Willow Carnival continues

WILLOW — Instead of waiting for you to seek it out, sometimes the history of your community finds you.

At least that’s what happened to organizers of the Willow Winter Carnival this year.

“It showed up at Newman’s up at the Tesoro on the table one day, an old paper from the ’70s. We’re not even really sure how it got there,” said Chinook Deli owner and Willow Area Community Organization vice-chair Ronnie Widner.

Widner said the article described a carnival much different from today’s.

“It was the state willow winter carnival and the governor used to come and each city had a day — Juneau, Fairbanks,” Widner said.

The city’s mayors would come to the carnival. There were also different events — a snowmachine race from Palmer to Willow over Hatcher Pass, a car race on the lake. Frontiersman reports from the carnival’s 47th anniversary in 2008 back a lot of that up.

From the start, the carnival has featured dog sled races, but for the past couple years it hasn’t.

“We had to cancel all the dog stuff because it was so warm and the lake had so much overflow on it,” Widner said.

Carnival weather, she said, is usually the opposite — about 30 below.

“Last year they had to cancel their dog race because it was too cold,” she said.

But some of the snowmahcine racing is still going to go on, including the race to Sheep Creek and back as well as some of the vintage racing. The radar run snowmachine race is canceled, though.

“It’s too dangerous,” she said.

Widner said she’s trying to bring back some of those original events, including that Palmer to Willow race.

“It used to be a huge deal, but over the years it just got smaller and smaller,” she said.

And even if the weather conspired to make this year’s carnival in particular a little bit smaller, Widner said that doesn’t mean the cancelled events can’t be rescheduled.

“It’s Alaska, it’s gong to snow again. Who’s to say we can’t have it a month from now?” she said of the dog sled races. “Same deal with the radar run. We’ll have it. We own the gun. They’re not going to stop me.”

Contact Andrew Wellner at 352-2270

or andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com.

If You Go

There’s still one weekend left for the Willow Winter Carnival, held at the Willow Community Center at Mile 69.5, Parks Highway. Gates open at 9:30 a.m. both days and there’s a $1 parking fee. Here’s a calendar of events:

Tonight

• Doors open at 6:30 p.m. for a 7 p.m. bingo game

Saturday

• 8 to 11 a.m., PTA Pancake Breakfast.

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., kids games.

• 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., vintage snowmachine race.

• Noon, Paws & Taws square dance.

• 1 p.m., Borealis Dancers.

• 1:30 p.m., cribbage tournament.

• 2 p.m., Houston High School music department.

• 3 p.m., telephone toss, sponsored by MTA.

• 7 p.m., Talent or Not show.

Sunday

• 10:30 a.m., Sven Eriksson 17-mile ski tour.

• 11 a.m., Su Valley High School music department.

• 11:30 a.m., homesteader events.

• Noon, poker run.

• 2 p.m., worst Carharts and best beard contests.

• 2:30 p.m., pie and dessert auction.

• 3:30 p.m., tug of war.

• 3:45 p.m., homesteader awards.

• 4 p.m., raffle drawing.

Both days

• 9:30 a.m., WACO booth opens (registration, T-shirts, pins, raffle tickets).

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., arts and crafts exhibit in the Old Log Building.

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., carnival kitchen is open.

• 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., trade fair.