While most of us are doing our best to stick out the dark days of late winter, Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce Administrative Assistant Joanne Collins will be sunning herself in Mazatlan, Mexico, in the company of her grandson, celebrating his high school graduation.

But she’s not leaving until she helps out with the very first event of the 2007 Anchor Point Snow Rondi: the auction, at 7 p.m. this evening.

“There are neat donations from individuals and from Anchor Point and Homer businesses,” Collins said.

This will be the first Snow Rondi she’s missed since 1990, but she says she had no choice. When it comes to her grandchildren, she has to do as her daughter says.

While Collins goes home to pack, most Anchor Pointers will be boning up on their pool skills and practicing their poker faces for some of the biggest events of the festival. Friday night, the Anchor River Inn will hold a bingo tournament, the Ken Wardwell Pool Tournament and the first ever Snow Rondi Texas Hold ’Em Tournament.

Kathy McMurray says Texas Hold ’Em has become a popular weekly event at the Anchor River Inn, drawing from half a dozen to 15 regular participants, one of whom is her husband.

There is no fee to participate in Friday’s tournament, and there are lots of prizes to be won, so participants can expect lots of competition.

The activities shift into high gear on Saturday, starting with a pancake breakfast in the Chapman School gym and continuing with a craft and bake sale, ski and snowshoe biathlons, a coin hunt and a parade, among others. In one event, participants strap on snowshoes and pull on baseball gloves for the annual snowshoe softball game.

“If you make it to first base without falling, you’re doing really good,” Collins said.

Another competition that might leave you lying on your back in the snow is the team ski. Collins described the “skis” used in the contest as boards with holes drilled through them and a rope attached to hold on to. Each team of three to six skiers gets two boards, and members place one foot on each board. Then they try to coordinate their movements to slide forward.

“Whoever can move the skis the furthest distance wins,” Collins said.

For those who would rather remain upright, Mike Lettis of Timberline Creations is heading up a youth and adult archery competition. Adults can enter the turkey shoot to win the first place turkey, the second place chicken or the third place game hen. Youth archers can win arrowheads.

After a long day of playing in the snow, the Veterans of Foreign Wars will help Rondi-goers warm up and replenish their energy with a barbecue at the VFW hall. In keeping with this year’s Snow Rondi title, “Look to the Heavens in 2007,” the Anchor River Inn will hold a “Starry, Starry Nights” dance to close Saturday’s festivities.

Outdoor events continue on Sunday, but Collins says the most popular event is the dog show, which takes place in the Chapman School gym and which Collins estimates has drawn up to 100 people in the past. Dogs compete in categories like Best Tricks, Smallest Dog and Dog That Looks Most Like Its Master.

“One year, the troopers brought their dog dressed in a trooper uniform. It’s fun. And all that money is donated to the Homer Animal (Friends),” Collins said.

The final event of the festival is Sunday evening’s awards ceremony. Exceptional members of the community, nominated by their friends and neighbors and selected by an Anchor Point Chamber of Commerce committee, will be honored.

Collins says they’ve already been chosen. By the time they’re announced she may already have acquired a Mazatlan tan, but she’s still not saying who they are.

“It’s a surprise that night,” she said.