Given that it is November, we will soon be hearing the distinctive sound of snowmobiles echoing through the city. For some, it’s an annoyance, because some people can’t abide any loud noise, though I’d take a million snowmobiles over the sound of a train whistle. For others it’s the sound of money, as all those machines need gas and regular maintenance, not to mention the tourism dollars from the riders coming to town. Most importantly, it’s the sound of a town that is embracing what it has to offer.
Yorkton has been uncommonly kind to the snowmobile, not every city allows them within city limits. But it makes sense for the city to embrace the machines because it has a unique opportunity. The season is short in most places, but relatively long here, north of the border. We also tend to get a lot of snow, and even with milder winters we remain a place that gets covered in the stuff. We have a lot of space, given that it’s still a largely rural area, but we’re also not really remote, so if something goes wrong mechanically riders aren’t stuck without a way to get parts. We have a place which is inherently good for people who want to embrace a winter sport in general, but is uncommonly suited to be a snowmobiling destination. That we’ve actually embraced this is a smart move.
Being well suited for something doesn’t necessarily mean the idea is going to be embraced or followed up on. The best location in the world is not going to mean anything if you’re not actually doing anything with it. The local snowmobile club, the SnoRiders, spends a great deal of time and effort maintaining the trails that surround the city, and they have developed a very good working relationship with the city itself, which is part of the reason why it’s been uncommonly kind to the machines. Add to that marquee charitable events, like the Easter Seals Snowarama, and we’ve got a town that also has positioned snowmobile enthusiasts as good people as well, no matter how loud their toys are.
It’s as much an image thing as anything else, we’ve got a group of people who do good things for the area, because they want to improve the state of their preferred winter pastime. As a result, the area benefits, as people are employed by local businesses, money comes in for local charities and the city in general gets something to do in the depths of winter. They mostly want to ride, but in doing so they make their own hobby a vital part of the city as a whole, and give the city a distinctive sound in the middle of winter.
Not all of us ride, for whatever reason, but it’s nice to see that other people can benefit from someone else’s hobby. Snowmobiles are not the only hobby that we can say this about either, there are plenty of hobbies which wind up benefiting the entire town by the people dedicated to them. But, it’s November, and being that winter is coming there are undoubtedly people annoyed by the distinct sound of a snowmobile in their neighbourhood, getting ready for the first major snowfall of the year. And these people will likely complain about the noise to others, so they need a reminder that in this town we have a group of people with loud machines who have done good things for the community, so we should take the noise as a form of celebration.
