2000 Trade Show

This year's Northern New England Sled Dog Trade Fair held at the Ossipee Valley Fairgrounds in Hiram, Maine was a complete success. Maine's foliage was in full bloom and spectacular! The weather was cool, crisp and sunny- really perfect for the event.

Veteran Mushers, DeeDee Jonrowe and Jamie Nelson provided workshops drawing on their experiences building kennels,training dogs and running in events like the Iditarod and the John Beargrease Sled Dog Marathon. Additional workshops on how to get started in mushing, dog care, tips on training, and Inuit dogs added to the learning experience. Local and national outfitters were there to ply us with new sleds, gear and harnesses. It was a great opportunity to talk with others about dog care, training, upcoming events and of course, promote our beloved Chinook dogs.

Chinooks New England! had a booth that gave people a good idea of the fun that we have together. Photos of our events adorned the walls, newsletters, articles and brochures gave folks something to take home with them. We also sold t-shirts and our newest "must have" item, collectible Chinook magnets made from old postcards. We had numerous visitors over the two days. Some people talked of meeting the dogs in the days of Perry Greene, others were meeting Chinooks for the first time. It was nice to have sled dog historian Nancy Cowen stop by for a visit! In all, we counted about 30 Chinooks with their owners over the two days. We need to get a guest book because we are beginning to lose count of Chinooks who attend!!!

The Rig Race Demonstration held on Sunday morning provided entertainment for all. This fun run is an exciting chance to see sled dogs in action as they race around the fairgrounds. We are proud to report that there were 4 Chinook teams this year. The dogs and drivers all have a lot to be proud of. Each helped the other get on and off the trail, all cheered for and congratulated the others and the teams ran well. Here are the results in order of how the teams ran:

Two-dog Class

Griffin Team (First-time Racers)

Dogs: Intervale Frankonia Notch (Frankie) & White Mountain Woods
XXX Faelan (Faye)

Driver: Cathleen Griffin

Placed: 4th out of 4 teams

Time: 4 minutes and 30 seconds

Two-dog Class

Intervale Team (First-time Racers)

Dogs: Intervale Face (Ursa) & Intervale Katherine (Kat)

Driver: Nancy Bartol

Placed: 2nd out of 4 teams

Time: 4 minutes and 20 seconds

Four-dog Class

Northeast Wind Team

Dogs: Enatai X Molly, Enatai X Trekker & Rain Mountain Rain Shadow, Talisman (non-Chinook)

Driver: Karen Fass

Placed: 5th out of 8 teams

Time: 3 minutes and 18 seconds

Six-dog Class

GreatMountain Team

Dogs: Rain Mountain Rangeley Runner, WoodsRunner X Baxter, WoodsRunner Allagash Springs, WoodsRunner X Katahdin, North Down X Cheena & GreatMountain X Trav'ler

Driver: Jess Maurer

Placed: 3rd out of 5 teams

Time: 3 minutes and 10 seconds

The race is a only a mile long, but it calls upon the dogs have confidence and drive. The teams go out at 30 second intervals and often do not have another team to follow. There are 150 dogs making a lot of noise and spectators line the course. The 13 Chinooks running the race showed tremendous abilities and were true stars!

For the first time Chinooks New England! sponsored an award to the Outstanding Chinook Team, selected by popular vote among the Chinook enthusiasts who attended that day. Jessica Maurer and the GreatMountain Team proudly accepted the award to the cheers of those attending.

Start conditioning your dogs now! We hope to see you run in the race next year.