The “Rolling of the Beds” will wheel through downtown Cloverdale once again.
The 47th annual Cloverdale Bed Races are set for May 15 in the town centre. The event is the unofficial kick off to Rodeo Weekend.
Paul Orazietti, the executive director of the Cloverdale BIA, said the 2025 bed races will be slightly different than in the previous few years. (His office organizes the annual event.)
“We’re trying to inject some new energy into it,” he said. “We’re also going to perk up the prizes this year.”
He added the BIA is spending more time and energy promoting this year's event, so he expects to see more bed-racing teams and more spectators.
Orazietti noted the freestyle skateboarders will not be back to entertain the pre-race crowd as the rodeo event in which the skateboarders competed will not look the same this year.
“We’re trimming that back,” he explained. “So, right now, because the next event isn’t really established, we didn’t want to leave them in as an entertainment component.”
Instead, they are focusing on the kids bike parade and the actual bed races.
For the bike parade, kids are encouraged to dress up in costumes and decorate their bikes. Prizes will be awarded, but they are randomly drawn.
TEAMS
Orazietti said many teams have already signed up, but there is still room for more. He added registration closes at the end of the day on May 9.
He noted the “structure” of the race is already in place, security, insurance, etc. Now, it’s about finding some sponsors and recruiting more teams to roll.
One hiccup in bed races of past years has been the road, but Orazietti said the strip on 176A Street is in great shape ahead of the 2025 races.
And he's confident all heats will fill up by race day.
“It’s a traditional event,” he explained. “It’s very much like the parade where you have loyal group of people, there are some that have been with us a long long time.”
2024
Last year, Brookswood, in the #73 car, captured the Chamber Pot Trophy on the women’s side. Turkey’s Party Makers Racing Team, now 11-time champs, won the Bed Pan Trophy on the men’s side. And the Surrey Firefighters took home the Bill Reid Centre of the Universe Trophy in the mixed event.
After having his win streak broken in 2023 year, Turkey Kielesinski—owner of the Turkey’s Party Makers Racing Team—vowed he’d recapture the podium in 2024 and he didn’t have to eat his words.
He chalked his resilience up to “the beer not tasting as good” after the loss last year and 364 days of planning and prep work. Turkey’s, the perennial favourites, missed the podium that year when the team’s bed racer scooted off the strip, earning them an instant disqualification.
The 2023 loss, ended a four-year championship run and Turkey's bid to duplicate his team's five-Pan dynasty from the early 2010s. (Turkey’s had a five-Pan run from 2010-2014.)
Turkey was on the winning team in the first race in 1976 and after two-plus decades of staring in at the winner’s circle from the opposite sidewalk, Turkey got things rolling again at the end of the ’90s. (His team currently uses the same bed one of Turkey’s employees crafted for the race in 1999.)
2025
Orazietti said there’ll be some grudge matches between local businesses and associations and he encouraged potential spectators to come down and soak in the atmosphere.
Some teams dress up and he said the costumes are always topical.
“It’s plain and simple fun.”
The whole event kicks off with bed inspections at 5:30 p.m. followed by the bike parade after 6 p.m. The first heat is scheduled to roll at approximately 6:25 p.m.
Orazietti said people usually show up at about 5:30 p.m. to grab their spot. Rob Patterson will once again emcee and play music from the stage—the flat deck of a classic truck from the B.C. Vintage Truck Museum.
All of the famous trophies will be on display beforehand on the stage, so race-goers will be able to walk over and see them.
Those trophies include: the Bed Pan, awarded to the winners of the men’s race; the Chamber Pot, awarded to the women’s division winner; the Centre of the Universe trophy, awarded to the winner of the mixed division; and the Stone Pig, awarded to the winner of the “service club” category.
History
When Turkey’s Party Makers Racing Team won the Bed Pan Trophy last year, it was their 11th win all time, making them the winningest team in race history.
The Party Makers Racing Team were four-time consecutive winners going into 2023 looking to add their second five-peat to the chronicles of race history (they were victorious from 2010-2014), but they were disqualified in a semi-final heat. The loss opened the door for eventual winners Lord Tweedsmuir to emerge. (Orazietti ran the bed races in 2022, even though there was no rodeo or country fair, in an effort to keep the race’s tradition, and the spirit of the Cloverdale Rodeo, alive.)
The first Bed Race took place in 1976 and, according to Turkey, he won that inaugural race. Turkey said the first Running of the Beds was a six blocks—three down and three back.
“You started on 176th Street, turned on 57th, then came up 176A Street,” Turkey told the Cloverdale Reporter in 2022. “Then you turned around and came back.”
He said the inaugural race was a war of attrition, but not because the teams had to zig and zag six blocks.
“There were bags of crap being thrown. Eggs. Herring. You could ram other beds. The firemen hooked up the fire hose to a hydrant on the corner and sprayed the teams. We were all wearing kilts and they blew our kilts off. It was a battle royale.”
Turkey said he and his team crossed the finish line for their historic win in '76 in the buff.
He said the race was cleaned up the following year, rules were added, the race was shortened to one block up and back, and the race has remained pretty much unchanged since.
May 15
On race day, all racers must present their bed frames for inspection at 5:30 p.m. There are also a few extra beds available for any teams that don’t have their own frame.
Orazietti said he loves the Cloverdale Bed Races as they are a long-standing tradition that helps foster community spirit in the town.
“We’re ready to roll,” he said. “There’s new enthusiasm and we're throwing more money at it for prizes. It’s a tradition and we're keeping the spirit alive.”
Registration for the Cloverdale Bed Races is open until Friday, May 9. There is still room for more teams.
For more information, visit cloverdalebia.com.
