first round. Nightmares for the Dodson FFA team as their bed lost a wheel on top of the hill. No one was hurt but some dreams were shattered with their mechanical woes. You could say their REM sleep was interrupted. So, the boys from Winnfield FFA came in hot with a time of 4:23 in the half mile race. They even took the time to obey City traffic laws by stopping at the South Jones/Main Street red light.
With only a five-minute rest, these law-abiding young men from Winnfield FFA took on the ladies from Fierce Fitness in the second round. When these women stepped up to the line looking like Top Gun fighter pilots in purple outfits, the tensions rose at the starting line. Like a power nap, the teams went up and over the hill. The pink bed with its bicycle wheels wobbling looked like it was having night tremors and hot flashes as it coasted back across the finish line earning a cool Second Place trophy.
Winnfield FFA dreams came true as they snoozed past the Fierce Fitness female fighter pilots to take the overall First Place trophy in the 2025 Louisiana Forest Festival Bed Races. Wait for it, the Dodson FFA team bed comes back down the hill on three wheels to officially complete the course which earned them the Honorable Mention trophy. With Dodson’s grit and Panther Pride in full display with decorated headboard and footboard, they also received the Kiwanis Spirit Award.
The patrons in attendance were wide awake and cheering these teams on. Kiwanis members there helping organize the event were happy to see a good turnout.
Daydreams went back to the days of old when businesses and industries across the Parish would challenge each other for head to head races, when the team members would dress up and perform dances in the street to their own music, and the team entries were in the double digits. Of course that was in the 90’s when VCR’s and Guess jeans were still cool.
Next year, Kiwanis anticipates a larger lineup of teams with big dreams of taking home a Bed Races trophy. And streets lined with fans viewing that fun.
