Last May, while orange plumes puffed from her smoke stack, a crew of twelve men and women steered The Patapsico Queen over land, across water, through mud, and over the finish line. The 24-foot all-terrain steamboat adorned in the bright yellow and red hues of the Maryland state flag, sailed to victory at the Baltimore Kinetic Sculpture Race, spurred on by the whoops and hollers of excited spectators.

Sound like a hoot? This year's event takes place May 3, kicking off at the American Visionary Art Museum, just down the street from the Sheraton Inner Harbor Hotel, at 9:30 am. Follow the wild array of human powered locomotives as they wind their way through the city, before finishing up back at the museum. Or pack a picnic, find a comfortable piece of lawn, and settle in, as the whimsical parade of racers pass by. Whatever you do, don't forget to wear something outrageous! Spectators are encouraged to dress the part, and past events have seen everything from chickens to prom queens cheering on their favorite sculpture from the sidelines.

Kinetic sculpture races started in 1969 when Hobart Brown, a sculptor from California, turned his son's tricycle into a five wheeled "pentacycle." Since then, ingenious artists and engineers have been convening at races nationwide, to see if their crazy kinetic invention has what it takes to make it over the finish line.