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Sno Mo
Cade 1966 - 1969
The mission of
the Roseau
County
Historical Society is to collect, preserve and disseminate the history
of Roseau
County.
An important part of the Society collection is photographs. At the
present time the Society has over six thousand photographs
representing all areas of life in Roseau County, including people,
places, and events. As residents of the county you are an essential
part in helping us collect county history. Although at this time we
are limited in our space due the downsizing of the museum, the future
will give us the room we need to care for this collection. Please do
not throw items or photographs out, place them in a safe place for the
museum. They will present a greater understanding of
Roseau
County
History to future generations.
Do you have any
Sno Mo Cade photographs? We would like to make a digital copy of your
original for the museum’s collection. Stop in at the museum or call
463-1918 for more information.
This week we
continue looking at the history of Roseau Lion’s Winter Fest or Sno Mo
Cade.
The future of the
Roseau Winter Fest was secure after the first one was held. It proved
such a success that the next year people came from “many points in
Canada, the Dakotas, Wisconsin, and Illinois.” (R T-R, 2/24/1966)
This would continue through the 1960s, in 1968 over 5,000 people
swarmed into Roseau to attend “Sno Mo Cade”, as it was first referred
to in 1967. Action continued to be held both downtown and at the fair
grounds. Although the weather was chilly, the downtown events were
held as usual. These Main Street events often included a snowmobile
parade, the famous Lion’s Club “Smooch” race was a type of team skiing
event done on one two by four per team, pitted the clubs of the area
against each other. The race really took coordination to reach the
finish line still standing! In 1967 a three day bonspiel at the local
curling rink took place.
Cross-Country
events were held Saturday with the snowmobiles usually racing round
trip to Sprague, Manitoba and back. The 1966 Open class winner was
Gerald Jarvis of Tofte, 11-15 HP race winner Stephen Hetteen, Roseau,
and 10.9 HP race class included Rodney Johnson Roseau with Marlys
Brandt of Roseau coming in second. In 1968 there were 166 entrants. In
1969 a grueling 2-day, 250 mile Cross-Country race to East Grand Forks
and back was tried. It was considered too long and was discontinued
the next year.
The Cross County
race trophies were presented at a well attended Saturday night banquet
that was held in the new Sacred Heart Catholic Church at first. These
trophies were presented by a queen from either the local area, the St.
Paul Winter Carnival, UND, or University of Manitoba.
The Sunday races
were well attended, spectators filled the grand stand, stood around
the fenced in oval track, or managed to catch the races from the roofs
of near by buildings.
The 1966 oval
races were taken by Randy Hites, Stephen Hetteen, and Rodney
Johnson. Powder Puff racer Jean Grahn took first place in that
category and held the title for two years. Eleanor Johnson claimed
the Endurance title. The only accident to mar the fun came when Betty
Johnson of Roseau fractured her leg.
A 1967 exhibition
stunt featured Edson Brandt propelling his machine through a flaming
wall. Stunts and exhibitions continued to draw crowds as the future
had much in store for the attendees. Each year daring attempts were
made to break the prior year’s record jump off an official ramp. In
1968 Wayne Burkel’s 84’9” jump beat the prior jump by about 15 feet.
In 1969 Dennis Olson jumped seven cars of which the last belonged to
Polaris President Allen Hetteen. The Polaris Thrill Team made its
debut in 1969 when Larry Rugland went around the twenty-two foot
spiral at about 46 miles per hour. There was fun and adventure for all
those early days of the Sno Mo Cade!
Information for
Sno Mo Cade was obtained from past Roseau Times-Region papers, Paul
Knochenmus and others involved with Sno Mo Cade.
RCHS Footnotes
Remember the Sno
Mo Cade Photos!
Newspaper Articles
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