When Alden Thornhill told his wife he wanted to shut down a street and race dachshunds through Starkville, Mississippi, her response was simple.
"Please, no."
Months later, Thornhill, along with a group of friends and volunteers, staged the first Starkville Derby in 2023.
A few years later, what began as a pie in the sky idea has evolved into what organizers call the "world's largest wiener dog race," drawing more than 300 racing dachshunds, thousands of spectators and visitors from Hawaii to New York. The event has generated more than 10 million annual social media impressions, raised more than $200,000 for the Oktibbeha County humane society and become one of Mississippi's most unlikely tourism success stories.
For one spring weekend each year, a college town best known as the home of Mississippi State transforms into the self-proclaimed "Super Bowl of wiener dog racing," complete with instant replay, a bugler, giant video boards and owners who often take the competition far more seriously than their dogs do.
The immediate success caught even Thornhill by surprise.
"I'm known as the dachshund guy and it is not a bad thing to be known for," Thornhill told ESPN.
A Mississippi State graduate who spent time living in New Orleans, when Thornhill returned to Starkville with his wife, Abby, he began looking for ways to add another seasonal community event to a city already known for its college baseball culture in the spring. The idea followed him from Louisiana, where a former boss had encouraged him to enter the couple's own dachshund in the annual race at the Fair Grounds Race Course. Thornhill never did -- "he ended up kind of mean," he said of their dog Memphis, with a laugh -- but the concept stuck.
The first Derby featured about 100 dogs. Then more than 200. This spring, over 300 dachshunds from 28 states, with participants collectively traveling roughly 28,000 miles, raced through Starkville's Cotton District, a neighborhood lined with businesses and balconies primarily belonging to student residents.
The Derby even borrows from the pageantry of its namesake in Louisville. Just as Churchill Downs has featured bugler Steve Buttleman's iconic call to the post for the past 30 years, Starkville has its own music man: Chris Loftis.
A Mississippi State graduate, Loftis connected with Thornhill in 2024 after Thornhill mentioned he was looking for someone who could play the fanfare "like they do at that little derby in Kentucky."
Since then, the former trumpet player in the university's "Famous Maroon Band" has become something of a Derby fixture himself.
"When it comes to dogs and music [it's] a universal language. It's been a blessing that God has enabled me to be able to reach people in that way," Loftis told ESPN.
Dressed in a maroon sport coat, music-note bow tie, khakis and boots, he now carries a second bugle through the VIP area before the race, letting fans pose for photos with the instrument.
"People have started to recognize it," he said.
With his herald trumpet in hand, Loftis has a prime spot on a balcony overlooking the Cotton District where he prepares to officially kick off the competition.
"I'll probably run through the 'Call to the Post' 30 to 50 times before I actually play it," Loftis said.
After competitors and spectators raise their glasses with their beverage of choice -- with many choosing the appropriately named "mutt julep" -- for the "bugler's toast," Loftis will play the cadence twice as thousands below watch.
The spectacle doesn't just catch the attention of two-legged spectators. The pups notice, too.
"I've seen a lot of dogs snap their heads to attention," Loftis said. "They'll be quiet because they're captivated."
And then they're off.
Some sprint directly toward the finish line. Others stop midway through a race to stare at the crowd. A few decide the starting line is as far as they care to go.
The event features bracket-style races for puppies, adults and senior dachshunds, along with a "pretenders" division that allows non-dachshunds to compete.
Few families have enjoyed more success across those categories than the Jernigans. Three of the family's four dachshunds have won Derby divisions, helping establish them as one of the event's unofficial first families.
When Taylor Jernigan and her family entered the inaugural Derby, they weren't expecting to start a dynasty. First, her parent's dachshunds, Dak -- named after former Mississippi State and current Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott -- and Camie, won the adult and senior divisions, respectively.
The following year, Taylor's dachshund, Levi, won the puppy division, adding another trophy to the family collection. Today, the family stable also includes Andouille -- better known as "Douille" -- the youngest dachshund in the group at nearly 3 years old.
