Photo courtesy Melissa Shelby Photography
100 Years of Tradition Winter Carnival. Two words that mean many things to many people here in McCall – and far beyond our local area.
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Photo courtesy Chad Case and Jon Conti
The original motivation to create a winter festival in McCall dates back 100 years. It came from the hearty local folks, presumably suffering from more than a touch of cabin fever, who devised winter sporting competitions in 1924 to encourage their neighbors to head outdoors and find the fun in the wintery landscapes – and each other’s company.
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The original Winter Sports Carnival ran from 1924 to the early 1940s, then faded out during the WWII era. By the 1960’s the community was starting to transition from its roots as a logging town into one with a more recreation-based economy. That motivated the people of McCall to reimagine Winter Carnival as a way to draw attention to their new ski resort and emerging identity as a winter tourist destination. Over time, McCall’s Winter Carnival has moved around the winter calendar several times, adopted an ongoing “Mardi Gras” theme for the parade, and stretched from a single weekend event into a 10-day extravaganza, again, with the goal of bringing in more people – and more awareness about McCall’s unique blend of winter offerings. 90
Photo courtesy Chad Case and Jon Conti
