Anderson organizing to benefit Vergas merchants

Photo by Robert Williams
This year’s champion wiener dog Big Mac came with a prepared entourage and cheering section winning the title in his second race for owner Devlin Cummings Pas of Fargo.

By Robert Williams

Editor

There were 68 dogs in the running for the coveted National Wiener Dog championship and Fargo’s Big Mac was a first-time winner Saturday morning in front of a record-sized crowd at the Vergas ballfields.

Devlin Cummings Pas, of Fargo, holds aloft the National Wiener Dog racing championship trophy created in Vergas by Forest Edge Gallery, and Big Mac Dachshund, along with race organizer Digger Anderson, in front of a record-setting crowd Saturday morning of Looney Days.

The always popular Looney Days attraction filled up early and cool temperatures made for pleasant viewing as the field was whittled down to the final race.

Big Mac sped across the finish line and quickly into the arms of his owner Devlin Cummings Pas, who held Big Mac in one arm and the Forest Edge Gallery championship trophy in the other with race organizer Digger Anderson.

Big Mac, 2, was racing in Vergas for the second time. 

“Last year, he made it through his first heat and failed out of his second one by a nose and then we just came here on a hope and a whim and here ya go,” said Cummings Pas.

Big Mac came into his second year after going through offseason training to be better prepared this summer.

Dachshund owners were pulling out all the stops and giving good luck smooches to their dogs on a quest for the Wiener Dog Nationals title Saturday morning in Vergas.

“Some training, a lot of good will and well wishes and hope and joy,” Cumming Pas said.

Devlin randomly adopted a dachshund years ago and became a wiener dog guy through “fate and circumstance.”

Big Mac’s victory came as somewhat of a surprise.

“Last year, I really had it in my head that he was going to win and this year I came with no expectations,” Cummings Pas said.

Having surpassed all expectations, Devlin will now get a calendar year to brag to everyone that Big Mac is the best wiener dog in the nation.

“I’m going to,” he said.

Doing it for the merchants

For Digger Anderson, the annual races and nationals every three years in Vergas is a labor of love. While he still has a cabin in Vergas, Anderson lives in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and spends the better part of the year organizing the race from top to bottom. The job is a lot more work than it appears from the stands, especially from 500 miles away.

Digger credits his team that help with field preparation, painting, bringing in bleachers and the sound system, most of whom have been with him since the race’s inception.

Thousands of people filled up Vergas beginning at 7 a.m., Saturday, with most of them heading straight to the race.

“That was a big turnout today,” said Anderson. “People had a lot of fun; there were so many smiling faces.”

The race has endured a few hiccups in its history, but has continued to put those smiles on faces.

“We change the name every year; back in 2020 – the COVID year – WE Fest didn’t take place, so we called our race “WË-iner Fest,” Anderson laughed. “We had to misspell it and we put two dots above the E like the Germans do, just to make it official.”

The races began in 2013 and it was Anderson’s new idea that got little traction right away.

“They looked at me and said, ‘Digger, why don’t you go back to the bar?’”

Anderson had run a couple races in the Twin Cities and guaranteed Looney Days’ organizers that the dogs would bring people to Vergas.

“I told them I’ll just take care of it and you guys won’t have to do anything,” said Anderson.

They tried the race for the first time and attracted 25 dogs and a couple hundred spectators. It was agreed to try it a second year.

“And look at it now,” said Anderson.

Digger’s work on the microphone gives away how much he enjoys the big day in Vergas every year, but he can be somewhat coy about it when not doing interviews with Minneapolis radio stations and regional media trying to get the word out about the wieners as much as possible.

“People say to me, “Digger, do you have fun doing this?’ and I say, ‘No, not really,’ because it’s a lot of work.’

There is some truth to Anderson’s statement but he qualified it as mostly tongue-in-cheek.

“I do enjoy doing it,” he said. “But, this isn’t just today. It started back in March. It’s a good thing I retired because I’d never be able to hold down a full-time job and do this.”

There are no plans in stopping either. Next year’s title is going to be “The Running of the Wieners.”

“I’ve got to keep doing it. It’s a lot of work, but when I’m done here and it’s all said and done and put away, I’m going to be walking downtown and I’m going to see all these people at the merchants spending money and for me, that’s what’s in it for me,” said Anderson. “To see the merchants be successful as a result of this wiener dog race.”