For Taylor, though, the Derby has never been solely about the racing.
"It's actually built a really strong community and I was glad that having my dog let me be a part of that," Jernigan told ESPN. "From the race I've met so many different people from all these different states. And we all follow each other on Instagram or our dogs' Instagrams follow each other, so it's cool to come back and run into people."
Levi was already something of a local celebrity long before he became a champion. Taylor regularly brought him around Starkville, including to Arepas, a local restaurant and coffee bar where staff and customers came to know him by name. Taylor joked that people often knew her not as Taylor, but as "Levi's mom."
"He was kind of the king of Starkville," Jernigan said.
Stories like the Jernigans' are part of what Thornhill believes makes the event.
While trophies are awarded and champions crowned, the Derby is just as much about community as competition.
That isn't to say people don't take the racing seriously. For many, the Derby isn't simply a novelty event.
"Weenie dog people are crazy. We're a cult. We're a good cult," Thornhill said.
Some competitors train on treadmills. Others wear weighted vests. Thornhill has heard stories of specialized diets and year-round preparation. This year, organizers even had to disqualify participants for poor sportsmanship (after they argued that an instant replay call was wrong) for the first time in event history.
The prize, Thornhill noted, is a gold wiener dog statue.
"You're not winning a trip to Tahiti," he said.
The Derby's reach became real for Thornhill during a recent trip to Italy.
While walking through Sorrento, he spotted a dachshund and couldn't resist introducing himself to the owners. After pulling up a video of the Derby on his phone, one member of the group immediately recognized it.
"TikTok," she told him.
The "world's largest wiener dog race," it turned out, had already found its way across the Atlantic.
Similar stories have surfaced closer to home. Paige Watson, the director of the Starkville Main Street Association, recalled a family friend visiting Walt Disney World who struck up a conversation with an employee from Algeria. After hearing they were from Starkville, the employee immediately responded: "Oh, you guys have the wiener dog race."
The event's livestream has drawn viewers from around the world, with dachshund owners in places like France, Japan and Ecuador tuning in to watch dogs race in a Mississippi college town.
"Things like the Starkville Derby add so much color and vibrancy and really show who we are," said Katie Coats, chief marketing officer of Visit Mississippi. "They help us put on display what we're known for as the Hospitality State."
Part of the global appeal can also be attributed to the breed's unique blend of size, confidence and stubbornness.
"South's smallest athletes, but maybe the biggest personalities. ... They do not care that you are their owner. They think they own you." Jernigan said.
And their adorable unpredictability only makes the competition more entertaining.
Beyond the racing, the Derby has also become an economic driver for Starkville.
The event has become one of Mississippi's premier festivals, earning Best Large Creative Event from the Mississippi Main Street Association and Best Large Festival from the Mississippi Tourism Association in 2024 along with a spot on the Southeast Tourism Society's Signature Events of the Southeast list.
"The impact is pretty invaluable," Watson said. "Starkville is very lucky to have the wiener dog race. It's so funny and it's so special, and it's something that people look forward to throughout the year ... it's truly one of a kind."
For Thornhill, that matters as much as any viral video or attendance record.
The Derby has become proof that a small-town idea can resonate far beyond its city limits.
"We might not be New York City. We might not be Chicago. We might not be Florida. But Mississippi stands up and makes its voice heard," Loftis said. "We're changing the country's perception about what Mississippi is and what it can be through events like these."
It's why Mississippi State students volunteer each year. It's why families travel across the country to attend. It's why thousands of people spend a spring afternoon cheering for dogs with names like Waffles and Forrest Gump.
And it's why Thornhill already finds himself thinking about the future as the Derby has become part of his family legacy.
This year, organizers paused the festivities to sing happy birthday to his 14-month-old daughter, who was born just days after the 2025 edition.
"Some folks inherit jewelry or land. She's going to inherit the world's largest wiener dog race," he said.
If current trends continue, she'll have plenty of people helping her run it.