Carnival serves up family fun

Face painting, musical chairs, a pie-eating contest, and the ever-popular Dummy Downhill ski race: it was all on display last Saturday at Hoodoo Ski Area.

The 31st annual Hoodoo Winter Carnival attracted a large crowd of skiers, snowboarders, and people interested in a day of family fun which also included live music, a torchlight descent, and a fireworks finale.

Evelyn Bellotti-Busch and husband Kevin made the trek up to Hoodoo from Sisters for some snowshoeing, and came away very impressed.

"We have not been up here since the mid-'70s when we were in college at the University of Oregon," Evelyn said. "We wanted to come up and see what they have done to the lodge, see how much it had improved, and it's pretty impressive."

For 31 years this local festival has drawn thousands of visitors to the mountain. With this year's off-and-on snowfall, the carnival gave Hoodoo an enthusiastic shot in the arm.

"I think the winter carnival is different for everybody," said Jennifer Meyer, who was at Hoodoo with her husband and three children. "It's the one thing that builds some camaraderie for the kids and the families to come and hang out and enjoy things like the bonfire, the fireworks, the dummy downhill, the face painting, the barbecue, the pie-eating contest; it's got a little bit of everything for everybody, it's like a home or lodge, but it's your lodge too."

Hoodoo's long history in the area began in 1938, when a group headed by Ed Thurston of Bend wanted to build a ski resort. Their first choice was Three Fingered Jack, but the group could not secure funding for a road. In the 1960s the resort was purchased by Hoodoo Ski Bowl Developers, Inc., who built the Manzanita chair. In 1999 Hoodoo was acquired by Chuck Shepard. Since that time Hoodoo has built the Hodag chair, a new lodge, opened the Autobahn, and replaced the green and red double chairlifts with quads. Later, the red chair was renamed the Ed chair in honor of founder Ed Thurston.

People are often curious how it got its name.

"Hoodoo, the geographic feature, is kind of like a plateau, or a skinny rock column you can stand on, like a mesa, only smaller," said Hoodoo General Manager Matthew McFarland. "So apparently the map makers named the mountain, which is actually a hayrick, Hoodoo, because it was next to one. So Hayrick Butte is actually a hoodoo, and Hoodoo is a hayrick."