Driving westerly through Hopkinton on Main Street on a recent evening, dodging this way and that, my passenger hit upon — no, not raised structures, but a sport known as barrel racing, which will be familiar to the horse set. That is an event where a course is set up using barrels to outline the course, and the team of horse and rider are timed as they run the course. It is great fun to watch, and truthfully, I think both horse and rider get a kick out of it.

So, given our financial situation, or at least the one rising over the timeline horizon, we offer an idea that may help to balance Hopkinton’s budget. Now, this is only the framework of the idea, cooler heads will need to get together to, as they say, flesh this out.

We envision a permutation of barrel racing that is dodging between raised structures on Main Street. There is no reason why they could not be enhanced with barrels or other similar objects to enhance their visibility (or even a just use an adequate bit of paint). And, rather than horses, entrants would use their vehicles. We could even have classes for different types of vehicles.

Events could be run at night, after the congestion has cleared. Entry fees and prizes will need to be determined by the “cooler heads” mentioned previously. There could possibly be additional prizes offered to those who ruin tires and rims or have other — and more spectacular — failures.

Now, as we envision the entire width of the subtly widened Main Street to be taken over by the course, taking advantage of as many raised structures as possible, that pavement previously known as the SMUT (shared multi-user trail), will be renamed the APL (all-purpose lane) for those who successfully navigate their way through the course and who wish to try to improve their time with additional runs.

As a profit (to the town) venture, it makes sense to facilitate those considering additional runs to get back to the starting line as quickly as possible. Using the APL, in lieu of other, more roundabout routes, and for just a modest toll, the flush competitors will be able to get in more runs than their poorer entrants.

— Ed Harrow, Hopkinton

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