The Eureka Municipal Auditorium welcomed a large group of radio controlled car enthusiasts to enjoy a full day of indoor racing.
“There is, as you can see, some racing going on behind us and also just some casual driving for fun,” Jim Thomas, the Community Services Supervisor at the City of Eureka said.
This free event for all to join, was also a fundraiser, raising money toward a long term goal of building an official outdoor R/C vehicle race track in Eureka.
The City of Eureka has partnered with a local community group called “707 Humboldt R/C Vehicles” to help raise funds to build an official track for R/C vehicles.
Andrew Howard, founder of “707 Humboldt R/C Vehicles” created the Facebook group during the pandemic, when he picked up an old hobby of his. The group has nearly 500 members now and is still growing.
“We’re always seeing new people and these events are really helping to get our name out there and we can really show the city that we want this and that there’s enough people that would use this to justify building,” Howard said.
Lawrence Serigny, a member of the group and father, raced R/C cars since he was a kid. As time went on, his hobby went on the back burner, that is until his daughter got him back into it and found out about the R/C community in Humboldt.
“It’s always been my hobby but like a bottom shelf hobby and now it’s kind of a mainstream hobby for me again,” Serigny said. “I thought, you know, it was a dead thing and then I started, you know, doing research and seeing who’s still R/C racing, and everything I was blown away.”
Lawrence says an official track would benefit both kids and adults alike who share the love of R/C racing.
“It is great, great fun, like it keeps kids out of trouble, it’s an outlet for our children to go to enjoy themselves,” Serigny said. “I mean, it’s just a good community of people, you know, this is our hangout for our youth.”
Howard is hoping to keep the momentum going and spreading the word to raise funds for a track. For the meantime, until a track is built, the group will continue to use the Eureka Municipal Auditorium as a home-base.
“I would love to expand to every town having a section of a park with an R/C track so we can have a Humboldt County circuit, that would be amazing,” Howard said. “But we finally have something to show the community that we are working to try and get them this.”
To get more information about upcoming events or how you can donate, visit the groups Facebook page at: 707 Humboldt R/C Vehicles
