Meet defined by carnival setting

When is a track meet not just a track meet? When it's the Penn Relays.

The Relays are about much more than races, they are about the people, the food and the festivities.

Not everyone in Philadelphia or at Penn knows that the Penn Relays are taking place this weekend at Franklin Field, but if anyone walks within a mile of the stadium, the strong smell of jerk chicken will quickly make them realize something is different.

The carnival portion of the Relays has been a tradition since the first Penn Relays in 1895, and the Relays formally became the Penn Relay Carnival in 1910.

The formal Penn Relays carnival occurs in the Franklin Field parking lot and on the Lott Tennis Courts. Officials first extended the boundaries beyond Franklin Field in the 1990s so people could take a break from the races and do some shopping.

"It allows much more freedom of access," Dave Johnson, the director of the Penn Relays, said. "You don't have people crammed in there all the time, [they] get a chance to get out there and spread their legs."

Without stepping outside of the venue, patrons can enjoy a plethora of vendors.

But it is not the formal carnival that attracts most of the attention. Outside of the limits of Franklin Field, street vendors can be found selling just about anything.

These vendors have been a tradition at the Relays since the 1960s, and the street takes on more of a party feel than it does a track feel.

"Just the fact that all the street vendors are out there alerts you there's something going on even if you had no idea what was going on and you were driving past," Johnson said. "Also the fact that you couldn't drive past very quickly because the traffic is so congested, so right away it marks it as an event."

This year will be the 111th year the Relays have been run. They are regarded as the second most important track event -- behind only the Olympics. They took on the USA vs. The World format in 2000 and accordingly, the carnival demonstrates the international character of the event.

The smell of jerk chicken permeates the campus as the Jamaican street vendors make their most aggressive sales pitches in an attempt to sell hats, CDs, T-shirts, lemonade, and of course, jerk anything.

The Penn Relay Carnival was one of the first, but now a number of other track events try and create similar atmospheres.

"More events are creating vendor villages," Johnson said. "There's always a tipping point where you reach where it becomes economically feasible."

The Penn Relays attract more than 100,000 people over the course of the weekend, and the natural boundaries of Franklin Field -- the Schuylkill River on one side, Drexel on another, Penn on a third and the railroad tracks on the fourth -- means that all the spectators will be confined to the small area.

"We don't have much room to maneuver; most track facilities have more room to do what they want to do," Johnson said. "The advantage is it keeps it all in one compact area and the more people you put in one compact area, the more excitement and energy you have.

"What isn't great in terms of logistics and planning a whole event is great in terms of energy."

Packed streets, noisy vendors and delicious smells on the outside set the atmosphere for the always exciting races on the inside. For avid track fans or those just looking to have a good time outside, the Penn Relay Carnival is something to see.

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