Mother Nature’s snowfall allows for all Snowfest activities

CRESCO - The 52nd Annual Snowfest was another successful one, as the area was fortunate to receive 4-6 inches of good snow on Wednesday night into Thursday morning. 

Driftrunners President Zach Gooder commented, “Although it is a bit more stressful when you aren’t sure which events are going to be able to be held, we have gotten good at it. For at least the last four years, it has snowed the week of Snowfest, and we have been able to hold our full schedule.”

The groomer ran 14 hours straight, starting at 12 a.m. on Friday morning, and again on Saturday morning at 6 a.m. 

Gooder explained the trails held up relatively well considering the short turnaround time members had to get it worked down, and the traffic they had this weekend. “It was great to see the hotels full and the fairground full of trailers. This is certainly a community event, and we hope all of our efforts helped to get people up to the area to ride paid off for the area businesses.”

Vokaty’s Early Bird Ride was held starting on Thursday morning, which always has a great turnout, and those on the Ladies’ Ride had a great time on Friday morning. The Friday night rib dinner was also well received. 

Saturday morning started off with the Boy Scouts breakfast, with a long line to get pancakes. They did a great job as always. 

“We had 64 entries in our 3rd Annual Vintage Sled Show, which is an all time high. Rupp was the featured brand, and there were some really nice sleds brought out for that. It was nice to have George and Darlene Schmitt at the Vintage show, they put in some extra money towards the Rupp awards. They have a lot of history with the Rupp brand, being a local Rupp dealer in the area. Next year’s featured brand will be Massey Ferguson,” the president said. 

Legion Bingo had a full horseshoe of players all afternoon. There were 14 entries in the 3rd Annual Chili Cookoff and over 800 cups of chili were used for sampling. 

The new event added this year was a jigsaw puzzle competition on Saturday afternoon with 10 teams of four players registered. The winning team completed a 500-piece puzzle in 35 minutes!

The torchlite parade had 45 entries in it, which was held at the fairgrounds this year due to the ice conditions at Vernon Springs.

Many business and individuals donated to the raffle, making a good money-maker. The Snowball dance went well into the night at the Expo center, with M&M entertainment doing a great job as always.

The brunch on Sunday was at the Cresco Country Club, with an excellent meal and where the Poker Run Turn In was held.

“Our youth ride led by Steve Burke was an excellent endcap to our event, as they made their way to the newly-opened LS Tap in Lime Springs with hot cocoa and cookies!”

The Driftrunners are not done with winter activities. Snowmobilers are encouraged to ride the trails and visit all the area eateries. In addition, Charlie’s Chili Feed is coming up on Feb. 11, and members are working hard to put on an excellent event for everyone.