Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By SARAH LAUZON
Globe Student Intern
MERCER, Wis. — The MECCA Winterfest race team in Mercer has announced the cancellation of all live Winterfest events originally scheduled for Saturday.
Virtual Winterfest events will remain available.
“We are incredibly disappointed to have to cancel Winterfest’s live events for the second year in a row,” said race director Rodney Silvis in a Jan. 11 press release.
He added, “Our volunteers have been working hard and were ready to host this exciting event, but unfortunately, the snow conditions will not allow us to hold a safe race for our participants. We have high hopes that our racers will still have time to participate in our virtual events, and encourage everyone to get out on the trails as conditions allow.”
Virtual Winterfest events allow skiers to ski the courses on their own schedule and turn in their best time. The virtual events opened in early December and will continue through Feb. 15.
Virtual participants have the option of completing the 30k, 15k or 5k races or a separate virtual race, the Turtle River Pursuit, which combines a 10k classic ski and 10k skate and can be completed by an individual or a team.
All virtual participants will be eligible to win gift certificates and merchandise donated by Winterfest 2025 sponsors.
In addition, the Mercer Springs Snowshoe Tour allows participants to shoe at their own pace or keep a time to be eligible for prizes.
MECCA Trails are a project of the MECCA Ski Club, which maintains the 21k trail system in collaboration with the town of Mercer, Iron County Parks and Forestry Department, and the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources.
In a Tuesday phone call with The Globe, MECCA spokesman Mike Shouldice said several inches of Sunday snow helped, and groomers tended the route Monday, but he added in relation to the cancelled live event, “Without a good base, you can’t put 100 skiers on the trail in the same day.”
He said six more inches could result in “great conditions.”
Shouldice said Winterfest, now in its eighth year, started in 2018 after a break from a previous event called the Stormy Kromer Pursuit, held earlier in this century.
“It’s a great event for Mercer from a number of standpoints,” said Shouldice, explaining that it brings awareness to Mercer and its trails.
“Since we’ve started having events, our traffic has increased dramatically,” he said.
Winterfest is presented with the support of Gogebic Range Health System and sponsorship from Aspirus Health, the Mercer Chamber of Commerce and many other contributors.
For more information about Winterfest, to register for virtual events and to get the latest trail conditions, visit meccatrails.com. All registration fees support the MECCA trail system.
