Vintage Snowmobile Show

Don’t let all these projects fool you – We do have some fun too ya know.  That’s a picture of Joe’s baby. The Dragonfly I call her. And we rode all morning last Saturday.

I’ve lived in Minnesota my whole life, and never knew there were events like Midwest Vintage Snowmobiles Shows. Grandpa would love this. He has a few of these bad boys laying around the cabin… So Saturday we drove toward Waconia, MN and parked our cars about an hour outside the annual Lake Waconia Ride In. That put plenty of fresh trails between us and the main event. Joe and I doubled up, and even kept up with the pack. We traversed many fluffy ditches and scratchy sidewalks. And finally, we made it!

Park n’ Ride

The Snowmobile show had a great turnout! Even with the ice cold temps. It was sunny, which helped. The snowmobile engine helps heat you up too. Whatever it was, we just couldn’t get enough riding. My trick was wearing five pair of socks. Joe’s was heated handles.

Check out all these cool old snowmobiles! They’re all from the ’70’s or ’80’s and run no problem. Well, one problem is they’re not the fastest. But they’re classics. And there were definitely some memorable ones at that! Worth the trip.

Here are some of the things in the show:

• Antique Pre-1967 (Front Engine) – Vintage 1967-1969

• Survivor 1977-1985*

• Mini Snowmobile 1967

• Jalopy/Home Built

There were ice races and a vintage 11-mile ride I think. We didn’t see much of those.

We weren’t even sure what this contraption was!

I think Joe got about 15 minutes of video footage before his GoPro battery died of cold.

Grillin’ up chops and brats.

Warming up with hot cocoa and fresh pork chops.

So good.

This was a stereotypical Minnesotan experience. Team huddle in the warming tent.

And there’s no shame in warming your bones.

Total: 1,500  pork chops, 1,300 hot dogs, 40 gallons of Chili and 100 cases of pop. Wow!

These were quite the spectacle.

Luckily, they agreed to pose for a photo.

There was a banquet hall for an auction and raffle too!

Did I mention, they like Yamaha?

These two have been rebuilt.

Swap Meet. This was like walking around a crazy snowmobile bazaar. They claim to be one of the world’s biggest vintage snowmobile swap meets.

Bikes too!

Joe Marty

The antlers kill me.

That day trip was a ton of fun. I’m hoping to do more of those. Maybe even longer trips if we can plan pit stops or hotels along the way. I’d love to get a big group together and ride somewhere. This Sunday we’re going to a vintage boat show. We’re hooked on vintage motors I guess! A couple other fun events coming up: St. Paul Winter Carnival, Red Bull Crashed Ice, and the Mpls Home+Garden Show. Stayin’ busy in the winter.

Should we keep posting diversions like this? We have plenty of projects, but we do other things too. Let us know if we bore you 😉