White stuff, fireworks, parade lead Maine fest

MILLINOCKET, Maine - Instead of shoveling snow to the side of the road, volunteers and town crews will move it to downtown Millinocket Friday night for the annual snowmobile parade that kicks off the weeklong Katahdin Area Winterfest Feb. 13-22 in northern Maine.

More than 100 snowmobiles, many of them vintage, will travel the mile or so from Stearns High School to the Veterans Memorial Park gazebo and back beginning at 6 p.m. The evening also will feature a bonfire with plenty of hot chocolate and fireworks to cap things off in the wintry shadows of Baxter State Park.

"The parade is unique in that people don't usually have a parade when it's 15 or 20 degrees above or below zero - whatever Mother Nature serves," says Dennis Cox, town public works director. He says the public works crew volunteers its time to move the snow, which is plowed away after the parade.

Another marquee event is the ski plane fly-in and antique snowmobile display on Feb. 14 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Millinocket Municipal Airport.

Various other events planned in Millinocket and surrounding towns include poker runs, family movies and games, a documentary film screening, pancake breakfasts, and community suppers.

Katahdin Area Winterfest, Feb. 13-22. Various locations in Millinocket, East Millinocket, and Medway. Katahdin Area Chamber of Commerce, 207-723-4443, www.katahdinmaine.com.

MARTY BASCH