By Doug Graham
news@joplinglobe.com
HEPLER, Kan. — The only rules that apply are Hepler rules.
That’s the motto for the Hillbilly Games, a set of off-the-wall physical challenges held every Fourth of July in the farm town of Hepler, Kan., population 150.
Two teams pushed four-wheelers through a slalom course made of tall cardboard tubes. Their objective: Weave through the tubes and throw toilet seats horseshoe-style onto the poles at each end.
Doug Harris, mayor of Hepler and “Head Hillbilly,” said he came up with the idea for the toilet seat slalom just this year.
“I try to think about what we waste out on the farm and then think about what we can do with it,” Harris said.
The cardboard tubes once held netting used for baling hay, the toilet seats came from a nursing home.
More examples of farmyard recycling: There was a “chariot race” in which children rode in old cattle feeding tubs that were dragged with lariats; and an obstacle course in which contestants climbed bales of hay.
This year’s grand finale came in the form of a “hillbilly bath,” in which contestants had to grab for bars of soap hidden in a pool filled with murky brown pond water.
Harris cited family and friends as a reason for putting on the games every year.
“It’s good times, it’s camaraderie, togetherness ... if you take it too serious, we really don’t want you here.”
The winning team, named “The Ericas,” was made up of Hillbilly Games veterans, including Hepler native Matt Baker. Baker plays every year.
“This is hillbilly Christmas,” said Baker, still dripping from the bath after being presented with his prize money.
Max Forsyth came from Pennsylvania with his family just for Hepler’s Independence Day celebration. He is a descendant of the Hepler family who founded the town more than a century ago.
“The whole time I was at home, my friends would ask me and I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to Kansas ... I don’t know, some family thing,’” Forsyth said. “But I got here and I’m having a blast.”
Harris has been in charge of the games for about 10 years but hasn’t tired of them yet.
“No, because I change the game,” Harris said. “And the kids keep getting younger. A few years ago all the kids grew up, but now their kids are out here.”
Hepler is home
Bernard O’Brien, a lifelong Hepler resident, had good reason to come to this year’s games — his grandchildren, 10 of whom were in the competition.
“We’ve been out here since 1868,” O’Brien said. “Hepler is home.”
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