Soap box derby returns to Minneapolis

On Saturday, May 31, a sunny afternoon in Deming Heights Park in Northeast Minneapolis, dozens of children took turns steering handmade race carts down a blocked-off street, flying into parents’ waiting arms at the finish line. 

This wasn’t the first Soap Box Derby in the neighborhood — or even in that park. Until the mid-’60s, Minneapolis kids did something similar, riding plywood cars down “Norwegian Hill,” which runs from Fillmore to Johnson Street on St. Anthony Parkway.

Now, sixty-odd years later, the tradition is back in Minneapolis in a more official manner, with a focus on handiwork throughout. Up the hill from the racecourse, Deming Heights Park was filled with all sorts of activities for kids and parents alike: archery, trivia, a booth for summer camp information and even virtual reality demonstrations of painting, welding and excavation tools.

The event was co-sponsored by two different organizations: Tools 4 Teens, a nonprofit focused on teaching 10-18-year-olds how to use tools, and the Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board. Minneapolis and St. Paul each fielded 13 teams, including representatives from rec centers in Audubon Park, Van Cleve, Logan Park, Bottineau Park, Peavey Field, Powderhorn, Lake Hiawatha and Whittier.

“I didn’t let them screw up; I made them screw in”

Greg Meyers, the founder of Tools 4 Teens, initially proposed the event to St. Paul four years ago, to some success. Last year, Minneapolis fielded a few teams in her sister city; this year is the event’s first year in Minneapolis. Standing alongside a teal hot rod he helped build from scratch, Meyers laid out the impetus for starting the project: “There are so many kids lost by the school system,” he said. “The school system is geared for left-brained kids. If you’re not taught to the test, you’re lost. They’re losing people who are very smart.”

Meyers has recruited a handful of neighborhood residents to the cause, and they chip in where they can by helping teenagers get acquainted with their toolkits — or, in the case of this afternoon, by serving as a pit crew, reattaching wheels and brakes after busted carts got rushed back up the hill. “The mentors do their best to nurture but not do,” Meyers said. “I had some kids putting a new rear wheel on their car, and I made them do it. I didn’t let them screw up; I made them screw in.” 

Later, crouched over a busted cart, he put it simply: “Really, what it comes down to is: the delight that comes out of this is beyond anything.” When he wrote a grant proposal to the city of St. Paul for the races four years ago, Meyers had to say which population he was helping. “It’s the kids, but it’s not just the kids: it’s the retired guys from the technical sector who need something else in their lives.”

While none of the plywood cars came close to breaking any land-speed records, each racer came away with plenty worth smiling about. The volunteers from Tools 4 Teens handed out 75-piece hardware kits to each participant and let kids see what it was like to sit in a custom-built automobile (“This can go up to 150 miles per hour!”). Kids seated in their carts at the starting line were often flanked by cheering teammates and parents hooted and hollered from the sidelines.

John Haldeman, the Citywide Program Lead for S.T.E.A.M. (science, technology, engineering, arts and math) and Youth Programs at the MPRB, outlined some reasons he’s invested in the event: “All these cars that you see started as a half-sheet of plywood and a bag of parts. We got volunteer coaches from across the community — they said, ‘I’d love to help the kids learn.’ 

“Realistically, this race is just a skills class in disguise,” he said as kids ran uphill to grab lunch, parking their brightly colored carts in the grass. “We’re teaching kids about a lot of different trades. We did carpentry; we’ve got woodcutting; we’ve got painting; design work.”

“They had to all work together on schematics: how do we want to paint it? What do we want it to look like? Most importantly, they learn teamwork and communication: those soft skills that they don’t really know they’re bringing in. Seeing kids who didn’t know each other two months ago now cheering each other on — from all walks of life — as they go down the hill is fantastic.”