Moving mountains (of snow) for Restart

WILLOW -- While the Iditarod ceremonial start was reaching a fevered frenzy in downtown Anchorage on Saturday morning, the community of Willow was busy preparing for the Iditarod Restart on Sunday. With less than a week of official notice, businesses, road maintenance workers and community volunteers were scrambling to accommodate the influx of visitors the race brings into their small town.

Since 1994, the Iditarod restart has been moved from Wasilla to Willow about a half dozen times. But even with previous experience, moving the Last Great Race from one location to another is not a simple task. Joanne Potts, Iditarod race director says the group always has a plan A and a plan B for the Restart.

"Months ahead of time, we look at the possibility. Deby Trosper, our Restart coordinator, does a lot of work to make it happen," said Potts.

Whether the Restart is held in Wasilla or Willow, the Iditarod Trail Committee runs the show, overseeing everything related to the race, the traffic and the crowds.

Willow offers support to the ITC efforts, which can turn into quite a bit of work. Trosper is very impressed with Willow.

"The community members go way beyond the call of duty," she said. "Whether it's for getting snow removed, or making sure there is food to feed all the volunteers, the community gears up as soon as they hear the word. They accommodate us and the spectators very nicely." Trosper estimated between 5,000-7,500 people came to the restart this year.

At the community center, snow removal efforts were in high gear, as equipment operators carved out any extra space they could find to make room for the mushers, volunteers, spectators and media who would flood the facility in less than 24 hours. Kitchen volunteers were busy preparing a limited menu of items, wrapping them for the convenience of spectators, who would likely carry them on their trek down to the lake.

Across town, Jane and Karl Thistle of Karl's Pizza were busy making pizzas in their commercial kitchen — their second batch of 100 pizzas in the past two days. They planned to sell pizza to the Iditarod crowds, in addition to all the pizzas they sold to local eateries, and from as far away as Yentna Station, a stop along the Iditarod trail.

Ola Williams runs an espresso shop in Willow, at the corner of Hatcher Pass Road. She was baking all week, making extra cinnamon rolls and breads in anticipation of the added business. Williams said she stocked up in preparation of the big event. "I've had a few mushers stop in here this week, asking how early I'll be open Restart morning," said Williams. She assured them she would be there at 4 a.m., four hours earlier than her usual Sunday opening.

Many locals traveled by snowmachine, on skis or on foot to watch the race from their homes and cabins nearby. For everyone else, there was parking at the airport across the Highway, where State DOT crews were busy clearing the snow. Kurt Devon, Mat-Su DOT Supervisor, estimated about 80 hours of equipment time was used to prepare the parking areas for the Restart. More work will be done after the race, too, moving the snow berms back from the airport lighting — berms that were created to keep cars from accessing the main runway.

At the First United Methodist Church along the Parks Highway in Willow, Sunday services were canceled. Historically, traffic on the Sunday morning Restart is too much to mess with, at least for this crowd. And from all reports about the backed up traffic, they made an excellent decision.

Throughout the community, residents and weekenders were busy making plans for parties on the lake, gathering firewood for bonfires, and making last minute runs to town for groceries and party favors. Local stores and gas stations were booming with business Saturday afternoon.

Still, the community of Willow now breathes a collective sign of relief the Restart is over — and the real race begins. There is just so much to be done in such a short time. With the Restart heading north more and more often in the past years, why not permanently move the start to Willow, so improvements can be made to parking, traffic, trails? "Wasilla is the home of Iditarod," said Potts. That want to keep it that way, she said.