Chassell Old Fashioned Christmas 2024

When I left you last Thursday morning we had just finished decorating the Chassell Heritage Center in preparation for Chassell’s Old Fashioned Christmas. After our blast of somewhere between twelve and fourteen inches of snow since late the previous afternoon, Steve Spahn, Brian Waters, and I had a lot of work ahead of us that afternoon in order to prepare the Chassell Ski Trails. We started the process with me operating the Polaris to create an initial path by tamping down the fluffy lake-effect snow with Steve following in the Gator pulling the roller with the comb down.

Winter wonderland was definitely the way to describe the conditions we encountered!

We would make a second pass over the trail with Steve and Brian leading with the five-foot Ginzu with the knives up and combing a nice surface with me following on the Polaris pulling the three-foot Ginzu with the knives up and the setting tracks.

Friday morning Julie and I headed toward Houghton with the intention to get in our swim at MTU, but Julie would get a text from a fellow swimmer on the way there that the pool was closed. We figured since we were already heading in that direction that we would go ahead and have coffee at Cyberia Cafe in downtown Houghton.

Afterwards we would make a Walmart run where Julie would shop and I would knock out some township and Hancock Trails Club business in the truck. After lunch I would meet up with Steve Spahn and Jim Vaught to groom the trails after the additional snow we had picked up through Friday morning. This was our first opportunity to introduce Jim to the equipment. Steve and Jim would operate the Gator out front pulling the five-foot Ginzu with the knives down to break up the previous day’s tracks and I followed with the Polaris pulling the three-foot Ginzu with the knives up and just setting tracks.

The sky would begin to clear off during the course of our trail grooming which created some really cool contrasts between the sky and snow snakes in the trees!

It turned out to be a beautiful afternoon to be on the trails and important that we got this grooming accomplished ahead of the warmer set to move in over the weekend.

That evening Julie and I went down to Centennial Park for a horse-drawn carriage ride and to check out the Christmas tree that had been lit up at the park for Chassell’s Old Fashioned Christmas.

Afterwards we stopped by the VFW Post for hot chocolate and the opportunity to talk to friends. We even made a stop at the VFW Photo Booth!

Saturday morning got off to a chilly start as it was -2 degrees when I headed over to the Chassell Township Schools for the breakfast put on by the senior class.

The temperature was up to a balmy 0 degrees when I headed back home to help Julie load up her things she was bringing back to the school for the craft show.

While Julie spent the next several hours at the school, I went over to the Chassell Heritage Center to talk with visitors and to enjoy the musical entertainment organized by board member Dave Bezotte, including Majority Finn pictured below.

When Julie finished up at 3:00, we met up with our friends Jennifer, Sue, Ann, and Charles and made as many stops as we could fit in on the Home for the Holidays Home Tour.

Old Fashioned Christmas is yet another thing that makes Chassell a truly amazing place!

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