The Origins of the Moosehead Mush
By Emily Patrick
In honor of Moosehead’s Annual Wilderness Sled Dog Race, which will hit the ground running in February, we thought we would share a bit of the race’s origin story with our readers. I sat down for a cup of coffee with Dennis Welsh, who was one of the race’s original founders and President of the Chamber of Commerce when the race started in 2004.
Dennis and his wife and daughter are self-described “implants” from Western Pennsylvania. Though “implants” to our region are not unique, Dennis’s story is! While most visitors-turned-residents describe being immediately charmed with the Moosehead Region, Welsh’s first introduction to our neck of the woods was…lackluster.
Welsh has been an “outdoor junkie” his whole life and was no stranger to Maine, but usually visited the coastal region until one fateful trip in the early 2000’s. Dennis said they hiked Big Moose in cold, wet weather, and the fog obstructed the hike’s biggest reward—the view. They also had a horrible experience where they were staying that evening, and as Welsh passed under the trestle in the Junction on the way out of Greenville, he remembers thinking, “I could never live here.”
That is, until he got back to his day job and was met with an overflow of emails and paperwork and mail that had been piling up during his vacation. He was surprised when he started thinking about Moosehead, and as fate would have it, he picked up a journal from the daunting stack of mail and saw an advertisement for a job opening at our local hospital. It was too much of a coincidence to ignore, so he picked up the phone and dialed the number on the ad and Nan Pelletier answered the phone. He told her he’s never worked at a hospital with less than 350 beds, and she said that’s okay, just come up and check it out. It’s on us! The rest is history—today, Welsh and his wife still live in Rum Ridge.
Sled dog races in Maine are rare—let alone in the rest of the lower 48. So how did one pop up in Greenville? Shortly after Dennis started working for CA Dean, he was looking for ways to get more involved in the community. At the time, the Chamber of Commerce was going through a “rebirth,” and two months later Dennis found himself President of our local chamber.
At the time, Jonathan Pratt was the Executive Director, and they were kicking around ideas for how to market the area. As the story goes, they were sitting at a booth at Auntie M’s one cold morning in February or March. It was “blistering cold,” Dennis recalls, and snow was packed halfway up the telephone poles (who remembers those days?). Dennis had gotten an introduction to sled dog racing during his younger days in the military, when he was stationed further north. He had become enamored with the sport, and read every book on the subject he could get his paws on.
“Jonathan, we should have a sled dog race,” he said. Pratt looked at his friend whimsically, but to his credit, didn’t shoot the idea totally down. A month later, they brought it to the board, and though they were a bit skeptical, they agreed to give it a go. Jonathan found a local musher and worked with them on the logistics, and Dennis went to area businesses to get donations and support. “Over time, it started to work out,” he says.
“The vision technically was to bring commerce to the region…but it was to tag something special with the Moosehead Lake Region…something that no other community has. That was really important,” he recalls.
The first purse was only $500, but Dennis recalls that first race was an “incredible experience,” and he doesn’t remember any negative feedback from race participants. After that, it stuck. Though the race (including the course) has changed over time, it has endured. The first race, the teams took off across Moosehead’s frozen surface. The race no longer crosses Moosehead Lake, but something will never change:
Dennis says what most people may not know about sled dog racing is how much work goes into it, and how much the mushers love their dogs. “They sacrifice a lot for that passion to dog sled…There’s something so honest about it,” he says.
As for the dogs? “You can see it in their eyes; that’s what they’re driven to do,” Dennis concludes.
Dennis says what sets Greenville’s race apart is the shorter course, the scenery, and “the charm of the town itself.”
A newspaper clipping from the race’s first year thanks the race’s sponsors and supporters, including but not limited to: Indian Hill Trading Post, Moosehead Hills Cabins, Moosehead Motorsports, Charles Boothby Photography, Evergreen Lodge, The Welsh Family of Rum Ridge, and John Morrell. Also, Lynn & Charlie Bosworth, Mike Coburn and Family, Amy Dugan, Maryann Herbert & Jerry Hoag, Royce Howes, Linda Koski, Lynne Laymann, John Osmond, Scott Snell, Ben Thomas, Allan Thomas (Race Marshall), Elaine Thomas, Denise Thomas, David Vaughn, John Simko, Jonathan Pratt, Susan Crippen, Greenville Public Works, Greenville Police, Adam Gormely, Warden Service, Down East Sled Dog Club, and the Moosehead Riders Snowmobile Club. Additionally, Max Folsom, Phil Ward, Doug Whitney, and Ken Snowdon for the use of their land.
“Thank you to all of you that worked together to make the First Annual Moosehead Mush a fun, safe, and successful event,” it reads.