St. Hilaire, Minn., Vintage Sled Show & Ride-In

The 3rd Annual Vintage Snowmobile Show & Ride in downtown St. Hilaire, Minn. (a stone’s throw south of Thief River Falls), was held last weekend in wonderfully winter conditions.

Forty-three snowmobiles rode parade-style to Red Lake Falls, completing a nice 20-mile journey for the Ride-In portion.

For the show, the event drew 81 display sleds, plus several others parked nearby on trailers, for roughly 100 wonderful snowmobiles representing the 1961 to 1984 production period.

There were three divisions with awards at the show:

Peoples Choice, won by John Sundberg with a swell 1969 Polaris Mustang

Best Restored went to Arctic Cat engineer John Anderson of TRF with a 1969 Ski-Doo (we forgive him).

Best Original went to Merlyn Werner of East Grand Forks with a next-to-perfect Sears model Hillary.

The show judge was Fred Olson, who has been a longtime friend and mechanic for Kirk and Tucker Hibbert. Fred stated many times that it was a tough show to judge due to some incredible machines.

John Anderson had six machines on display, including my childhood-favorite: a perfectly restored 1981 6000 El Tigre.

I had a nice long visit with John and even convinced him to do a interview with WDAZ television who were on hand shooting footage and their Great Outdoors segment, which allowed us to promote snowmobiling and vintage events.

The Health Care Heroes Pennington County Relay for Life Team was on hand again this year, providing a great lunch and a bake sale along with a silent and live auction with all proceeds from food and auctions going to the Relay for Life.

Some top sellers again this year were a Team 68 Tucker Hibbert Jacket and a signed Team 68 photo in a nice frame, both of which were donated by Fred and Dawn Olson of TRF.

We had several Vintage snowsuits and jackets on display this year with a table of vintage Arctic Cat memorabilia such as patches and pins.

Thanks to everyone who display, attended and helped. I hope everyone on ArcticInsider enjoys the photos from the event.

-Steve Dahlen

Montana, here I come!

Another one of the 43 sleds who completed the 20 mile ride.

John Anderson and his excellent, perfect 1981 Arctic Cat El Tigre 6000.

Derek Kvenvold proudly displays his 1977-1884 Z Sno Pro custom that’s built off of a 1984 El Tigre (complete with the modern mountain handlebar).

Fred Olson (r) handed out the three class trophies.

There was a lot of great memorabilia on display too.