10 Interesting Sleds From The 2018 Waconia Ride-In Vintage Event

The annual Waconia Ride-in event in Waconia, Minnesota, promotes itself as “the world’s largest antique, vintage and classic snowmobile event,” and it rarely fails to live up to that billing every January. 

It certainly didn’t this past weekend, when nearly 1,000 snowmobiles from the bygone days were scattered throughout a broad area of land and on the frozen ice of Lake Waconia in a distant southwestern suburb of Minneapolis. There were old sleds in various forms on display, racing, buzzing back-and-forth across the lake, tucked inside a building, scattered throughout the swap meet and everywhere else. It all happened in a festive atmosphere, despite the fact that plans for trail riding on the old iron was seriously hampered by a nearly 50 degree day on Friday, January 26, the first day of the event. 

The event also has snowmobile memorabilia on display and for sale, various competitions, silent and live auctions and much more. The featured sled brand this year was Mercury, so the grounds were littered with Sno-Twisters and Trail Twisters as well as Marks, Hurricanes, Rockets and more. But, as happens every year, there are always tons of others sleds from other brands found at Waconia – obviously a lot of Yamaha, Arctic Cat, Polaris and Ski-Doo sleds, but also some more forgotten brands. Here are 10 of the sleds that caught our eyes in the outdoor display. We’ll continue to post photos of sleds from Waconia in batches of 10 as the week continues.  Here’s a link to Tuesday’s post.