Willow Winter Carnival kicks off this weekend

WILLOW — The 56th annual Willow State Winter Carnival gets underway this evening with the annual Kickoff Dinner at the Willow Community Center. This year's event is spread over two weekends with a majority of activities planned for Saturday and Sunday Jan. 28-29 and Feb. 3-5. This year's carnival theme is "Year of the Fireweed" and it is sponsored by the Willow Area Community Organization (WACO).

Things get going tonight at 5 p.m. with quick draw artists rendering impromptu sketches. Those sketches will be given to the highest bidder during the silent auction which takes place from 6:30-7:15 p.m.. This year's Gold Pan Award recipients will be announced at 7 p.m. and signup for the Earl Norris Open Sled Dog Challenge starts at 7:30 p.m. Also on-tap for Friday night is the carnival king and queen coronation, photo contest, the dinner, and fireworks.

The dinner will be held at the Willow Community Center starting at 6:30 p.m. The center is located at milepost 69.5 on Parks Highway. Gorilla Fireworks of Houston and the Matanuska Valley Federal Credit Union are co-sponsoring the fireworks, which start at 8 p.m.

Saturday's schedule includes a full day of activities. The blood bank/bloodmobile will be onsite from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. The first day of the Earl Norris Sled Dog Challenge starts at 10 a.m. Other planned activities include an 11 a.m. geocache mass event, a noon dog pull, outhouse races at 1 p.m., and a stampede race at 2:30 p.m.

Day two of the Norris Sled Dog Challenge gets things started on Sunday morning. A 5k ski race is on tap for 11 a.m. A lead dog race as well as snowshoe softball game is on the schedule starting at 1 p.m. A ladies five-mile sled dog race starts at 2 p.m. as does the Earl Norris Awards ceremony.

Friday, Feb. 3 at noon starts the Willow 300 Sled Dog Race. Saturday, Feb. 4, public activities move back into full swing with vintage snow machine races planned from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Kids games are scheduled for noon and a poker run will take place from noon to 3 p.m. A cribbage tournament begins at 1:30 p.m. Homesteader events--including, among other contests, cross-cut saw and wood-chopping competition for both sexes, starts at 2:30 p.m. and the MTA Telephone Toss is on the docket for 3 p.m.

The Sven Eriksson 25k tour/bike, ski or run kicks off Sunday, Feb. 5th's events. A most abused Carhartts and best beards contest begins at noon. Homesteader events continue beginning at 12:30 p.m. with awards scheduled for 1:30 p.m. A pie and dessert auction is slated for 2 p.m., a tug-of-war contest kicks off at 2:30 p.m. and things wind down with a 3 p.m. raffle drawing.

Both weekends feature an 8 a.m.-11 a.m. pancake breakfast sponsored by the Willow Elementary School Parent-Teacher Association. Other activities planned throughout the event include the carnival kitchen which is open 10 a.m.-4 p.m. and A-1 Midway Carnival Rides and Games welcomes the public starting at 10 a.m. each day of the carnival. A trade fair takes place 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Additionally, a wide variety of musical groups and dancers--including square dancing, belly dancing, local high school bands and Valley musicians will be on-hand to entertain throughout the carnival.

Event registration takes place at the WACO booth starting at 9:30 a.m. each day. T-shirts, pin raffle and mini raffle tickets are also available at the booth beginning the same time. Admission is free but there is a $1 per vehicle parking fee. Those with snow machines are asked to park in the Willow Elementary School parking lot or designated area on the Parks.

For more information, visit waco-ak.org/carnival or contact the WACO office at 907-495-6633.

Contact reporter Chris Ford at 352-2270 or

chris.ford@frontiersman.com