‘It’s about community engagement’; First annual SOHO Soapbox Derby is smashing success

Dozens of families and residents of the SOHO neighbourhood lined South St. in London, Ont. for the first annual Soapbox Derby. CTV London's Brent Lale has more.

You couldn’t wipe the smile off nine-year-old Xavier Soares’ face after winning the junior division of the first annual SOHO Soaper.

“This is the first time, like me racing an actual day,” said Soares. “I had never raced in my life.”

Dozens of families and residents of the SOHO neighbourhood (South of Horton Street) lined South Street in London, Ont. for the first annual Soapbox Derby.

“We’ve encouraged kids and parents or companies to build soapboxes and we’re rolling them down the ramp or using a push start down to the end,” said Mark Thomas, chair of SOHO community association.

Soares’ car, named ‘SoHomie #1’ crossed the finish line first in the championship heat.

He edged out the ‘Stanley Coupe’ driven by Jack Rice of St. Thomas.

‘It was good, he was catching up there, but I kept pushing through and never gave up,” said Soares.

Rice, 14, had one of the more popular cars, built by him and his father to replicate the Stanley Cup.

“The car’s inspired by all the Canadian teams who pursue the Stanley Cup each year,” said Rice.

“Also, all the Canadians who win it because there’s lots of Canadians on all the NHL teams. We had a local race in our neighborhood a few years ago, so we just rebuilt the outside, remodeled it into the Stanley Cup.”

The first annual event had 34 entries. You could buy a kit from the organizers, but if you were building your own, they emphasized individual creativity.

“We got the ‘Beaver Brigade’ or the ‘Soho Popo’, just a bunch of different cars,” said Thomas.

“It’s actually impressive. All we did was say, build it out of wood, and make sure you push the Canadian pride this year specifically”.

Their goal is to grow the event each year as the SOHO area boom continues.

“It’s just about trying to build pride in this community and get community engagement,” said Thomas.

“We have a lot of people that live in SOHO. We call people that live here and do more, ‘SoHomies’. Just kind of drive that home that you have to do more than just live. So, we’re trying to get that message across to everybody.”