McCall Winter Carnival

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History of the McCall Winter Carnival :
The first winter carnival in McCall was in 1924, a fun filled three days that started when the largest train ever to enter McCall arrived carrying 248 persons, including Idaho Governor C. Moore. The Payette lakes Sports Carnival, as it was then called, treated its guests to a large variety of events, dog sled racing; with driv­ers from all over the state, ski racing and jumping, ski joring (a skier pulled by a horse), snow shoveling contests and snowshoe races.

One of the favorites at the carnival was a ride on the Payette lakes taxi boats. The crafts, the forerunner of the modern snowmo­bile, were a vehicle set on steel runners and driven by an airplane engine and propeller.

The carnival as such lasted for about five years, it then evolved to an "ice break-up contest." The person entering the contest would buy a ticket, then guess at what day, hour and minute the ice would break-up in the lake, the person guessing the closest would win the prize. To determine the actual break-up time a barrel was placed on the ice in the middle of the lake, when the ice broke up and only when the barrel touched the bank was the time official. The last contest was in 1941 at which time "gambling" had become illegal.

In 1965 the Winter Carnival was revived and due to a great community effort it was a huge success, now we are well into the "42nd annual winter carnival," The carnival has become nationally known; for which we are proud because it is still a community ef­fort of the highest degree.

Latest News

McCall Winter Carnival 2012

Schedule:Friday January 27,2012:All Day Local Snow Sculpture Viewing All Day Craft Faire and Chocolate - YUM! - The Hunt Lodge - 210 North 3rd8am Local Snow Sculpture Judging... Read more

McCall Winter Carnival 2011

Schedule:Friday, January 28, 2011:All Day: View Local Snow Sculptures -  Star-News MapAll Day: Kids Graffiti Wall - McCall Golf CourseAll Day: Tubing Hill - McCall Golf... Read more

McCall Winter Carnival

Schedule:Friday, January 29, 2010:8:00am: Local snow sculpture judging begins - VariousAll Day: Kids Graffiti Wall - McCall Golf CourseAll Day: Tubing Hill - McCall Golf Course12... Read more

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