By Bonnie Whitehead
HOWICK – The 9th Annual Vintage Snowmobile Show was held on Jan. 27 at the Howick Arena.
This collection of over 50 vintage snowmobiles was a rare sight. Few would associate Harley Davidson with snowmobiles, but a Harley sled did make an appearance at the show.
Snowmobiles became popular in the early 1960s, so many were quite impressed to see a 1960 Ranger Autoboggan and 1960 Snowbug Prototype and sleigh owned by Dennis Lowry of Wingham.
Don Hamilton of Guelph showed off his 1965 Trapper Snowbug, a small very antique looking one-ski machine. Percy Coulter of Listowel showed his 1969 Snowcruiser and had a few spare parts to help others complete their snowmobiles. Steph Hood of Palmerston had one of the cutest looking machines, a tiny Arctic Cat snowmobile, a 1973 Kitty Kat. The big, bright yellow 1971 Valmont Ski-doo owned by Scott Fritz of Bluevale looked majestic balancing on one ski.
A number of Dauphin snowmobiles were on the lot. Dauphin snowmobiles were only built for three years in Quebec. Ken Heipel spent two years working on his 1971 Dauphin.
Organizer Jason
Benninger welcomed Howick Turnberry Ambassador of the Fair Kaitlyn Kamrath, Howick deputy reeve Eldon Bowman, and Councillor Doug Hargrave to the event which was sponsored by the Howick Agricultural Society. He expressed gratitude l for all the help from volunteers Verdun Zurbrigg, Ryan Koepke, Keon Atkinson, and the Palmerston Traditional Scouts, who helped with the parking. The committee also expressed appreciation for attendees’ donations to the North Huron Food Bank.
