RAPID RIVER — The Rapid River Relic Riders have been preparing for their 18th annual ride and show, the first part of which begins today.

On the last Friday in January, enthusiasts of vintage snowmobiles gather with their machines in downtown Rapid River and invite the community and riders with sleds of all types and ages to join. This year, the Antique Snowmobile Club of America will also be in Rapid River for the event. The ride departs at noon today, the 26th. The show and swap will be held Saturday the 27th.

Registration for Friday’s ride is at Quality Plumbing and Heating, across from Sall-Mar Resort on US-2 on the east edge of town, beginning at 9 a.m. and remaining open until about 11:30. As an entry fee, participants are asked to bring a non-perishable food item or cash donation. Everything collected goes to charity; Rapid River Relic Riders Treasurer Mary Zar-Gasso said the donations will be split between the Calvary Lutheran Church of Rapid River and St. Vincent de Paul of Gladstone.

Following the national anthem, the ride departs at noon. The route follows the trail to the Gladstone Ski Hill, where a catered lunch will be provided through donation by Kevin Beaver, according to Rapid River Relic Riders President David Shope.

“We plan to feed 350 people,” said Shope. “This is gonna be big. They’re coming from all over — they’re already here,” he said on Wednesday. “One guy’s from South Dakota. They’re coming from Canada, Minnesota, Illinois — lotta Wisconsin people.”

Around 3 p.m., the group will vacate the ski hill to make the return ride back to Rapid.

This year, the Antique Snowmobile Club of America is holding its winter meeting in conjunction with the event; they have blocked rooms at the Terrace Bay Hotel for those traveling in. While in Rapid River after the ride, members of the club will get together for their meeting at the old gift shop and tour Rusty Anderson’s collection.

A 4:30 p.m. bonfire behind Quality Heating and Plumbing is open to all as the last of Friday’s goings-on.

The show will be held on Main Street in Rapid River on Saturday. Entry is $5 per participant; registration is inside the Lions Club from 9 a.m. until about noon or a little thereafter, according to Shope.

“Rat Sleds” are the featured snowmobiles this year, meaning that those machines in the style of a rat rod — a modified, home-built, souped-up, or unfinished automobile — will be highlighted and displayed in an area separate from the rest.

Vintage and antique snowmobile races will be held at the baseball diamond.

Shope said that two designated drivers of antique snowmobiles will be offering rides to children — weather-permitting.

“We’ll give little kids rides — they’ll never forget that,” said Shope.

He said there’s also a game outdoors that invites kids and adults to participate with the chance to win a turkey.

Everyone who enters a snowmobile of any kind on Saturday will be automatically entered to win a knife from Rapid River Knifeworks and get a chance to win the participant sled, an all-original 1974 Arctic Cat Lynx. The giveaway of a participant sled is something the Relic Riders haven’t done before, said Shope.

There are also prizes and trophies for a number of categories, as is consistent with years past. Zar-Gasso said that the first place winner will be given the choice of either a 1977 SkiDoo 340 or $500 cash. Prizes are given for all the way through 10th place; winnings include Rapid River Knives for most and cash for some. The trophies are for various titles; those winners also get knives.

“If you register a sled, you get a vote,” said Zar-Gasso of the different categories for trophies.

A raffle, silent auction and live auction will also be held at the Lions Club Saturday. Most of the items being raffled and auctioned off have been donated by members of the Relic Riders or the community.

Zar-Gasso said that the Rapid River Relic Riders are lucky to have the host that they do for Saturday’s show.

“We have the good fortune of being able to use the Lions Club,” she said, adding that food and beverages will also be available at the Lions Club.

Trophies will be awarded beginning at 3:30 p.m.