Obtanium Cup brings people-powered vehicles to Vallejo
A wild collection of moving contraptions and their operators are heading to Vallejo Sunday to compete in the third annual Obtainium Cup, a rally that is as much about enjoying the beauty of Mare Island and showing off oddball creativity as it is about winning a prize.
The word “contraption” and their creators and operators, or “contraptors,” are apt descriptions of people-powered vehicles that can look like mechanical horses, giant teapots or “Neverwas Haul,” a three-story Victorian-era house on wheels.
The name of the event, “Obtainium,” is a fanciful label for found, recycled and repurposed, or obtained, objects that are the materials from which many of the cup entries are made.
Kathy O’Hare and her husband, Shannon, who own Obtainium Works, a Vallejo art studio, were inspired to organize the rally after participating in the Kinetic Grand Championship, a 30-year-old, three-day race on California’s north coast that starts in Arcata and finishes in Ferndale, challenging participants on to travel on land, sand and water.
That’s a race, with the goal of finishing first.
The O’Hares say their Obtainium Works studio is the “home base of the Hibernian Academy of Unnatural Sciences, and the couple moved to Vallejo from The Shipyard, Berkeley. Their studio is “an ongoing do it yourself (DIY) group of tinkerers, gearheads and steam bohemians who fabricate steam powered art out of repurposed industrial detritus.” They take inspiration from Jules Verne, H.G. Wells and other Victorian-era writers.
Shannon has called a gallery a place to see art, but a festival is a place to experience and participate in art.
For the Kinetic Grand Championship, they built The Parlor Car and entered it in the 2011 race. “It broke down,” Kathy said. The brakes were so good, a weld broke on an axle. But an Arcata shop owner handed the couple the keys to his shop and told them to use whatever they needed to get the vehicle repaired for the race’s next chase.
The event was fun, even with the hazards and emergency repair, and it gave the O’Hares the idea to do something similar in Vallejo in 2012.
They set their event on the Mare Island, which itself is full of vintage shipbuilding equipment and historical sites. Its industrial look, with giant cranes reaching toward the sky, made an appropriate backdrop to the challenges the pair planned for participating contraptors.
But Mare Island doesn’t present the same types of challenges the Kinetic Grand Championship has. So the O’Hares set up new types of hazards.
This year, participants must withstand a barrage of flying monkeys – launched stuffed toys – as well as more than a dozen zombies staggering around in the island’s cemetery. Participants must convince the monsters there are no brains to eat. That’s not all – they also have to deal with a variety of Mad Hatter walking, talking robots.
Visitors and participants follow “mad scientist” signage.
Kathy said The Parlor Car is no more, so visitors won’t be seeing that vehicle. It’s been taken apart and reassembled as two different creations, one for the Mad Hatter Parade, part of the Mad Hatter Holiday Festival, the whimsical Vallejo December event with an “Alice in Wonderland” theme, much of which comes from the O’Hares’ own studio. The other is a bicycle with the sinister name, “The Vicious Cycle.”
Spectacle is as much a part of the Obtainium Cup Rally as is completing the course. Among the entries this year is “El Ocho,” created by a family of eight who will be riding bicycles that have been united into the shape of a giant octopus.
Visitors who want to see participating entries close up before the action starts as well as static displays can arrive at 1 p.m. to watch the vehicles assemble at the Coal Shed Art Studio, at Fourth Street and Waterfront on Mare Island.
Visitors also can obtain food and beverages from vendors, tour the Coal Shed Art Studio and hear music by the disc jockey Grego,
The event is popular among those who like the steampunk genre, which members of a Sacramento organization dedicated to the style has called “Victorian science fiction.” The Aether Brigade, a steampunk improvisational group, will be among the entertainers.
Cullen Pub, the Tannery establishment that is Benicia’s own downtown steampunk establishment.
Vendors of steampunk items will have tables set up so shoppers can browse before the start of the contest.
By contrast, Keepin’ It Island, which specializes in Guamanian barbecue, will be selling food items.
The rally itself will start at 3 p.m. Visitors may download a map of the competition route from www.obtainiumworks.net.
Those on bicycles may join the Cup entries at no charge, and those who have arrived by vehicle may use Railroad Avenue and park in designated areas so they can step out and see the challengers at work.
The flying monkeys get launched at Western Dovetail, and organizers said it’s not recommended for car-driving spectators. Participants may “capture” the monkeys and other stuffed toys that come hurtling their way.
Farther down at the bunker just north of the Shoreline Heritage Preserve, the zombies will emerge to threaten the peddling contestants. The robots, brought by the Mad Hatter Tea Party, will be waiting near Chapel Park on Walnut Avenue. When they get back to the Coal Shed Studio, participants will face an art challenge.
While the challenges are meant for participants, visitors are welcome to watch.
The Obtainium Cup Rally itself ends when the last vehicle crosses the line at the Coal Shed, or 6 p.m., whichever comes first.
Prizes are “one of a kind” trophies Kathy said will be given for a variety of reasons in multiple categories, from engineering to “cheating.” Plenty of prizes are available, and nearly every participant goes home with something.
The awards ceremony, grilling of food items, beverages and disk jockey music keep the participants and visitors entertained until 9 p.m.
Kathy called the Obtainium Cup a moving festival that lets participants become explorers who take in the waterfront views of Mare Island. In fact, there are plenty of awards for participants, but because this is a rally instead of a race, none is given for coming in first.
Besides the creative pedal vehicles, the event has entertainers, actors, musicians and the sword-swallowing, fire-breathing Molotov.
Skyler Fell, an accordion player, and Justin Boot will play country, bluegrass and rock music.
And Benicia’s own Larnie Fox, executive director of Arts Benicia, will bring his unusual band, The Crank Ensemble. Its members play hand-cranked instruments made from inexpensive materials – coat hangers, rubber bands, bones, springs and found and recycled items.
Vallejo is starting to get a reputation for some of its unusual events – the Mad Hatter’s Festival, the Northern California Pirate Festival and the Obtainium Cup. That doesn’t surprise Kathy.
“Vallejo definitely has an art scene. There’s a whole influx of different art to this area. We’re very fortunate the part of this wave,” she said.
She spoke about the Flaming Lotus Girls collaborative fire art group that participates in the Burning Man festival. Some of its members live in Vallejo. .
Her husband, Shannon, is part of the Vallejo Art Alliance, and 10 new galleries have opened in the city’s downtown area.
“We do have an eclectic group with different styles,” she said.
The Obtainium Cup Contraptors Rally begins at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Coal Shed Art Studio, at Fourth Street and Waterfront on Mare Island, Vallejo. The Obtainium Cup Rally starts at the same studio at 3 p.m.
Admission is free to spectators and to riders of decorated bicycles who don’t want to compete for prizes. Those interested in competing for prizes may enter the rally for $25.
Parking for the event is on the right at Fourth and Connolly streets between Nimitz and Railroad avenues on Mare Island, Vallejo. Those interested may visit the event’s website, obtainiumworks.net.
Robin Gross says
Hi,
We met at the Obtainium Cup Rally. I wanted to know if you are doing a follow up story.
I was working with the event.
thanks, Robin