Spent the day at the Camden Snow Bowl for the annual US National Toboggan Championships, first working at the West Bay Rotary Chowder-Chili Challenge tent, and later hanging out with my friends while waiting for my brother-in-law's team, the Schleddy Balls, to take their run. The Toboggan Championships is a festive weekend at the Snow Bowl, with vendors offering fair-like treats and lots of tents, geodesic domes, etc. on the ice for partying. People-watching opportunities abound, from the costumed teams--including the Royal Dutch Toboggan team dressed up like some sort of cross between Marie Antoinette and geishas, a hula-skirted team from Hawaii, my brother-in-law's team with giant sports balls on their head, to Little Sled Riding Hood, a four-person team composed of Little Sled Riding Hood, a wolf (that repeatedly upset a small Boston terrier), grandma in her flannel nightgown, and a woodcutter whose axe did double duty as a meatball-spearing utensil--to observers ranging from locals checking out the scene to visitors from afar marveling at the entertainment. A lot of tail-gating was going on, and one tent seemed to be offering a dance party with hula hoops. I ate a corn dog for the first time in years (as well as many meatballs). And all day the snow fell without seeming to accumulate, as the sun appeared but shone in vain. At day's end, as I was picking up my car in the shuttle parking area, fireworks were bursting over Camden harbor. This event is one of the reasons I love living here--crazy, eclectic, active, and embracing the winter season and a broad diversity of people; what more could one ask for in mid-February?

The ride down the chute
is the least of it: winter
needs this festive break.