It was a beautiful weekend for the Kelvington Trailblazers as they hosted the Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association Snowmobile Festival in Kelvington on Feb. 23-24.
The festival is a great way to introduce more snowmobilers to the beautiful area around the host community that is available to snowmobilers, says Chris Brewer, President and CEO of the Saskatchewan Snowmobile Association.
This year even had a group riding down from Flin Flon, which is quite a hike, he says.
Around 240 riders registered for the event but including all the sleds out on the trails that weekend, Brewer says that at least 400-500 snowmobilers were in the area.
The Trailblazers are responsible for 450 kilometres of trail and Bart Hartl, president of the Kelvington Trailblazers, says that every kilometre was in use during the weekend.
Hartl estimates that riders averaged about 160 kilometres of trail on Saturday and over 300 kilometres over the two days of the festival.
The Kelvington Trailblazers are one of the first clubs to start a youth snowmobile branch of their club with the Junior Trailblazers also playing a big part of the festival, says Hartl.
Around a dozen original members of the club volunteer for the weekend with 20 new members of the club being utilized for the event. Many of the youth club members were volunteers right along side their parents, he says.
“It gave a break to some of our core club members that were part of our regular rally and our day to day operations.”
Before the events even took place, local MLAs were out on the trails for a dignitary ride, says Brewer, with delegates learning about the work that goes into maintaining Saskatchewan trails.
These included Yorkton MLA Greg Ottenbreit and Carrot River Valley MLA Fred Bradshaw, both huge supporters of the association and their festivals, says Brewer.
The rest of the weekend included food, prizes, raffles, and entertainment, with Humboldt’s 40 Oz. Philosophy working the crowd for the Saturday wrap up party.
After being a participant in the festival for many years, members of the Trailblazers made the decision to host the event, with rave reviews coming in, especially from Brewer who says the club did a fantastic job.
“We’d had enough club members who were going every year who said hey, it’s time that we host it and showcase Kelvington to a different group of the snowmobiling community that has never been here.”
Hartl says that this was not just a way to show off Kelvington but also show off Greenwater Provincial Park, local businesses and bed and breakfasts, and riders were encouraged to ride on trails from local organizations, including the Archerwill, Porcupine Plain, and Preeceville, says Hartl. These are trail clubs that have not had the chance to host the festival, he says, so this was a way for them to have a bit of the spotlight as well, before they take the chance to host it.
“It wasn’t just Kelvington and what they have to offer,” says Hartl
Money raised for the event will go towards a new shop for the club.
