JAY — Snocross racer Caden Dufour, 12, of Turner will greet people at the Spruce Mountain Sled-in and Winter Family Festival on Saturday at French Falls Park off French Falls Lane.

The festival will be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

A mountain of snow is being shaped into a giant sledding ramp with carved snow stairs to reach it.

A mini mountain is also being built for sliding. Among the events are snowshoe races with pizza, snow sculpture/snowman contests with prizes, sleigh rides and a bonfire. People must bring snowshoes and sleds to participate in the races.

Dufour, who has been racing since about age 4, will explain snowcross and talk about his experiences on the racing circuit. He will have his snowmobile with him.

Caden started riding a Kitty Cat snowmobile at age 2.

“I like being competitive and racing,” Caden said. “I had a Kitty Cat 120 snowmobile and my dad (Damien) would snowblow a track and I would drive around until I ran out of gas.”

The seventh-grader at Hebron Academy in Hebron has been racing for about eight years and participated in more than 100 races in his career.

Caden had planned to do a demonstration at the sled-in but was injured this past weekend when he went over a jump on the track. The snow had become mealy and another racer and snowmobile landed on top of him, his mother, Jamie Dufour, said Wednesday. He had been in third place up until then.

The family travels out of state for most of the races, Dufour said. There are a couple tracks in Turner, she said.

“It is an individual sport and pretty family oriented,” she said.

The free event is sponsored by the Jay Recreation Committee with help from three area snowmobile clubs and many sponsors.

dperry@sunmediagroup.net