This year’s International Bath Tub Races, held in Bath, Mich., drew more than a thousand spectators as competitors pushed tubs on wheels down the city’s Main Street. This year’s race featured four different teams with the Bath Township Fire Department taking home first place.
The annual International Bath Tub Races held in Bath, Mich., is much more than a series of tubs on wheels flying down Main Street. For Bath residents, it’s war.
The bath tub races, one event out of the many during the Bath Days Festival, was held Saturday, drawing a crowd of 2,000-3,000 spectators.
JD Larner, MC for the event and a lifelong Bath resident, said the races, a beloved Bath tradition, began in the early 1980s. There are a few rules as to what a tub used in the race can feature.
“Doesn’t matter how heavy they are, as long as it (held) water at one point, so it could be a barrel,” Larner said. “You could put wheels on it and you’ve got to be able to stop — but no motors (or engine) period.”
The tubs then are pushed down Main Street two at a time in competition with one another. This year, there were four different teams. Each tub had an allotted driver and pushers.
“This year was actually a small year for how many tubs participated,” Larner said. “Four years ago, (we had) 18 tubs.”
The biggest spotlight was on the rivalry between the Bath Township police department and fire department. Tom Decker, a Bath Township police officer, said the rivalry has been going for the last five years, with the loser required to wash the other’s vehicles before next year’s Bath Days Festival.
“It doesn’t matter where we finish in the tournament as long as we beat the (fire department),” Decker said.
The fire department beat the police department this year, after two consecutive years of losing.
“So we’ll be washing fire trucks next year,” Decker said. “We get a huge crowd — it usually just ends up being one big water fight.”
Decker added after losing this year, the police department plans on remodeling its tub for next year’s race.
In addition to fierce rivalries, the races have a slight international flavor to them. Larner said in the late 1980s, they saw tubs coming from Canada and Europe. This led to the addition of “international” in the title of the race.
“People actually spend their vacation to come watch the tub races,” Larner said.
Rabeka Mears, another lifelong Bath resident and driver for the American Legion team, said the bath races are an “absolute blast.”
“I think everybody looks forward to it,” Mears said.
Kerri Molitor, a Lansing resident and MSU alumna, came to this year’s bath tub race because her friend was driving the fire department tub.
“The community seems to really like this event,” Molitor said. “Everybody was making their way over here. They all seem to love it and have a lot of fun.”
Larner said he has seen the event grow and continue to get better throughout the years.
“It’s something you have to come out and see,” Larner said. “You can only explain that it’s a bathtub going down a hill.”
Support student media! Please consider donating to The State News and help fund the future of journalism.
