Riders explore trails in cross-border event ‘Passport’ buys three days on new snow

MADAWASKA – Snowmobile trail groomers have been making trails with very little snow this year, so 4 to 5 inches of fresh snow Friday night and early Saturday morning was a godsend for them and hundreds of snowmobilers in the St. John Valley for the annual International Snowmobile Festival.

More than 400 snowmobilers purchased passports for $30 that allowed them to use snowmobile trails in both Maine and New Brunswick for the three-day weekend.

The passport saves money for snowmobilers who want to try out the trails in the other location. They also get to take part in many activities and have chances to win money. And the riding’s good, too.

Snowfall has been light through the winter, and trails have been a trifle hard with soil showing through in many places. The new snow changed that.

“It was good snowmobiling today, even though we could use more snow,” Ty Chilton, a general contractor from Kennebunkport, said Saturday night before heading out to supper. “Some areas were rocky on Friday, but it was a bit better today with the new snow.”

Chilton and seven friends from southern Maine were spending their fourth annual winter vacation snowmobiling in the St. John Valley.

“It’s a vacation, where we can get away from work and have a good time,” he said. “This place [the Long Lake Motor Inn] keeps us coming back.

“The people here are great,” he said while his friends waited. “This is a nice place.”

Organizers of the International Snowmobile Festival, based in Madawaska and Edmundston, New Brunswick, would like to have had bigger numbers for the 11th annual festival, but they were up against stiff competition: the second annual Long Lake Fishing Derby on four of northern Maine’s best fishing lakes, and of course, the 41st Super Bowl on Sunday.

They were also enduring minimal amounts of snow.

“What an exhausting weekend,” Jean Ouellette, secretary of the organizing committee, said Sunday afternoon. “About 400 people bought the passports.

“Although this was kind of low, we are happy because we were fighting many things this year,” she said. “It was a good weekend and the activities went well.

“People who came had a good time,” she continued. “Our casino night on Friday went well. It was the first time we had that activity.”

Along with snowmobilers from throughout Maine and New Brunswick, Ouellette said many came from Massachusetts, Montreal, Quebec City and Pennsylvania.

The International Snowmobile Festival allows riders to travel more than 400 miles of snowmobile trails on both sides of the international border for the nominal price of $30 per passport. The usual fee charged Canadian and American riders to ride trails in the other country is much higher.

The $30 passport also allowed holders to participate in two poker runs for cash prizes, an opening night spaghetti feed, dancing and a casino night at Madawaska, drag races and a supper at a Canadian snowmobile club and breakfast on the closing day of the weekend.

Last year, despite rainy weather, more than 550 snowmobilers purchased the weekend passport. Snowmobilers came to the St. John Valley from throughout Maine, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, South Carolina, Quebec and all over New Brunswick.

The weekend started Friday with the first running of the Lucky Run poker tour. Riders had the choice of doing a Canadian or American run. It was the same on Saturday.

After opening ceremonies on Friday night, participants enjoyed spaghetti at the Madawaska Knights of Columbus Hall and played at the casino night.

On Saturday night, supper was served at the Club ASNO Snowmobile Club and moonlight drag races were run at the Club du Nord Snowmobile Club, both in Canada.

A live band played at the Madawaska K of C Hall.

The weekend ended with a Sunday morning breakfast at the Madawaska K of C Hall, free for passport holders.

Major sponsors of the three-day festival included the town of Madawaska, the city of Edmundston, the province of New Brunswick, Fraser Papers Inc., Polaris and Daigle Sports Center of Madawaska and Optim Technologies of Massachusetts.

Other sponsors include approximately 40 St. John Valley businesses and snowmobile clubs on both sides of the international border.