Sledding the County - Snowbowl

CARIBOU, Maine (WAGM) -

There’s no doubt that snowmobiling brings millions of dollars into Aroostook County each winter, and snowmobile based events play a part in that. NewsSource8′s Brian Bouchard has this week’s Sledding the County.

“The idea and the concept of the Snowbowl came from sledding and snowmobiling for 20 years, that’s what actually brought my family and myself to Northern Maine from Midcoast Maine.”

Jim Gamage is a dedicated snowmobiler, and part of the team that is working to bring the Snowbowl event in Caribou to life. The Snowbowl, which is a 4 day event taking place the first weekend of March has a variety activities scheduled which hope to draw in snowmobilers from all over.

“The furthest that we’ve heard from is Kansas City, reaching out to see what we’re doing. We have the trails, we just needed an event to promote the trails and promote the area.”

“I think one of the unique things about this event is that everything that we’re doing you can obviously ride a snowmobile to, even the downtown event.”

Troy Haney, the other half of this dynamic duo behind the event, is the owner of Spud Speedway where a number of activities will be taking place over the course of the weekend. Haney says the potential exists for millions of dollars to be injected into the local economy from those attending.

“I think everybody really understands that the hotels and restaurants and gas stations probably immediately benefit the most but that wraps around to the entire community year round so if they do well, the money circulates back into the community and all businesses are going to see an impact from an event like this.”

Haney went on to say that the majority of activities taking place over the course of the Snowbowl are free to the public, or are focused on raising money for charitable purposes. This includes Brian’s Ride, which benefits cancer patients at Cary Medical Center.

“It’s not just about somebody turning a quick dollar, if we were about just making money we would have done it all at Spud Speedway we wouldn’t have bothered going downtown where its free. We’re trying to show that you can give back to the community, create an event that gives to the local economy and have something that folks can look forward to year after year.” says Haney.

Haney adds if you don’t need to own a snowmobile to take part in the event, as there are activities for the whole family.

Brian Bouchard, NewsSource8

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