Craig Daily Press

Craig — Looking forward one year, Nicky Boulger could see the Moffat County calendar was pretty bare from hunting season in the fall to Grand Old West Days in the summer.

Boulger, Wyman Museum curator, happened to be in a position to do something about that.

Enter the Winter Festival, an event officials and organizers hope to become a large-scale, free event for the cold winter months in Northwest Colorado.

The festival is a joint collaboration among the Wyman Museum, the Antique Snowmobile Show and Western Ride-In and X-treme Mountain Racing.

“What we’ve done is combine together to create a Winter Festival for all of Northwest Colorado,” Boulger said.

The Winter Festival is planned for the weekend of Feb. 16 and 17. Event times to be announced.

The Antique Snowmobile Show is back, along with professional ice sculptors working both days.

Those attractions are joined by a chili cook-off, sponsored by the Craig Chamber of Commerce, a guide and outfitter cook-off, a cardboard box derby and snowmobile racing.

Boulger is planning other events, too, she said.

The race has 52 entrants so far, one from Craig, Boulger said.

“This is really bringing people in from all over,” she said.

Anyone interested in signing up for the race can call Teresa Stoffle, X-treme Mountain Racing assistant director, at 824-7848.

Stoffle compared the snowmobile racing to motocross.

That’s pretty accurate, Boulger said.

“These guys are going over jumps, and they’re moving,” she said. “These are new machines and they get up about 60 to 80 miles per hour.”

The county has been hauling excess snow to the Wyman Museum grounds for the past few weeks, Boulger added.

“Whenever they clean off a parking lot, the pit at the landfill is full or close to full so they bring it out here,” she said.

The museum is using the extra snow to sculpt jumps and turns on the race track.

Local hunting guides and outfitters agreed to meet for a camp cook-off to decide the best camp cook.

At the end, the best camp cook gets a trophy and bragging rights to take to next year’s hunters.

“Next year, when the guides and outfitters have hunters they can say, ‘We have the best camp cook in all of Moffat County,’” Boulger said. “We’d like to start a traveling trophy that can move from one guide and outfitter to the next each year.”

The event is aimed at elevating Craig and Moffat County into a destination for more than hunting, Boulger told the Moffat County Tourism Association at its Thursday meeting.

“With the numbers of people we’re looking to bring in, this will be a great thing for Craig,” she said. “Let’s show these guys what they can do after hunting season. They’re obviously recreational guys. Let’s bring them back.”

The MCTA board voted to approve $3,000 to help fund the event’s advertising. The money supersedes a previous $1,250 appropriation to the Antique Snowmobile Show, and $500 already paid to that event will come out of the total $3,000.

More than promoting an off-season event, this is something that can become an annual event, something that can motivate tourists from all over to come to Moffat County, MCTA board member John Ponikvar said.

“I think just by the numbers its bringing in, this could turn out to be bigger than Grand Old West Days,” Ponikvar said. “I think this is exactly what we need to do with the Tourism Association. This could end up being the biggest event of the year.”