It was about 40 degrees with not a tablespoon of snow on the ground at the Miracle of America Museum in Polson on Jan. 10. Despite the balmy temperature, people gathered for the annual Winterfest, and examined the fleet of vintage snowmobiles on the museum’s front lawn.

The Western Montana Vintage Snowmobile Enthusiasts brought a trailer full of sleds and were running a contest for visitors to select their favorite and slip a ballot in the box. Members of the group were on hand, answering questions.

Candy Johnson and Brooke Bohannon, WMVSE group members, were talking carburetors and taking engines apart. Johnson has been snowmobiling for quite a while, and Bohannon is in her third year. Both of their husbands are also sled heads.

When Bohannon and her husband expressed interest, Johnson asked, “Do you like to tinker?”

The answer was yes, and a survey of the group revealed that they all spend time mechanicking, scouring the internet for parts, and calling friends who might know where to source vintage sleds.

Johnson and her husband, Paul Kruger, brought “the girls,” hot pink 1972 and 1973 Scorpion Stingerettes, with the 1973 model called a Super Stingerette because it’s a tad bigger and has glitter embedded in the molded hood and body.

Kruger said a snowmobiler has to have a couple of vintage cars, an old pickup, several vintage sleds and an old fuel pump in the garage. He and Johnson used to have two snowmobiles and now have eight.

“They’re sorta like potato chips,” he said. “You can’t have just one.”

Bohannon and her husband brought sleds, too. Hers is a blue and white Arctic Cat.

Miles, 9, came with his grandfather and was looking over the sleds.

“I like any motorized vehicle,” he said, noting he was headed for the helicopter located on MOAM’s back lot next. “I’ve sat in it at least 100 times.”

When cold fingers and rosy faces sent visitors into the museum to warm up, there were lots of things going on. Displays of guns, beadwork, saddles and horse paraphernalia, and way in the back, more than 70 vintage motorcycles. In the meeting room/soda fountain, Nyla, a MOAM volunteer, was playing old favorites like “The Red River Valley,” on the piano, and wearing her cowgirl boots.

Volunteer Brandy Wallace’s chili smelled great, and hungry patrons queued up for a bowl and a cornbread muffin, hot chocolate or cold drinks.

Then it was out the main MOAM building’s back door to check out the grounds, home to 40 buildings. Founder Gil Mangels recommended visiting the bar, which isn’t new but has been refurbished.

There are 340,000 items to view, according to the website, and exhibits, such as an antique store, a 1940s schoolhouse and a saloon, plus enough vehicles – motorcycles, trucks, tractors, dump trucks, jeeps, jets and cars – to keep Miles happy.

Many youngsters and parents or grandparents were on site because, as Gil says, “You always have a lot of fun here.”

Go to miracleofamericamuseum.org for more info.

    Tom Mullins, a member of the Western Montana Vintage Snowmobile Enthusiasts and a 30-year snowmobiler, checks the Wankel engine on his Arctic Cat. (Berl Tiskus/Leader)