 A runaway ruminant at last year's Bock Fest created a few days of anxiety for its owner and a bit of excitement for some local homeowners. Rachel Bearoff, a resident of Phoenixville, owns several goats which she houses at Winding Brook Farm in Warrington, Bucks County, and she has entered one or more of them in the annual Sly Fox Bock Festival Goat Race the last few years. She never raced them herself since she was a server at the pub and working during the fest. Her sister or friends would run with the ruminants and she also lent out goats to non-goat owners who wanted to race. "They could name them whatever they wanted for the race," she says.
The plan last year was for a friend, Ben Bell, to race Trey, while Rachel would run with Trey's mother Sugar, her boyfriend Mike Johnson with Brom (Trey's older brother), and another friend, Jordan Bravato, with Ginger Spice (Trey's younger sister), whom he renamed Leonidas. It was to be the first race for Trey, a 150-lb and somewhat rambunctious animal. After they arrived, the man from Winding Brook whom Rachel calls Farmer Bob tied him to his trailer while he was tending to the other goats. Trey got spooked and broke free, trailing 30 feet of tie-line behind him. "I was so worried," says Rachel. "I was afraid he'd get hit by a car or get stuck in the woods if his line got tangled around something." She turned Sugar over to Ben to race while she and Mike, driven around by Mrs. Jacqueline Giannopoulos, matriarch of the family which owns Sly Fox, searched all day and into the evening for Trey and distributed flyers with the goat's photo and a contact phone number, all to no avail.
"There were sightings reported all day long," Rachel recalls, "the farthest away was near the Bevans Orchard neighborhood, which is about three miles from the pub. The police saw him jumping over cattle fences from the farm there but never caught up with him. After that, I didn't hear anything until Tuesday  morning when a guy called to say Trey was on Maryhill Road and his line was caught under the tire of a parked car. When we got there, he broke free again and ran behind a house. The owners came out and said he'd been around for a while, so I gave them my number and they called me later that night to say that Trey was under a neighbor's porch. I went over to see but I didn't have a trailer so I told the people whose house it was that I'd be back in the morning with Farmer Bob. They said that was fine and Trey was no problem. They enjoyed watching him."
It was raining Monday morning when Rachel, Farmer Bob, an animal control officer and two assistants arrived at the house. "Trey was just laying on the front porch like it was his house," she says, "just chilling. It was so cute." When Farmer Bob walked up to the porch, Trey leaped to his feet and jumped off but Bob caught him in midair and his runaway adventures were finally over. Rachel says that a perfect ending to the whole affair was provided by Trey's mother Sugar when they got back to Winding Brook. "After we put him back in the pen, she gave him this long stare and then went over and head-butted him like she was punishing him for running away." |
✔ Keep your goat on a leash!
✔ Bring your I.D.
✔ Bring cash to buy tickets. *
✔ Do NOT bring beer.
✔ Do NOT bring disposable water bottles.
✔ Bring refillable water bottles.
✔ Be courteous. Be safe. Have fun!
✔ Please recycle!
* Sly Fox will only accept tickets for all Bock Fest purchases.
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