By Rebecca Goldfine,Staff Writer

NORWAY – The annual Snowfest will take place on Lake Pennesseewassee on Jan. 28 and 29, covering the ice with new and antique snowmobiles, racers, hot chocolate drinkers and throngs of snowmobile lovers.

This year, the Norway Trackers Snowmobile Club will be holding an antique snowmobile parade. The club first introduced antique snowmobiles last year, but because more models are available this year, a full parade is possible.

Club President Herb Kennison said he anticipates between 15 and 40 antique snowmobiles at the festival. To be considered antique, a sled has to be at least 25 years old. “In New England states, there used to be 225 different snowmobile makers,” Kennison said by phone recently. “Now there are only four.”

The Oxford Hills Snowfest is the Norway Trackers’ biggest fundraiser, Kennison said.

To maintain 40 miles of trails throughout town, the club requires thousands of dollars.

Already, from September to December, the club has spent $4,200 on grooming and maintaining the trails, a job that will continue through the winter.

Kennison said that in the seven years since the Snowfest was first launched, the club has raised varying amounts, between $3,000 and $6,000. Up to 2,000 people have attended the two-day festival in years past.

From 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 29, festival-goers are invited to spend $6 for an all-you-can-eat chowder bonanza, with corn, fish, salmon and clam chowders, and beef stew and chili. There will be lots of hamburgers, hot dogs, hot coffee and chocolate on the lake, both days.

Drag racing is scheduled for Saturday, with entries costing between $5 and $10, and a radar run to detect the fastest snowmobile will be held Sunday, at a cost of $5 per run. The antique snowmobile show will also be held Sunday.

In case of rain, the festival will be postponed until the following weekend. Kennison said that racing teams from all over New England and farther attend the event. And a fire will warm spectators and racers.

“We have a big fire pit,” he said. “People like that, they stand around, gawk into the fire and daydream.”