In April we published a story about a Saskatchewan man who gave up his day job to become a full-time cheese maker.
It blended how-to facts about cheese making with an inspiring look at the rewards drawn from following your dreams.
What the article didn’t say is that Kevin Petty, the fore-mentioned cheese maker, used to sell advertising at The Western Producer.
It never took very long for a conversation with Kevin to gravitate toward cheese. He talked about how his ultimate goal was to quit his job at the Producer and just concentrate on making cheese.
Read Also
Crop insurance’s ability to help producers has its limitations
Farmers enrolled in crop insurance can do just as well financially when they have a horrible crop or no crop at all, compared to when they have a below average crop
I must admit that I didn’t take him very seriously. Who quits a solid career to try making and selling enough cheese to support a family?
Well, Kevin Petty, that’s who.
Today he’s thriving, with his Saskatoon Spruce cheese found in grocery stores across Saskatoon and in many refrigerators, including mine.
However, what I have yet to see is one of Kevin’s cheese wheels rolling down a hill while a gaggle of thrill-seekers run, tumble, crash and roll in mad pursuit.
Yep, that’s what they do in Gloucester, England, apparently since 1826, and perhaps longer.
Every year, a group of folks with very little fear reflex gather at the top of a steep hill that’s said to have a gradient of 50 percent.
Someone tosses out a wheel of double Gloucester cheese and within seconds of its rolling start, the mob begins its race to the bottom.
I’ve watched videos of this event, and it is spectacularly, outrageously, breathtakingly dangerous.
Find yourself a hill with a gradient of 50 percent and run down at full speed and you’ll get the picture.
People are going bum over tea kettle as they try to break their necks, even as the cheese wheel continues on its merry way.
Participants suffer bone fractures, bruised organs and concussions. One winner crossed the finish line unconscious.
The danger eventually became too much for the town of Gloucester, which cancelled the race in 2009. But local residents picked up the torch the following year and it’s continued ever since.
Participants are racing each other, not the cheese wheel, because no one ever beats the cheese wheel. It reaches speeds of 130 km-h.
For me, I much prefer my cheese dawdling on a plate.
