CAMDEN — It's hard to believe that in 1991 only a few hundred locals attended the first organized traditional wood toboggan race in the country. Sports Illustrated called it, "a cross between an Alice in Wonderland costume ball and a family reunion..."

Thirty-five years later, the U.S. National Toboggan Championships held at the Camden Snow Bowl will draw more than 5,000 visitors and 413 two-, three-, and four-person teams for a competition that energizes the Midcoast in the dead of winter. A thoroughly frozen Hosmer Pond will come alive with tents and ice shacks, and Tobogganville — the central focal point around the toboggan chute, will be lively with food trucks, music and a Saturday noontime parade.

Friday, Feb. 6, the teams will do a group check-in at Tobogganville, but the bulk of the event will take place on Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 7 and 8. There is no admission fee for spectators; however, parking is limited with an onsite fee of $20 per vehicle. Free public parking is available in downtown Camden and a free shuttle bus service will run between there and the Snow Bowl, with the loading spot on Mechanic Street, across from the Knox Mill, between Free and Washington streets.

In addition to the chute action, the weekend is full of highlights:

Worlds Race

Every five years, a special “Worlds” race takes place as part of the U.S. National Toboggan Championships weekend, and this year, past champions are back and ready to slide down the chute.

The Worlds is a one-run race scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, when all first-place four-person teams from 1991 to 2025 will race to be named the 2026 Worlds Champion.

"It's kind of a winner-take-all for the heaviest, fastest sleds," said Holly S. Anderson, cochair of the organizing committee.

Bruce Richards is a team member of the four-person team, Big Kahoonas, which won first place in 1994, 1995, and 2005. PenBayPilot learned about their secret sauce to fast sledding in a story called You've gotta have brass ones to hang with the Big Kahoonas.

His brother, Sean Richards, was on a rival team, Throbbin Boggins, which started racing in 1992. Big Kahoonas started the following year.

"Sibling rivalry is in full swing not only during the event, but pretty much all year, making sure to rub in whoever places better over the years!" said Bruce Richards. "We have a 28-foot snowmobile trailer with heat and a couple of kegs, and we grill our own food all weekend. We usually have about 50 people hanging out with us and cheering both teams on. We like to have a good time and support the community."

Costumes and Tobogganville

One of the most fun aspects of the weekend is the themed costumes that racing teams and their entourage wear, as featured in numerous Pen Bay Pilot past stories and galleries. Every year, locals and visitors come up with a group theme and costume that is usually a pun on their team name, sledding, snow, or ice.

Then, there's the natural coalescence of Tobogganville, a self-made temporary village of ice shack tailgating parties, complete with fire pits, barbeques, and a bottle of the hard stuff sitting in the snow. It's the easiest place to walk up to strangers, share a bite, and have a laugh. See our story about that last year. 

Vendors

While some teams bring their own snacks, Toboggan Nationals brings in several food trucks to satisfy the hungry, thirsty crowd. In addition to the Sea Dog Brewing beer tent and the Portland Hunt+Alpine Airstream bar, this year’s vendors include Gunslingers Barbecue, Portable Pie Place, Tinder Hearth Pizza and the Black Sheep Foodtruck.

You Might Get On TV

Historically, the event draws media from around the state, such as Maine's WMTW, WABI, and WCSH-6. This year, Télévision Française 1 will be roaming around Hosmer Pond and Tobogganville. 

"We also have a TV crew from Washington D.C.; they're coming up on Friday and Saturday to shoot footage for a story," said Anderson.

Additionally, StreamState, Maine's first streaming hub for hyper-local content, will also be on hand both Saturday and Sunday, capturing a variety of footage for a livestream that you can watch for free here. (See our past Pen Bay Pilot story on who they are here.)

"We'd love to do more storytelling around the history, and the culture of the toboggan racers," said Rory Strunk, CEO of Streamstate, whose trailer will be positioned at the bottom of the chute while they catch the action. "Some of these racers are coming for two or three generations; they're coming from 32 states around the country. We'll be doing interviews and collecting stories all during the 14 hours of coverage."

Weather looking frosty

This coming weekend, Accuweather predicts the temperature will be about 21 degrees on Saturday and 12 degrees on Sunday. The surge of teams participating this year reflects that, said Anderson.

"We had 381 teams in 2025 and 342 teams in 2024, but this year we sold out with 413 teams registered to race and I think the weather is a big factor for that," she said. "It just has everyone thinking winter and that's what hadeveryone signing up and filling the rosters early."

What that means for the average attendee—especially first timers—is layers! Hats, ear warmers, heavy gloves, neoprene underlayers, hand warmers, insulated bibs and pants, boots and ice cleats are highly recommended.

In past years, the weather has been unpredictable. Some years were warmer than normal, resulting in an ice luge of slush at the bottom of the chute, while there have been several years with blizzard conditions, forcing the event to take place on one day only.

Bigger and better... but still the same

Twenty years ago, in 2005, the revenue budget for the toboggan race weekend was $5,000. Today, it stands at more than $80,000.

"It's amazing that for several years now, we've been able to net $50,000 to $60,000 from this event, which goes back into Camden Snow Bowl programming," said Anderson.

"Watching over the years, one of the reasons we've got so many people coming back year after year and participating and so many teams racing is that we haven't changed much of the event itself," said Anderson. "The chute is the same. We haven't added a second chute or another division. The venue hasn't expanded. We haven't done many wholesale changes to this event. We still have volunteers handwriting the scores on a dry-erase board with Sharpies. People rely on that and it keeps them coming back."

To see the U.S. National Toboggan Championships' new website and daily schedule of events visit: https://toboggannationals.com

Kay Stephens can be reached at news@penbaypilot.com