Naramata Soap Box Racing Trophy

Naramata silver plated trophy from the soap box races in 1958. This trophy stands 8.5" tall.

Engraving reads: Naramata Soap Box Queen 1958.

In the  mid 1950s, Jack Buckley of Naramata, BC took on a project to encourage local boys between 11 and 16 to design and build a motorless, wooden vehicle: a soap box racer.

The boys would begin building their vehicles a few months before race day, as their soap boxes were inspected for durability and safety before racing. On the appointed day, races were held on Naramata’s main road, Robinson Avenue, starting up near the school and finishing right in front of Jack Buckley’s store at the bottom of the hill.

Successful boys and their cars would go on to compete in the provincial finals at Mission, BC. In 1957, two local boys, Ernest and Brian Hancock won the Western Canadian Soap Box Championship and qualified to race in the International competition in Akron, Ohio.

Sixty seven years later, the soap box race is still going strong as part of Naramata’s May Day tradition. The race was moved to the less busy and slightly steeper 8th and Ellis crossroads and has been updated to include any girls who wish to enter the competition.

Up for bidding this month is this silver trophy, dated 1958, that was awarded very close to the year the soap box races began in Naramata. The engraving reads "Naramata Soap Box Queen, 1958".

Anyone remember who won the local race that year?

Read also Craig Henderson’s “Today in History” from June 17, 2018 published on mynaramata.com