The History of the McCall Winter Carnival
By Mary Jane Williams, Statesman Correspondent
The first winter carnival in McCall was in 1924, a fun filled
three days that started when the largest train ever to enter
McCall arrived carrying 248 persons, including Idaho Governor
C. Moore. The Payette lakes Sports Carnival, as it was then
called, treated its guests to a large variety of events, dog
sled racing; with drivers from all over the state, ski racing
and jumping, ski joring (a skier pulled by a horse), snow
shoveling contests and snowshoe races.
One of the favorites at the carnival was a ride on the
Payette lakes taxi boats. The crafts, the forerunner of the
modern snowmobile, were a vehicle set on steel runners and
driven by an airplane engine and propeller.
Another favorite at the carnival was the toboggan ride, not
just a toboggan ride, but one that started at the top of the
hotel building across the street from the lake and ended on the
lake. Built by the men of the town it was a ride to remember.
At the end of the event, Franklin I. Coats, one of the
passengers of the special train declared "the people of McCall
are to be congratulated on their hospitality and I hope to enjoy
their welcome at yearly repetition of this, the first carnival."
The carnival as such lasted for about five years, it then
evolved to an "ice break-up contest." The person entering the
contest would buy a ticket, then guess at what day, hour and
minute the ice would break-up in the lake, the person guessing
the closest would win the prize. To determine the actual
break-up time a barrel was placed on the ice in the middle of
the lake, when the ice broke up and only when the barrel touched
the bank was the time official. The last contest was in 1941 at
which time "gambling" had become illegal.
In 1965 the Winter Carnival was revived and due to a great
community effort it was a huge success, now we are well into the
"42nd annual winter carnival," The carnival has become
nationally known; for which we are proud because it is still a
community effort of the highest degree.
