Day Trip Destinations: Sleigh
and
Cutter Festival
By Leticia Gonzales
The festival must go on. Even if there’s no snow — like the 2009 edition pictured above — the Waseca Sleigh and Cutter festival participants can swap out wheels for runners. | Free Press file photo
Strong as a horse M
Waseca Sleigh and Cutter Festival grows bigger by the year
innesota winters can be arduous, but there are many outdoor activities around the state to keep you busy, active — and distracted from the cold. The annual Waseca Sleigh and Cutter Festival aims to do just that. “This time of year, a lot of times families are looking for something to do,” said Scott Roemhildt, vce president of the Sleigh and Cutter Association. “This gives them activities for weeks that they can get involved in.” Roemhildt, a Waseca County resident who has helped organized the event for nearly 20 years, said the festival focuses on being family-oriented. “We want Sleigh and Cutter to be something the whole family participates in,” he said. “All of our events our free; it doesn’t take a pocket-full of money to participate in the Sleigh and Cutter Festival.” While the Sleigh and Cutter Association is only made up of about a dozen organizers, Roemhildt said it is the outpouring of the community and the involvement of the locals that creates the festival. “It’s three weeks long, thousands of people participate, and 20 • february 2014 • MANKATO MAGAZINE
each year continues to grow,” he said. “We tend to think we have hit our peak, but then a new group comes and shows up.” Sleigh and Cutter Association President Ken Borgmann, who has helped organize the event for the past 18 years, said the group depends on countless sponsors who not only help fund the events, but also run them. “It started in 1950 with some local businesspeople who wanted to do a winter break or winter activity, and they were horse people,” said Borgmann. “They had some horses and some sleighs. They were in a barbershop and that is where the idea started.” The group held its first parade in 1951. “For many years, it was a get-together and parade on Saturday,” he said. Having been organized by groups like the Sheriff’s Posse in Waseca and the former University of Minnesota-Waseca, the festival has changed hands several times during its 64 years. “It has really come along,” Borgmann said. “We have gone from ... a two–day festival to more than dozen days and events.”