Winterfest hits the street this weekend

Piles of snow have been waiting all week along Main Street, but that vital raw ingredient will transform before the weekend into obstacle courses that test the talents of skijorers and bar stool racers. Once again, the town will play host to the Sundance Winter Festival and attendees can expect all the same fun and entertainment they have grown used to.

“It’s coming together just like it has in the past – if it’s not broken, I guess we’re not changing it,” quips organizer Reggie Gaylord.

The big day is Saturday, but residents may notice volunteers working on the course as early as Thursday and earlier bird registration will be taking place at the Longhorn Saloon and Grill on Friday evening.

On Saturday, registration opens at 7 a.m. and the day’s events will kick off at 9 a.m. with opening ceremonies followed by the boarders division long round of the ski joring. Rounds will continue throughout the day for the ladies, Classic Guns (aged 34 plus), Young Guns (aged 18 to 34) and the open division.

Instead of an overall awards ceremony at the end of the event, this year the divisions have been rearranged so that the long and short round for each category will happen in the same block of time, with the calcutta in between. Once the division has completed its runs, the winners will be announced.

“Open this year is a pick-one-draw-one category,” Gaylord says. Skiers can pick their horse and rider for the first run but then will be assigned randomly for the second run.

Between each round, brave spectators can experience the course for themselves in the Wild Tube Race, in which the winner will be the person who keeps the most liquid in their cup as they are pulled along in an inner tube behind a horse.

The day will end with the popular bar stool races, in which prizes will be awarded for the top three places as well as the most unusual bar stool and contestant. There’s no fixed time for the event – or for any of the rounds before it, says Gaylord.

“We start the first one and we just roll as fast as it allows us. After 9 a.m. when we start the opening ceremonies until the time it ends is just all based on participation,” he says.

Organizers are expecting a good turnout again this year, not least because the event has now been going on long enough to create a whole lot of competition between the participants.

“I think there will be a lot of new faces trying it out and some of the good old boys who will come here to compete and keep their titles,” he says.

Gaylord himself will be doing the announcing this year and, for the first time, will have the advantage of the new city speakers positioned on light poles all down the street.

“You’ll have to listen to me throughout the whole thing, all down Main Street,” he jokes.

Vendors will keep the crowd fed and watered throughout the day, from food trucks and wood-fired pizza and a fundraising booth for the high school to booths from the local bars out on the street.

The Sundance Winter Festival kicks off on Saturday, February 15.