Rangeley Winterpaloozah winners announced

RANGELEY — The 5th annual Rangeley Winterpaloozah, sponsored by the Rangeley Skating Club and the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce, took place Feb. 16 at Haley Pond.
The event included free events skating, curling, pond hockey, fat tire bikes, snowshoes, kick sleds, horse and cart rides, marshmallow roast, snow golf, snow kite, snow castle and, new this year, Snowball Ted.
There were also pay-to-enter competitions, with prizes awarded to winners including Dog Keg Pull, Buoy Ball, Firewood Toss, Fat Tire Bike Race and the Cardboard Sled Race.
Winners were:
Dog Keg Pull: Small Dogs – Kerry Gardner with Oscar; Medium Dogs – Nancy & Gary Perlson with Scout; Large Dogs – Sara Gould with Tila.
Cardboard Sled (Best Design) – Moe Webber/Adelaide Dea
Cardboard Sled (Race) – Nate Beauregard
Firewood Toss: Men – Pete Clancy; Women – Bobbi Driscoll; Youth – Max LaPointe.
Fat Tire Bike Race: Dustin Duchesne.
Buoy Ball: Men – Jeff Berman; Women – Sarah Gagne; Teen – Ethan Hoffman; Youth – Christian Jonas.
For the second year, agents from the Rangeley Border Patrol station were again on hand to meet with participants, take photos and answer questions.
Event co-organizer Karen A. Ogulnick, representing the Rangeley Lakes Chamber of Commerce, said, “We were extremely pleased with the turnout for this year’s event for all of the events at Haley Pond. We could not put on this event without the hard work of all the volunteers and we very much appreciate our sponsors who support the event. Next year, even bigger and better.”
Linda Dexter, event co-organizer, representing the Rangeley Skating Club, said, “The enthusiasm for this event is increasing. We have families who plan their vacation week to include Winterpaloozah. Our goal is to make this a better event every year by adding new activities and getting more people to join in the fun.”
The committee is already tossing around new ideas and looking forward to planning next year’s Rangeley Winterpaloozah.

PHOTO: Dog Keg Pull winner, medium dog category, Gary and Nancy Perlson with Scout, who won for the third year in a row), shown with Jim Ferrara, chair of the Chamber of Commerce Events Committee. (Submitted photo)