Privy race among highlights at Gold Hill’s Founder’s Day Celebration

BY BRAD A. HODGES
SALISBURY POST

GOLD HILL — They rose early to race wheeled outhouses down Main Street to a roar of laughter and applause.

Gold Hill’s second annual privy race was part of this southern Rowan County community’s 10th annual Founder’s Day Celebration.

The event included a parade, food, music, an evening dance and, of course, gold panning.

The 885-foot race took place along the historic town’s jail wall on Main Street.

“These guys they were in it for the gold,” race coordinator Vivian Hopkins said. “They were dead serious.”

Chelsea Pope, rider of Calvin Barringer’s “Country Throne,” claimed first place with a time of 42 seconds. Her team included father Jamie Pope, Marty Barringer, Todd Culp and John Burrkett.

Marty Barringer — Calvin’s son — took off his sandals to push the outhouse bare-footed because he was afraid of slipping on the pavement.

T.J. Jones cruised in just a second later in his Carolina Stalite-sponsored privy. His vehicle was “driven” by team members Ronnie and Buck Hammrick.

Third-place rider Sarah London sat in Calvin Barringer’s creation titled “Country Seat.” The team, finishing in 44 seconds, consisted of Chris Wooten Dave Davis and Carl Hellner.

And finishing the race in a distant 60 seconds — perhaps because his team was short-handed — was Dusty Tanner, propelled by father Mike Tanner and Edwin Hammill of the Gold Hill Men’s Club.

“It was a very close race,” Calvin Barringer said. “We had a lot of fun.”

While 74 groups entered the 10 a.m. parade, only about 25 participated because of a lingering drizzle just before the event began, organizer Mary Hamill said. Local artist Lynn Chivington designed a T-shirt for the event, based on the Gold Hill mining office.