Northport Winter Carnival on Saturday to include games on ice, outhouse race.

The fourth annual Northport Winter Carnival Saturday will feature chili, brooms, curls, cardboard racers – and even outhouses.

The carnival will take place at the Braman Hill Recreational Area off Third Street, just west of the Village of Northport. Events will run from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. In addition to broomball, milk jug curling, cardboard sled and outhouse races, there will be a chili cook-off and snowmobile poker run.

The carnival is being organized and sponsored by the Northport-Omena Chamber of Commerce. It will include a visit from the Boom Box of radio station WKLT, which will be located at the bottom of Braman Hill from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

“This is really exciting. We’ve got four official entries for the outhouse race, and some other people were talking about getting something together before the week is out,” said Jan Morgan, who is carnival chair. To generate some additional excitement, Morgan, Joni Scott and Jeannette Egler built an ice and snow sculpture depicting Marilyn Monroe on Waukazoo Street, just south of the Treasure Chest restaurant and gift shop.

“We started building Marilyn on Friday. The snow wasn’t packing real well so we mixed water and snow in buckets and now we have a real solid Marilyn. I don’t think a Mack truck could knock her over,” Morgan said.

The snowmobile poker run, which was canceled at last year’s carnival due to a lack of snow, returns this year. Registration should be completed by 11:30 a.m. Saturday. Participants will follow a map to different stops around Leelanau Township and receive a card in an envelope at each stop. Morgan said contestants need to be back at Braman Hill by 3 p.m. The winner will be the entry that has the best poker hand.

Those entering the chili cook-off should start setting up at the warming hut at 11:30 a.m. Participants should bring a minimum of five gallons of chili, a pot to serve it in, and a gas cooker to keep the chili warm. Chamber vice-president Lisa Drummond is in charge of the contest this year. For more information or an entry form, call Drummond at 386-7444. The cook-off tasting starts at noon.

Also starting at noon are the broomball tournament and milk jug curling. Both contest will be held on the ice rink at Braman Hill. In addition, chamber president Sally Coohon said children’s games will include a snowman building contest; a “ice pond” fishing game (although it’s not really in an ice pond); a snowball on a spoon race; and a Frisbee throw. A snowshoe hike will also be offered with a limited number of snowshoes available for those who want to participate.

“We’ll have free hotdogs and hot chocolate. It’s going to be a fun day,” Coohon said.

For more information about the carnival, visit the chamber’s website at www.leelanautownshipchamber.com, or call Morgan at 386-5170.