A relatively recent fixture of fair week in Chelsea is the Run for the Rolls. What’s the Run for the Rolls, you ask? It’s a set of two races — a 5k and a 1 mile — that take place Saturday morning of fair week. The 5k takes place in the fairgrounds earlier in the morning, and the 1 mile heads down Main Street immediately before the fair parade begins. Since the latter runs the parade route immediately before the very popular parade, it includes lots of spectators to cheer on the runners.

Oh, and if you’re wondering why it’s called the Run for the Rolls — after all, don’t people usually run to avoid getting rolls? — it got its name thanks to the Common Grill and its inconceivably delicious dinner rolls. If you haven’t had a Common Grill roll, you don’t know what rolls are. They’re all-caps GOOD.

I wasn’t able to photograph the earlier race at the fairgrounds, but since I was set up to shoot the parade, I was all set to shoot the 1 mile run down Main Street. Before the race started I was certain I knew who would be running in first place, and I was right.

Before you get too impressed at my prognostication skills, let me explain: Bryce, the runner shown above, finished second in the state as a junior in the 2010 cross country finals. It wasn’t hard to guess that he’d be leading a 1-mile run through Chelsea.

The race has become quite popular:

Because it’s a short race in a fun environment, it attracts lots of kids and families.