Ogden WinterFest

This weekend, I went with a couple of kids down to the First Annual Ogden WinterFest. It was an effort by the city to "draw people together" and "bring the community out." (This talk of encouraging community "togetherness" is all very Mormon, if you ask me.) But, Mormon or not, it was mostly free and very interesting! I have never seen some of the things that I saw at the Festival.

First off, I couldn't help but laugh to think that they were trucking in snow! In Ogden, Utah! In the middle of February! (In the news, they said 90% of the U.S. was covered in snow. I think we're in the 10%! It has been more like a cool rainforest here...lots of rain, 40+ degree weather. Amazing!) As I was saying, they brought in over 650 dump truck loads of snow for the occasion! The snow they brought in was about all of the snow you'd see around here.

There were many activities to enter/watch, some of which were a first experience. There was "Human Bowling." We got to see the "Dog Dress-Up Show."

(The Mallinaks entered their crazy dog as a "Rain Dog." Amazingly, it was very appropo, as the sky rained all day!)

Another event was the snowmobile races down the middle of the street.

There was free skiing and sledding down the main street for anyone to participate in. (The runs were about a bunny hill size with jumps and rails, but no chair lifts were included.)

One funny event was the "Human DogSled Races." Here, people were harnessed up to a dog sled, and they would have races to see who could pull the fastest!

The "human dogsledders" also had to dress up in costumes.

Finally, my favorite event was a combination of the two must-haves here in Utah. We cannot live without our horses, or our skiing. So, why not combine the two in "Skijoring?" This was a very new experience for me.

A horse and rider would begin running at one end. Behind them, holding onto a rope & handle, there would be a skier. He was responsible to hold onto the rope handle, and follow a swerving path that included jumps and very slushy snow.

That was neat! Some of the skiers were obviously good at skiing, but this was another deal, altogether.

Many ended up face-first in the snow, just below a jump. One horse rider even fell off his horse, although I don't know how he managed that!

It was very exciting to see horses walking down Main Street among all the vendors and snow and snowmachines and people!