Dogsledders to descent on Bonfield

by Keely Grasser

Sep 13, 2007

BONFIELD – The community will be showing off Northern Ontario hospitality the last weekend in September as they host the fall Ontario Federation of Sleddog Sports (OFSS) symposium.

Ray Erker, an OFSS member and owner of Paws-e-Trax Dogsled and Racing Kennel, said he and his wife, Janice, “put the bug in peoples’ ears” that the symposium should be held in Bonfield at the OFSS’s spring meeting.

In the past 20 years, all of the symposiums have been held in southern Ontario locations, he said.

“We just want to get people here to see what the north is all about,” Erker explained.

He expects a minimum of 65 – and hopefully 100 – attendees at the Sept. 29 event, where guests will enjoy browsing vendors offering state-of-the-art dog and dogsled sport merchandise and gear. There will also be information about the sports and sleddogs available.

Erker said two of the country’s top dogsledders will be among the speakers.

Tim Hunt, a veterinarian, dogsled racer and developer of a food specially-formulated for racing dogs, will be on hand. Hunt has been the race veterinarian in the famed Iditarod race. As well, Yellowknife’s Grant Beck, a 50-year veteran of the sport, will speak. Beck began racing sleddogs at age nine.

The symposium is open to the general public. Erker said there will be plenty of learning opportunities available for people interested in dogsled sports.

Some local ladies are providing the food fare for the event, Erker said, and will give visitors to Bonfield a chance to try its most famed cuisine: sea pie.
The whole event is something Erker is looking forward to, he said. “It will be a great event.”

The symposium will also bring many visitors to the community’s businesses, he said, and will help to promote a sport he says is a part of Canadian heritage.

The OFSS was founded in 1986. It has members representing all walks of life and many dog sport disciplines, including dog sled racing, ski-joring, weight-pulls and recreational mushers. The club’s two main interests are expanding the activities of sled dogs, along with the human care and handling of sled dogs.

The 2007 Fall OFSS Symposium will be held at the Agridome in Bonfield on Sept. 29, beginning at 9 a.m.

For more information visit www.OFSS.ca or www.paws-e-trax.com.