SNOW Bus Brewfest, Dummy Derby set for this weekend

More than a dozen craft breweries will descend on the Upper Village area at Whitefish Mountain Resort for the annual SNOW Bus Spring Brewfest to benefit the free SNOW Bus shuttle this Saturday, March 31. The festival will run from 1 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. and tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Microbrewers include Big Sky, Bitterroot, Blacksmith, Deschutes, Draught Works, Flathead, Great Northern, Kettlehouse, Lewis & Clark, New Belgium, Oskar Blues, Philipsburg, Sierra Nevada, Tamarack, Wasatch Squatters and Wildwood.

Tickets may be purchased in advance in person at the Whitefish Mountain Resort Guest and Info Desk, Kalispell Sportsman and Ski Haus, Great Northern Brewing Company or online at www.bigmtncommercial.org/events.

Directly following the brewfest at 4 p.m. is the much-anticipated dummy derby, an event that combines skis, jumps and a lot of creativity. Contestants send their dummies — mannequins or some other type of humanoid sculpture — down the mountain atop a set of skis to the delight of spectators below. The first place dummy, scored in part on originality and jump length, will receive a $400 cash prize. Trophies will be distributed to dummies in categories including the farthest dummy in flight, best crash, biggest splash and sexiest dummy. The contest is free to enter and dummies must be dropped at Glendale Road by 1 p.m. the day of the event. For more information about the derby, visit the events tab at www.skiwhitefish.com.

The SNOW Bus shuttle will run during the event with a special shuttle starting at 12:30 p.m. and picking up every hour on the half hour from the Mountain Mall, with returns from the village at 1 p.m., 2 p.m., 3 p.m., 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.