The 14th Annual Snowshoe Festival

This year we are offering a 5k and 10k race options for all ages and a 2k option for youth(under 18). Entry fee is $20/person and $5/youth

Register through RunSignup HERE.

Races begin at 10:30 AM, please arrive by 10 AM to get your race number and go over the course. Snowshoes are available for all participants who need them.  Awards ceremony and prizes to follow!

10:30-11:30 AM: Snowshoe Races (2k, 5k, 10k)

(awards to follow) Register HERE.

12 PM: Snowshoe Tug-o-War.  Watch local fire departments, athletic clubs, and families compete in this Snowshoe Festival tradition! $10/team. Register HERE.

Event Description and History

The Snowshoe Festival features snowshoe walks, 2k, 5k and 10k snowshoe races, snowshoe games for the whole family, and a Valentine’s Day Dance featuring Bill Olsen & Pam Weeks.

Recognized in 2012 by the Maine Downtown Center as a uniquely Maine festival, the Snowshoe Festival returns for its seventh year to celebrate Norway’s rich cultural heritage of the arts (as in music), and crafts (as in snowshoe making). This festival receives support from Norway Downtown, Healthy Oxford Hills, the Western Foothills Land Trust, and the Great Maine Outdoor Weekend.

Farmington celebrates Chester Greenwood who invented the ear ****, Kingfield has the Stanley Museum honoring the Stanley twins, and Rockland prides itself as the birthplace of Louise Nevelson and Edna St. Vincent Millay. Norway has its snowshoe industries and Mellie Dunham.

Norway, once self-proclaimed as “The Snowshoe Town of America” was home to four major snowshoe industries between 1850 and 1980: Snowcraft, Tubbs, H.H.Hosmer and Dunham.

Mellie was not only the first commercial snowshoe maker in town, outfitting Admiral Peary’s expedition to the North Pole, he was also a renowned fiddler who was commissioned by Henry Ford to play traditional fiddle music across the country. In honor of Mellie’s talents, the Norway Snowshoe Festival always involves a contra dance in addition to athletic and family related outdoor snowshoe events.

Date: February 17th, 2024

Time: 10:30 AM

Location: 58 Roberts Road, Norway, ME 04268

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