New Events Brought to CopperDog will Keep the Community Looking Forward to March

Unfortunately, all the Heikki Lunta dances won’t bring enough snow for a full copper dog weekend in March, but still, organizers of the Sled Dog Race have a lot of fun for the community and visitors to enjoy. Like other sled dog races in the region that have planned alternative community events that act like sled dog festivals, Copper Dog will still have the street party, campfires, and fireworks on Friday night.

“ We all know everybody around here is suffering, tourist-wise, that we just haven’t had the people. There are no snowmobiles, there’s not a whole lot going on right now. So here’s a chance for people to come out and spend some money and get out there and enjoy some aspect of winter anyway. The block party is going to be fun, we’ll have food and there’ll be beverages. You know everybody likes fireworks too, yeah come on watch some fireworks.” – Krissy Tepsa, Musher Liaison, CopperDog 150

Thankfully says Copper Dog coordinator Kirstie Tepsa, the Sled Dog Race was planning to bring in two new events for the community to spectate, the Copper Dash and Copper Pull.

“Put a helmet on your kid and send them down a chute for 75 feet and see who makes it 75 feet in the quickest run. prizes for the kids for that, that’s shaping up to be a pretty fun event too.” – Krissy Tepsa, Musher Liaison, CopperDog 150

Copper Pull will see what dog can pull the largest weight. Tepsa says that the community will want to check out this new event. Some sled dogs are known to pull up to 1000 pounds alone.

“Sunday is the final match and that’s going to be starting at 8 a.m. And from the sounds of it, we’re going to have some pretty pretty tough dogs that can haul a lot of weight. We’re talking about more than a thousand pounds.” – Krissy Tepsa, Musher Liaison, CopperDog 150

Organizers will still need a few volunteers for the weekend to help with the Copper Pull, and Dash events. Dash volunteers will help make sure kids are safely settled into the sled before taking off. Pole volunteers will help by loading the sled for the dogs. The weekend will also need volunteers to still help with setting up snow fencing along the 100 block of 5th Street for those activities. Those interested in learning more about Copper Dogs’ plans to celebrate winter, sled dogs, and the local community can find more information online here.