In a town known for unusual events, this might be the quirkiest.

The Great Port Townsend Bay Kinetic Skulpture (with a “k”) Race, back with a culinary theme, will be held  Saturday, Oct. 5, and Sunday, Oct. 6.

If you don’t know already, the event welcomes kinetic racers to make skulptures and don kostumes (the “k” is a konstant feature here, not a bug). And with the food-related themes there are plenty of additional gratuitous substitutions of the letter “k.”

“One of our racers has already adopted a macaroni salad theme,” said Ric Peregrino, who chairs the event. “Everyone loves food, so we thought we could have a cook-off theme, but make it kooky.”

Phil Noelke chose “Macaroni Salad and a Cockroach” for his logo this year, simply because he’d already committed to incorporating a cockroach into this year’s logo. This is a man known from past events for flying the emblem of the “Flying Spaghetti Monster.”

The fittingly named “Kook-Off” serves as the theme not only for the two-day race, but also for the art parade on the first day of the event, for which Peregrino hopes to recruit more participants this year.

The “Art Kontest and Parade” kicks off the annual event’s “kontrolled khaos” on Saturday, as parade entrants line up at the U.S. Bank parking lot between 10-11 a.m., before proceeding northeast on  Water Street around noon, to reach the Pope Marine Park at Madison Street.

“It’s no cost to enter the parade,” Peregrino said. “All are welcome to participate, from kids through adults, whether you’re walking, pedaling, pushing or pulling your entry.”

Indeed, the entries can include marching or dancing groups, large or small floats, wearable art or even puppets. The katch is that all art must be original creations and builds, propelled down the street by people, battery or element power only, and free of gas motors.

Kids and adults will each be judged in the award categories of “Most Kreative” (for best art) and “Most Kinetically Inclined” (for the best use of moving parts.)

In order to retain the “home-grown and family-friendly fun” of the parade, event organizers do not allow commercial, political or religious messages or advertising, nor anything discriminatory or offensive.

“No distributing flyers or leaflets, either,” Peregrino said. “Keep our streets clean!”

Entry forms are accepted by email to info@ptkineticrace.org through Oct. 5 at 10 a.m. Winners will be announced by 3 p.m. that day during the float-test portion of the Kinetic Skulpture Race on stage, which will be in front of the American Legion Hall on Water Street.

Entries may remain displayed at the Pope Marine Park, on the patio bricks between the Pope and Cotton buildings, until Oct. 6 at 6 p.m.

After the parade, racers must complete a brake and flotation test, during which skulptures heading downhill on Monroe Street are tasked with making a brake stop at the skateboard park, after which they’ll line up for the water portion of the race, demonstrating their floatation and propulsion capabilities with a dive into the bay at the Salmon Club by the Northwest Maritime Center.

“This is often the first time many of these skulptures have been float-tested, so it’s amusing to see who floats and who doesn’t,”  Peregrino said.

That Saturday’s activities wrap up with the Rosehips Kween Koronation Ball, during which kinetic racers, “local krazies” and other attendees aged 21 years and older are invited to arrive dressed in kostume, to dance starting at 8 p.m. at the American Legion Hall, before Kween Kontestants strut their stuff to vie for the “koveted Rosehips Krown” around 9:30 p.m., affording enough time for the koronation to happen around 11 p.m. 

Admission will be $10 each at the side door on Water Street, but kameras and video equipment are not allowed.

The race kontinues that Sunday, with its street, sand and mud portions, as skulptures line on up Water Street in front of the American Legion Hall at 10 a.m. to “ham it up” for the krowd, prior to the race starting with a “cheap shot” by a local dignitary at “low noon.”   

The race proceeds uphill on Monroe and Lawrence streets, kornering at Aldrich’s Market to head toward a “kwiksand kourse” at Fort Worden State Park, before pedaling hard through the mud of “The Dismal Bog” at the Jefferson  County Fairgrounds, then heading back down San Juan Avenue, and uphill again to Uptown via Walker and Lawrence streets.

“This is a good place to get a closer look at the skulptures,” said Peregrino, who noted the race goes back down Monroe Street to the finish line at the American Legion Hall.

Noelke has successfully completed one of the four races in which he’s competed, but he’s also judged the art parade and overseen the sobriety test for racers, and he expects to remain active in the race even as he approaches his 80th birthday. 

Each skulpture and pilot must pay a registration fee of $20.24, with each additional team member also charged $20.24, reflecting the fact that the entry fee has increased by only one penny per year.

Peregrino reminded attendees and entrants alike that awards are given to each racer, whether  they want them or not, but the most highly prized award is the “Mediocrity Award,” for the skulpture that finishes in the middle of the pack, although he was clear that “bribes help.”

No crew members may operate under  the influence, and all spektators — especially bicyclists, children and dogs — must stay clear of skulptures in motion, “so please obey the Kinetic Kops in their efforts to keep the kourse safe,” Peregrino said.

If you would like to donate, volunteer, enter a skulpture, become a kween kandidate, or volunteer as krew, call Peregrino at 408-247-9599, email info@ptkineticrace.org or visit ptkineticrace.org. Volunteers can also show up to the American Legion Hall on Thursday, Oct. 3, at 7 p.m. to register.

Art entry forms and more information can be found at ptkineticrace.org/art-kontest-and-parade. For a detailed map of the route, go to ptkineticrace.org/racers-page.