The 10th annual Snowbox Derby, featuring competing cardboard snow sleds, is expected to attract hundreds of people this weekend. Don't throw away that old box or those cardboard toilet paper tubes. They could come in real handy this weekend at the 10th annual Snowbox Derby in Oscoda. The event, which has become wildly popular in this small northern Michigan town during the past decade, brings out the creativity in folks of all ages from throughout the state as they compete for prizes in design and speed.
Winners receive cash prizes and trophies for creative designs and fastest snowbox.
The families get together, and it's just fun, like a challenge, who can find the strongest cardboard, who can paint the parts. It's just really neat to see the energy that people put into building these boxes. If the weather cooperates and there's plenty of snow for the race, organizers predict that some 1,000 people will show up for the competition, which this year has a nautical theme. With 50 to 80 derby contestants and hundreds of spectators, the derby committee has expanded the traditional race to include an entire weekend of activities, from a snowbox party to a taste of Oscoda to slot races. In Bellaire at Shanty Creek resort, cardboard junkies can take part in the mid-March Cardboard Classic.