MEXICO – There was more lawn than snow at Saturday’s ninth annual Blessing of the Sleds event at Mountain Valley Middle School.
But that didn’t deter 200 people from attending the fundraiser, which is sponsored by two snowmobile clubs: Mexico Trailblazers and Poodunck of Dixfield.
“This was exciting,” Cassandra Coulthard, Miss River Valley, said, after riding a snowmobile under a lattice arch topped with two crosses and having it sprinkled with holy water by Rumford-area Father Angelo Le Vasseur.
“I’ve never been to one, because I never had the time to get it blessed, but this is really interesting. I’m coming back to do it again next year,” said Coulthard, 17, a Dirigo High School senior, competing on June 23 in the Miss Maine Pageant in Brunswick.
Five adults on four snowmobiles and four toddlers on three small snowmobiles got their sleds blessed, and two adults had their jackets blessed.
The ceremony, which normally attracts hundreds of sledders and takes about an hour when there’s snow on the ground, was finished in about five minutes.
Other events included raffles, sales of sweatshirts and food, and a poker run, which, due to the lack of snow and freezing temperatures, was completed by 58 people on foot inside the school.
“We didn’t have a great turnout, but we had a great time, and people said they enjoyed being here,” Trailblazers President Nick Brown said.
Helping Mexico and Dixfield clubs with the four-hour event were members from the Rumford Polar Bears, Peru and Roxbury Slippery Sliders snowmobile clubs.
Brown and other club members who are also motorcyclists got the idea to conduct a snowmobile-blessing event after attending the huge Blessing of Motorcycles in Colebrook, N.H.
“Our first year, we had a couple of guys drive all the way here from Harrison just to get their sleds blessed,” Brown said.
Both clubs decided to hold the fundraiser at the middle school rather than at Mountainview Campground in Dixfield, because it was warmer.
“When I got here this morning at 8:30, it was only 7 degrees,” Brown said.
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