Eel Pout Festival, Walker, MN 2010

Now in its 31st year, Eelpout is the fishing festival where almost nobody fishes. Let's face it, this is Mardi Gras on ice and each year 10,000 people visit the temporary town on Leech Lake to party. Main Street, a mile-long path on the lake, is lined with party houses populated with drinking teams. Snowmobiles and four-wheelers towing couches and picknic tables cruise the street to form a haphazard parade. On the last day of the festival, pouters pack up camp with dreams of doing it all over again the next year.

International Eelpout Festival 2010, Walker MN

Started in 1979 as away to lure tourist to Walker Mn in the winter, resident Ken Bresley caught an eelpout while ice fishing with some friends. “It was so ugly, no one wanted to touch them,” he said. This inspired him to create the International Eelpout Festival. Today it has become the Mardi Gras of the northland. Here are few more photos to give you a hint of what we experienced.

Polar Plunge at Eelpout Festival 2010, Walker MN - Part 2

Polar Plunge at Eelpout Festival, Walker MN

Here is a teaser!