Ryan Anderson and his team of sled dogs cross the finish line first at Mattson Lower Harbor Park in Marquette in the 2022 UP200. Although this year’s race was canceled due to weather, organizations believe that the aftermath was positive due to local festivals that were planned on short notice. (Journal file photo)

MARQUETTE — The cancellation of this year’s UP200 doesn’t seem to have had any long-term major negative effects.

Because of unfavorable weather, the sled dog races — the UP200 Powered by NMU, Midnight Run and Jack Pine 30 — were canceled on Feb. 15, just before they were scheduled to run. The races and related events, such as the bib draw and awards banquet, had been set to run Feb. 16-20.

Darlene Walch, president of the Upper Peninsula Sled Dog Association, sat down with The Mining Journal on Monday to reflect on the races that weren’t this year.

Walch said adjustments for the event had been planned that week based on the warm weather that hit the area.

“Everything was fine until Tuesday night when the rain came,” she said.

That did not make for optimum racing conditions.

“We just laughed because we were saying, even on that previous week (before the races), that the best thing we could get would be about 28 degrees and about 10 inches of snow, because it would stick to the ice,” Walch said. “We could groom it down and everything would be fine. And we got it the following Thursday — exactly what we were looking for, but it was a week late, eight days late.”

The weather forecast, she pointed out, also called for a hard freeze, which would turn all the rain and melted snow into ice.

“It would be very hard for the dogs, hard to control the sled,” Walch said.

Thus, a Wednesday morning UPSDA board meeting led to the difficult decision to cancel, which was the first time in the UP200’s history it was called off, not counting the 2021 cancellation due to COVID-19. Walch said it would have been the 34th running of the UP200.

So mushers had to be notified and a quick “pivot” was made in a mere two days.

Instead, the Festival of the Sled Dog took place on Washington Street in downtown Marquette on Feb. 17. There was live music, sled dogs and sledding opportunities for kids, among other attractions.

“That was an extremely interesting and very positive decision,” Walch said.

The Grand Marais Winterfest took place on Feb. 18, with one Facebook post explaining it all: “Grand Marais does what it does so well: ADAPT!” Planned in Grand Marais, traditionally a major checkpoint in the UP200, were cardboard sled races, snow painting, meeting sled dogs and other fun activities.

“Grand Marais was spectacular,” Walch said.

UP200 weekend is a big draw for local residents and tourists, who stay in hotels and buy merchandise. However, Walch said it’s difficult to determine how the cancellation affected the region financially.

“We still had a lot of people who came from out of the area,” Walch said.

She was in downtown Marquette for the Festival of the Sled Dog and noticed that the place was packed.

Walch said the overall feeling of disappointment stemming from the cancellation mixed with a feeling of enthusiasm for the festival, which had the Mushing Club at Michigan Tech and the Northern Michigan Mushing Club on hand to offer sled rides.

She also acknowledged that certainly some hotel rooms were canceled, but is unsure to what extent.

Regarding UP200 merchandise, Walch said a lot was sold online before the event, plus merchandise was sold during the time races were scheduled at the Holiday Inn in Marquette, which also had the usual silent auction.

That went well, she acknowledged, but not all the bills have come in yet. A contractor had to be paid for hauling in snow, plus there was insurance.

“I think the sense of the board is that we will be OK going forward,” Walch said, although she noted that merchandise sales weren’t as robust as they might have been had the races taken place. “We will recover from this.”

The quick change in plans, though, probably wasn’t easy.

“We laughed because the key word got to be ‘pivot’ — which we’re getting a little tired of, but that’s exactly what happened,” Walch said. “It felt like we went from 100 percent full in on a sled dog race — a series of them, three of them — to zero, (then) back up to about 80 percent.

“So, emotionally, that’s what it felt like in a very compressed time, like in a matter of hours, because the decision to cancel and the decision to plan a festival happened within a 15-minute window.”

Walch said the UPSDA board is looking at all the positive things that came out of the event, although the mushers — who “train like crazy” — were disappointed.

“We’ve had a very positive response from everyone — sponsors, all the way across the board,” she said.

Christie Mastric can be reached at 906-228-2500, ext. 250. Her email address is cbleck@miningjournal.net.