Photo courtesy of Lexi Erickson Lexi Erickson has served on the organizing committee for Box Car Days for years, and also grew up going to the festival. Box Car Days takes place over Labor Day Weekend in Tracy.

TRACY — From growing up and attending every year to now having a heavy hand in organizing, Tracy resident Lexi Erickson has seen all perspectives of what goes into the annual Box Car Days festival. 

Erickson has served on the organizing committee for Box Car Days the past several years, and plays a large role in lining up how events will shape out when the big weekend comes around. 

“Its [Box Car Days] always been my favorite. That’s where I got into the [previous] chamber director role, and I really enjoyed that for my time,” Erickson said. “Now, it’s nice to be able to help a little bit. Then the weekend of, it takes a village to get it going. We all work together and make it a successful time. It’s really fun and a good time.” 

While the planning season can be hectic, forming relationships with local community members is seen as an enjoyable part of the process. 

“[I do] a lot of the bigger ticket items, like lining up the midway, the band, all of the food vendors, things like that … It’s a lot of emails and phone calls just to confirm that we’re all on the same page,” Erickson said. “It helps once you’ve done it a couple times, to make those connections with the vendors. That’s been a lot of fun, to be able to see them every year and create closer relationships with them.” 

Box Car Days takes place over Labor Day weekend, beginning on Aug. 29 and running through Sept. 1 with a variety of events taking place each of the four days. 

“Fridays are generally our big chamber burger night. … There’s a burger meal with chips, cookies and a drink in the beer tent. Our beer garden is our big draw in town,” Erickson said. “Saturday, we have the band that evening. That’s a really, really big event. .. we’ve tried to bring a couple of new things. We’ve done things like pizzas, puzzles and pitchers … The midway starts then as well on Saturday.” 

The fun doesn’t stop there, as it continues for another two days to wrap up the long holiday weekend. 

“Sunday, we have our mud volleyball tournament, which is a huge hit. We generally cap it at 16 teams … I believe there is going to be another softball tournament, too,” Erickson said. “Monday, we generally have our box car road race that morning. Then, 1 p.m. is our Grand Parade.” 

Bingo also takes place throughout all four days, and Sunday also hosts the Miss Tracy Program, a scholarship opportunity for high school junior girls. 

“It’s really good. They [scholarship participants] work on interview skills, walking in heels, their talent, just a lot of fun things … They crown a Miss Tracy, a first runner-up and a second runner-up. They also have different monetary rewards,” Erickson said. “I was in it when I was in high school, and now I’ve been a director for probably six years. It’s a really neat opportunity, something that a lot of towns don’t have. Really fun and open to any junior girl.” 

Erickson grew up attending Box Car Days as a kid, and now enjoys the perspective of organizing the festival to see others share the memories she’s created. 

“Just seeing it as I grew up being such a successful event and loving it so much, I just want to continue that tradition of having a fun weekend, having a safe weekend for kiddos and our community, and just keep that going.” Erickson said. “Now having my own kids, I want them to have the love of Tracy being successful, and that’s a really good weekend to kick that off.” 

Erickson said planning for this year’s Box Car Days is underway and going smoothly so far. 

After months of preparations, seeing communities come together to partake in the tradition is a full-circle moment for the organizers. 

“I like having the ideas and stuff on paper just come to life. It’s fun to be able to see that, and then seeing that people are enjoying it,” Erickson said. “There are a lot of grateful people that will stop you and be like, “Thank you for doing this,’ or, ‘Hey, I have ideas.’ We are always open to ideas … It takes a lot of people and it’s a big commitment. It’s fun to have those veterans, but it’s always good to get those new ideas in there, too.”