JAMESTOWN —
Matt Lidey didn’t get to do the kind of riding he was hoping for Saturday, but he still kept pretty mobile.
“I probably gave 30 rides already,” the 18-year-old from Linesville said as he sat behind the wheel of a tractor pulling a long, hay-filled wagon early Saturday. “That’s not too bad at all,” he added, and “pretty fun” too — considering this year’s Winter Fun Days happened to come on a weekend without so much as a dusting of snow.
It appears snow-fun enthusiasts like Lidey won’t be seeing any of the white stuff this weekend, but that’s not stopping the Pymatuning Trail Blazers Snowmobile Club from hosting its 36th annual Winter Fun Days at Pymatuning State Park’s Shelter 4 in Jamestown.
Hopes for the event’s usual snowmobile rides and demonstrations, sled-riding and other winter activities may have melted away with the weekend’s forecast, but other events — new and vintage snowmobile and snow equipment displays; children’s activities; crafts; horse-drawn and wagon-drawn hay rides; contests; vendors; food and more — continue through this afternoon.
“There’s not much I can say” about the weather, said Jim Longstreth, a vintage snowmobile enthusiast, collector and dealer from Conneaut Lake. “It’s definitely something I’m not used to” around this time of the year.
He couldn’t run any of the 1970s-era Arctic Cats he brought out for the weekend, but he and other snowmobile buffs had plenty of time for show-and-tell.
And “I’m always looking,” he said, for certain types of snowmobile — the ones, it seems, that give him a ride down memory lane as well as down the trail.
“When I was a real young kid, they had sleds like this,” Longstreth said as looked over some of his collection on display Saturday. “I used to stay up late at night and watch them go by, and say, ‘I’m gonna have one of those someday.’
“Now I have 23 of them,” he said, and “we run every one. ... My son’s into it too — go figure.”
According to the Trail Blazers, encouraging snowmobiling as a means to good family fun has always been one of the key functions of Winter Fun Days and other events hosted by the club, which is the oldest snowmobile organizations in northwest Pennsylvania. But after 36 years, organizers said recently, it’s become a gathering for friends and neighbors as much as a day for snowy fun: Two old-fashioned fire places keep Shelter 4 warm and cozy, and they said plenty of visitors spend their time inside, enjoying hearty meals and conversation.
Snow or no, Winter Fun Days is there from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. today.
Ryan Smith can be reached at 724-6370 or by email at rsmith@meadvilletribune.com.
You can go
Pymatuning Trailblazers Snowmobile Club’s 36th annual Winter Fun Days continues today from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. at and around Pymatuning State Park’s Shelter 4 in Jamestown. The event is free and open to the public.
Planned snowmobile rides and demonstrations aren’t likely due to lack of snow, but other featured events include new and vintage snowmobile and snow equipment displays; a variety of children’s activities; crafts; horse-drawn and wagon-drawn hay rides; contests; vendors; food and more.
-For a full schedule of events and more information: Visit PymatuningTrailBlazers.com or call the park office at (724) 932-3141.
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Winter Fun Days: The snow, or show, must go on!
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