Some adults offer last-minute advice to young racers Saturday during the final day of the Snodeo in Rangeley.

RANGELEY — Hot food, cool trails, thrilling races and some dicey nightlife. It’s Snodeo time.

Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club helps anchor the community’s place as a snowmobiler haven by coordinating its annual three-day Snodeo event, showcasing the area’s more than 150 groomed trails and drawing crowds to temporarily swell the normal 1,500-person winter population.

Snodeo and blackjack are a winning combination for some participants of the annual Rangeley snowmobile celebration. Stephanie Chu-O’Neil/The Rangeley Highlander

Following the meal, a parade of cars drove the mile-and-a-half to Bald Mountain Camps Resort where the main dining room was transformed into a casino. A variety of casino games like blackjack and “Rangeley Craps,” along with a silent auction and raffle, helped raise both spirits and money for the Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club.

Cheers rang out as the dice were thrown and winning cards dealt. Even after five hours, volunteer dealer Ashley Quimby was still smiling and seemingly having a blast along with her co-dealer for the “Rangeley Craps” table, Brad Stokes.

Friday night continued with high snowmobile enthusiasm at the Rangeley Lake Snowmobile Live Auction. Crowd favorite volunteer auctioneer Larry Koob has a way of keeping the bids high and the laughter continuous as he took full advantage of knowing the crowd and egging them on and calling them out by name. “Hey Gary, it’s only money!”

Items auctioned for bid were filled with homemade items like homemade olive bread donated by Marley Cerminara or handcrafted Rangeley Lakes Snowmobile Club corn hole sets donated by Bill Lemke. High-end items ranged from Morton & Furbish seasonal vacation rentals to a custom made Tactical Solutions AR-15, which fetched the highest bid of the night at $5,000.

On Saturday, the RAVE-X team, one of the most exciting events of the weekend, dazzled the crowd with some death-defying, “don’t-try-this-at-home” stunts with the hundreds of cheering spectators.

Rock Maple Racing 40 and over competition adds some extra thrill to Saturday’s Rangeley Snodeo event lineup. Stephanie Chu-O’Neil/The Rangeley Highlander

Also on Saturday, Rock Maple XC Race & Tame the Track Tour was held at the Stephen A. Bean Municipal Airport where both children and adults were able to show off their snowmobiling skills while competing in some thrilling races.

Patrick Comeau of Nashua, New Hampshire, who works with Rock Maple Racing and was a former announcer, enjoyed watching his children racing miniature 120 snowmobiles.

Crowds are treated to some high-flying entertainment as a member of the RAVE X team launches his machine high above during Saturday’s Snodeo event in Rangeley. Jerri Koestner photo

“It’s fun,” Comeau said. “It’s all about them learning the safety of snowmobiling, understanding how much fun the sport is, and more importantly it’s getting families involved in racing, but also in snowmobiling. We all help each other. It’s a nice family atmosphere.”

Comeau said he enjoys travelling to all of the races in other parts of Maine as well as Vermont and New York, but added how much he enjoyed how special Rangeley is.

“We love coming up to Moose Alley and everything about Rangeley,” he said. “Rangeley, I always say, is the Killington of ski areas for snowmobiling. It’s the only thing that really has a night life when you go snowmobiling and there is not really another place in New England that has the snowmobile nightlife like Rangeley, Maine.”