Ask any business that has been around since the 1970s what it takes to be successful for four decades and they’ll likely give the same answer: dedication and a great product.
That’s what we’ve tried to deliver at SnoWest Magazine since 1974.
You’ve heard the saying: Time flies when you’re having fun. Well, that’s exactly what has happened to us. We’ve been so involved in our work that we barely noticed our anniversaries stacking up—to the point where we never took the time to celebrate.
Well, for whatever reason, we realized that this year marks the 40th of publishing SnoWest. And we have come a long way since that first issue back in November of 1974. (Ironically, that was also the same time the first groomer was delivered to Island Park, ID, by Chuck Wells, which started the Idaho snowmobile grooming program.)
To celebrate 40 years, we have partnered with Polaris (who incidentally is celebrating its 60th year of manufacturing snowmobiles) to create a unique event in West Yellowstone, MT, on Jan. 30-31.
We will transform West Yellowstone from the “snowmobiling capital of the world” to Party Central—where we invite all of you to come enjoy the celebration with us. It’s our way of saying thank you to all of you who have supported us for all these years.
Let me take a moment to put a couple of things in perspective. For 40 years the editors of SnoWest have looked for an excuse to go snowmobiling—any excuse. We work hard so we can play hard … and when we play hard, we tend to call it work.
So our “40 Year Celebration” is just one more excuse for us to play hard … or work hard, however you want to package it. And we want you to be part of the fun. So we are planning a bunch of activities, mostly centered around riding and playing, for that last weekend in January.
Since there is something nostalgic about 40 years of snowmobiling, we will feature vintage races and activities to highlight the old, along with late model demo rides to showcase the new.
We will use the Union Pacific Dining Hall building as SnoWest headquarters during the weekend and have a lot of prizes and giveaways throughout the celebration—including a 2015 Polaris Pro RMK 800.
Other than the organized vintage racing, all activities are free to the public. We have also made arrangements with several motels for discounted room rates.
For more information on the event, contact www.snowest.com/anniversary.