Hey snowmobilers: Eight more communities in Wisconsin are specifically throwing out the proverbial welcome mat to you, me and other riders with a “Snowmobile Friendly” designation.
The cities and towns of Cambria, Marathon City, Osceola, Park Falls, Plum Lake, Rome, Siren and Webster earned the coveted designation in May from the Association of Wisconsin Snowmobile Clubs (AWSC), denoting their special affinity to the sport.
They join a rapidly growing group of Wisconsin cities that have sought the designation. The 2019 “class” of Snowmobile Friendly Communities were Algoma, Eagle River, Hayward, St. Germain, Three Lakes, and Tomahawk, along with the counties of Bayfield, Iron, and Sawyer.
The program requires communities and their related local snowmobile clubs interested in the Snowmobile Friendly designation to go through a 21-page application, describing how they advocate for safe and responsible snowmobiling in their area.
“Created through a partnership between the AWSC and the Wisconsin Department of Tourism, a statewide Evaluation Panel includes a Tourism professional to ensure the Program accurately identifies which communities and snowmobile clubs are ‘best’ at welcoming, preserving, and providing snowmobile access, support, and services for snowmobilers,” a press release from the AWSC explained.
Once they receive the designation, the communities are awarded large, reflective highway signs they post so folks entering their city can see their status.
This year’s class in particularly interesting in that it includes communities in seven different counties across the state — Adams, Burnett, Columbia, Marathon, Polk, Price and Vilas.
Here at Snow Goer, we first heard of the Snowmobile Friendly City concept when Kim Rapp unveiled it at the International Snowmobile Congress in 2015, and it’s great to see that Wisconsin is running with the program. We know other states and provinces are also testing the water for similar programs in their areas.
Our appreciation goes out to this year’s winning communities and others across the Snowbelt that help make snowmobiling so great!
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