MACKINAW CITY, MI - More than 100 antique sleds - some red, pink, baby blue and even one ridden by someone in a Big Bird costume - put on a show as they made their way across the Mackinac Bridge on Saturday.
The vintage lineup was the fourth annual crossing known as “Snowmobile the Mac,” and was organized by the Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum.
The event started out small, with just a few dozen antique sled owners bringing their rides to the base of the bridge that first year. This year’s lineup was a large, colorful corridor.
“This event is the culmination of a lot of hard work and collaboration with many organizations,” Charlie Vallier, who owns the snowmobile museum in Naubinway, about 45 miles west of the bridge on U.S. 2, said earlier this year.
Sleds had to be at least 25 years old to participate and had to be equipped with wheel kits to keep their treads off the bridge pavement.
This is a fun event for riders not only to show off their vintage sleds, but to ride across the Mighty Mac. Snowmobiles typically are not allowed on the 5-mile span that connects Michigan’s Upper and Lower Peninsulas.
On Saturday, a few of the old sleds got as far as the starting line, but for mechanical or other reasons could not do the crossing. Those were loaded onto a flatbed “trailer of shame” and driven across, according to the race organizer’s posts on social media.
For more information on the Top of the Lake Snowmobile Museum, check here.
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