February 13-February 17, 2008
The Board of Directors of the 2008 Trappers’ Festival would like to extend their sincere appreciation to all the supporters and sponsors of the events during the Trappers’ Festival, especially the volunteers and businesses who make it possible for the activities to occur.
Here's to another 61 years of Trappers' Festival! See you next year!
Our Map is on the Events Page
There are still some booklets available. If you would like one contact me.
This year check out the Scavenger Hunt at the Sam Waller Museum (see events)
Thank you Good Deals for the printing the booklet!
Sonny and his disciples at the Last Supper
Media Challenge CJ1240 versus the Opasquia Times!
Wilf said the competition in the sled pull was awesome! 150 lbs for 200 ft. CJ1240 won!
It is important to bring snow shoes to a snow shoe race! Leif wins for Opasquia Times!
The tiebreaker came down to the girls legwrestling, and CJ1240 walks away with the monkey!
The Northern Manitoba
Trappers' Festival
The Trappers' Festival, held in The Pas during the third weekend of February annually, retains the flavour and celebrations of a diverse cultural heritage - the Northern Pioneer. The skills and entertainments enjoyed by the pioneers are brought to life in a week of events designed to generate sincere and genuine hospitality and friendship endemic to the North. The atmosphere of excitement, thrills and enthusiasm is experienced by competitor, participant and spectator alike.
The Trappers' Festival had its start in 1916, and has continued since, with breaks in the war years and during the depression. The festival was formally constituted and incorporated in 1947 and has operated annually since that time. Many other festivals and activities have drawn on the expertise of the volunteers from the Trappers' Festival to help them develop community events of their own.
Trappers, prospectors and fur traders utilized dog teams as their major means of transportation. Because these pioneers gathered in The Pas during the winter for provisions, supplies, trading furs and transacting annual business deals, it was decided to organize the activities that generally occurred into a competitive festival. The organized events gave them a sense of belonging in the community.
The major events of the Trappers' Festival continue to be the World Championship Dog Race and the King Trapper events. The Dog Races offer over $40,000.00 in prize money, and opportunities for all categories of musher. After a mass start in the mornings, the World Championship Dog Race is run in 35 mile heats over three days on farm land adjacent to a public highway which provides excellent access for spectators. The "hardware" for this race is the "Labatt Trophy", a beautifully engraved bronze plaque by renowned wildlife artist, Clarence Tillenius. The King Trapper events consist of contests based on the activities required for the life style, livelihood and survival of the trapper, including tree falling, wood cutting, wood splitting, canoe packing, flour packing, trap setting, muskrat skinning, tea boiling bannock baking, moose calling, goose calling, axe throwing. There are also contests for the youth and women based on the same theme.
Other notable activities are the annual Arts & Crafts Show (which highlights many northern artisans and craftsmen, and has over 10,000 items on display and sale), the amateur talent show, the children's shows & activities, the senior's events, and the Mini-Festivals at the schools, the parade, the pancake breakfasts, beard growing contests and the evening rendezvous. Information and souvenirs are available daily at the Trappers' Headquarters. This annual celebration has retained popularity throughout the years because of the warmth of the welcome in the community and the enjoyment of the events and activities.
The Board of Directors of the Northern Manitoba Trappers' Festival extend a most cordial and congenial invitation to one and all to attend the annual events and join in the celebration from Wednesday through Sunday during the third week of February in The Pas, where they will experience Northern Hospitality at its finest.
Check out our sponsors that make this event possible.
We at NMTF believe it is about time they gave us a holiday after the festivities!
When the Ice Worms Nest Again
There’s a husky dusky maiden in the arctic,
In her igloo she’s waiting there in vain,
Oh, I guess I’ll put my mukluks on and ask her,
If she’ll wed me when the ice worms nest again
Chorus”
In the land of the pale blue snow,
Where it’s ninety-nine below,
And the polar bears are roamin’ o’er the plain
In the shadow of the pole
I will clasp her to my soul,
We’ll be happy when the ice worms nest again.
Oh, the weddin’ feast will be seal oil and blubber,
In our kayaks we’ll roam the boundless main,
How the walruses will turn their necks to rubber,
We’ll be happy when the ice worms nest again.
Repeat Chorus
And when all the blinkin’ icebergs bound around us,
She’ll present me with a bouncing baby boy,
All the polar bears will dance a rumba ‘round us,
And the walruses will click their teeth with joy.
Repeat Chorus
ICE WORMS
Some people think it’s just a story their parents told them, some remember the birth of the hairy creature, others prefer to just believe….
Only a few people a year see the hairy pair of simple creatures who hibernate in this part of the province.
The illusive Ice Worm is a prominent feature in the Trappers’ Festival since the song about the worms became the theme for the festival in 1949.
The ballad, from the writings of Robert Service and sung by the famous local singers known as the Three D’s (Norma Booth, Joyce Colgan, and Denise Morrish), tells of a land where it’s 99 below, the polar bears roam and the Ice Worms nest.
Some cynics in the past have publicly denounced the existence of these cute little furries.
One cynic even went as far as to express in public print his opinion that if they did exist at all it was only in the feverish imagination of someone rather less concerned with the truth than in dreaming up a story calculated to gain publicity for the Trappers’ Festival. it said in an article published in the 1952 Festival booklet.
“This snide canard the committee members wisely ignore; however, it should be noted for the record that they were later vindicated when a party of research scientists representing the Arctic Institute of North America actually discovered ice worms the following summer on Seward glacier in southwestern Yukon,” the article continued.
The Institute officials apparently made an announcement, “The discovery of these worms, some of which measure as much as an inch in length, rudely shattered the skepticism of many members of the party who inclined to believe that Ice Worms existed solely in the imagination of good storytellers.
According to P.S. Ridings Jr. (in the year 1952), the Festival Fable of the Ice Worm began in 1950, the third annual Trappers’ Festival.
The breed we hear abound every year at this time is known as the Shamattawatamoose. “(It was) sent to the Festival as a gift by the Shamattawas, a tribe of northern Manitoba (Natives), Ridings explained. “This nightmare of nature was equipped with fur eyeflaps (to keep the water out) and a longitudinal horn (for spearing fish).
Thank you Elayne Krehel for the old pictures and newspaper clippings!
Snow fleas making scientific news in the 21st Century
Counter was at 28, 550 after two years, time to reset it, Tuesday going into Trappers'!