February 2025 Club Update
N E W S L E T T E R
Greetings Everyone,
It was sure great to see all those sleds parked outside of The Hwy. 5 Bar & Grill for our February meeting before ‘ol mother nature whacked us in the face with unseasonably warm weather. The trails at this point are basically junk and somewhat nonexistent in places. But we were able to get in some really fun events before it all ended.
On January 31st- February 2nd, 23 members trailered to Crane Lake for a great family outage. The trails and lake provided some great riding and a lot of fun despite not being able to ride from Chisholm.
The Blackwood’s Blizzard Never Surrender Tour, A Fight to Stop ALS, was able to ride their entire route leaving from Black Bear Casino on February 6th, touring the northland with a stop for lunch and fuel at the PathBlazers maintenance building in Chisholm on Friday, and returning to Black Bear for a banquet Saturday night. The tour this year raised $1,631,400.00 to provide support in the battle against ALS. Great job to everyone, and a shout out to PathBlazer member John Taray who participated in the event. John would like to extend his gratitude to everyone that helped him exceed his goal of $5000.00 with a final tally of $5400.00 raised. If there were members that also participated, drop us a line and let us know.
There were two vintage rides held last month. The Hydeaway Bar/Jim’s Sports Bar vintage run, and The D.A.V Vintage Iron Run from Palmer’s in Hibbing to The American Legion in Keewatin and back. The D.A.V. Vintage Iron Run raised $6935.00 to help out the local D.A.V. Chapter. A big “Thank You” goes out to Jason Husted, Matt Anderson, Cindi LaMusga and Susie Holderness-Curtis and all the sponsors of this very successful event.
PathBlazers trail coordinator Joe McKenney reports that all grooming was suspended last week due to the conditions, but brushing and other maintenance will continue as long as the wetlands are froze. Other clubs have followed suit as trail conditions in our area have dwindled to nothing. We would also remind people that these conditions are not an open invitation to ride ATV/UTV’s on dedicated snowmobile trails. Thanks in advance for your compliance and understanding. Will trails be groomed if we receive a heavy snow? It depends when and how much. Trails close April 1st, and at this point probably not.
The PathBlazers will be saying “Thank You” and goodbye to two very special members who have helped the club grow and blossom. Jim Watkins and Erin Schirmer. Jim has served as our Snowmobile Safety Training instructor since its start a few years ago. A goal of the PathBlazers to be able to serve the community with this type of training, Jim stepped up as a lead. Thanks, Jim, for all your hard work. We would like to welcome Dan Tarnowski as the new trainer along with Jessica Stahl in her continued rule in our safety training program. As for our March 15, 2025 snowmobile safety training event, this has been canceled due to conditions and low pre-registration.
Treasurer Erin Schirmer will be leaving her position at the end of this season to focus on her and husband Ryan’s new family. Congratulations you two!! But you will be missed. With that being said, the PathBlazers will be looking for a treasure. Anyone interested please contact Erin or one of the board members listed below. Erin will work with the individual throughout the summer to get prepared for the next season starting in August. Thank you so much Erin for all you have done for the club to keep us rolling.
Join us for our next monthly meeting being held Thursday, March 20, 2025, at Bimbo’s Octagon in beautiful Side Lake, MN. The meeting will start at 6:00pm. Please note the day change, yes Thursday is correct. Please bring some nonperishable food items which will be donated this month to The Hibbing Salvation Army.
That’s about all for now. Check out the PathBlazers Facebook page or online at www.pathblazersclub.com for more info on any of these events, trail conditions, or how to join.
See you soon,
PathBlazers Snowmobile Club
Next Meeting: Thurs. March 20, 2025 Bimbo’s Octagon in Side Lake, MN
Meeting Starts @ 6:00pm
Don’t Forget Your Non Perishable Food Donation
This months donation goes to The Hibbing Salvation Army
For more information, questions or comments, please feel free to contact the following:
Secretary, Dave Houghton – 263-5889 President, Dan Marich – 996-1003 Chair, Jodi Olson – 966-7817
Co- Chair/Trail Coordinator, Joe McKenney – 969-9717
Treasurer, Erin Schirmer – 969-6125