Willow gears up for 60th annual Winter Carnival

The 60th annual State Winter Carnival gets underway in Willow this Friday.

The weekend-long event is jam-packed with activities, indoor and out, for the whole family, young and old. Whether you are into sled dogs, snowmobiles, fat-tire bikes, or eating all the ice cream you can handle before brain freeze kicks, in, the Willow Carnival offers something for everyone.

This is event is hosted by the Willow Area Community Organization and also takes place at its headquarters and the heart of the town, the Willow Community Center, utilizing natural features like the frozen lake nearby.

Traditionally, the Willow State Winter Carnival is held the last weekend in January and the first weekend in February, however, due to construction at the Willow Community Center, this year’s festival was moved back to March.

The fun kicks off Friday with a kids Wild Pike Derby, rides for the kids, vendors and food trucks and the crowning of the Willow King and Queen, culminating in one of Alaska’s biggest fireworks shows over Willow Lake.

Saturday is jam packed with events include homesteader events like ax throwing, a geocache search, foot and dog mushing races, ice sculpture displays and a snowshoe softball tournament.

Saturday also sees the annual Billy Taylor 5K Citizen’s Ski Race. According to the WACO website, the race began in 1979 when, according to John (Andy) Anderson, he was newly arrived from Colorado, and Bill Taylor, a “city slicker” from Sydney, Australia and who settled in Willow, and found that they needed to rely on their own two feet for transportation that winter. Rather than walk, they donned skis.

As the carnival neared, the men thought it might be fun to have a ski race for “everyday” folks like themselves. There was already the longer, grueling Sven Eriksson 25K Ski Tour for people who had the stamina to compete. So the men set a 5K trail through the trees and around Willow Lake, and thus a new tradition was born.

The Sven Eriksson 25K Bike, Ski or Run Tour kicks off Sunday at 10 a.m. on Willow Lake. This event is an untimed tour for fat tire bikes, runners, or skiers. The Sven began in 1972 as a cross-country race in the vicinity of Willow Lake, and later was rerouted over the Willow Swamp. The format also changed over the years from a race to a tour when organizers saw that many participants were making a picnic of the event.

With a series of years with poor skiing conditions and with the advent of fat tire biking and trail running, the tour moved from cross-country skiing to include more non-motorized modes of travel.

The carnival concludes Sunday with a kids snocross and freestyle at Newman Memorial Park, snowmobile races, a pie and dessert auction, and the always-entertaining Outhouse Race. There will be carnival rides, bingo nights and kid games for prizes, photo contests, food trucks and vendors galore.

Most events take place at the Willow Community Center and the funds raised from the Willow State Winter Carnival support culturally valued groups and activities through maintenance of the Willow Community Center.

For a full schedule of all of the events, call (907) 495-6633 or visit www.waco-ak.org

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Katie Stavick at katie.stavick@frontiersman.com