From the Vice President

Hay Days Memories...

Scott Wakefield

When I drive past that old Lino Lakes location offramp and glance to the left of the overpass, as I’m heading northwest from the west metro to the “new” location (for you newbies to Hay Days), I get a little sentimental. I can, you see.

I first attended Hay Days seven days after my 16th birthday. I had no clue what I was about to get myself into. I was a 16-year-old, giddy with teenage excitement and gusto. If I would have had a million bucks, I probably would’ve spent it.

It wasn’t long after that I decided I needed to make some extra Hay Days cash each summer. I would bale hay for neighbors, mow lawns for doctors and lawyers and such, as they were the ones that could spend a million bucks at Hay Days! And money I did spend—on helmets, carbides and jackets. One can never have enough jackets, bibs, boots (really good boots), and gloves that sure felt warm on a warm September afternoon (but maybe not so much the third week in January)! But boots and gloves nonetheless, it was all part of it. Then when I got a little older and a little richer, I was able to buy sleds, re-sell them, and buy more again—a vicious cycle we get into in snowmobiling.

Now, as I travel the extra half hour to the current location east of North Branch, right off State Highway #95, it’s like night and day. The SnoBarons are building pyramids like the Egyptians did thousands of years ago, that will last many lifetimes. I think back on how far this has all come. It still gives me goose bumps when I make it to the gate and the pleasant lady with her Hay Days lanyards hanging off her neck says, “You’re good to go!” And I’m like, lady you have no clue how good to go I am. I’m in my element, in nirvana, in awe, and I’m that 16-year-old giddy teenager with excitement and gusto all over again.

This year was super special, as I worked the MnUSA booth with some great fellow snowmobilers, and I got to be front and center at the opening ceremonies, meeting even more snowmobile enthusiasts like me, reliving part of their history. Thank you to the SnoBarons, Keith, Bruce, and everyone else. You are truly a first-class organization, and you let this old man live like a kid again, albeit for a couple of days, because by Sunday night I was cramping up…argh!