Mississauga is celebrating its 50th birthday in 2024 and is launching its anniversary festivities with an epic New Year’s Eve Party at Celebration Square!

30,000 people are expected to attend the NYE event, which will include live music featuring Mississauga’s very own, Shawn Desman, a midnight fireworks display, and two thrilling freestyle snowmobile shows.

Chris Coosemans has assembled a team featuring some of the top freestyle snowmobilers in the world to present an awe-inspiring display of stunts and tricks with athletes reaching heights of up to forty feet in the air.

Shows are scheduled for 8:30 p.m. for the youngsters, and a second show at 10:30 p.m. to heat things up before the clock strikes midnight. Also, keep an eye out for the Barbegazi Yeti, that mythical creature that keeps us stoked and having fun when the temperatures dip below freezing!

The Snowmobile Show 101 with BARBEGAZI: Five Things You Should Know

Freestyle snowmobiling is one of those ‘how do they possibly do that?’ sports. Barbegazi sat down with Chris Coosemans to get an insider’s perspective on freestyle snowmobiling’s combination of physics, athleticism, and mental focus – and what to expect from the NYE snowmobile shows.

1. The snowmobiles, largely manufactured by Ski Doo and the same machines used in racing events are customized by the riders.  They have extra wheels in the tracks, extra radiators and mechanics.  This is a DIY sport. Athletes build their own ramps, there’s no textbook to follow on what they are doing, and Chris is currently working on innovations in the sport, new ramps and new tricks (top secret!).
2. In terms of trick difficulty, it’s not one size fits all.  A lot of factors come into play, different tricks are more challenging for different riders; seat grabs, for example, are more challenging for riders – like Chris – who are taller in stature; the backflip is in a sense the easiest trick to execute because it’s one hundred percent mental commitment. “You just have to go for it!”
3. Safety is a top of mind.  As thrilling as this is to watch, the athletes still want to go home at the end of the day.  In fact, they travel with a huge air bag that can be inflated in various locations, the middle of a field, or the middle of the street, and rolled up and carted away at the end of the show.
4. Some freestyle snowmobilers have sponsorship but this is largely a labor of love. Most athletes at the top of the game are blue collar workers with full time jobs outside the sport.
5. Freestyle snowmobiling is year round; Coosemans has sixteen shows already booked so far in 2024.

The Line Up!

Chris Coosemans Insta: @chriscoosemans

Hometown: Cold Lake, Alberta; currently Brighton, Ontario

Coosemans started snowmobiling when he was about 4 or 5 years of age on his family’s property in Alberta and it’s been a passion of his ever since. After seeing Brett Turcotte perform a freestyle show in his hometown of Cold Lake, Alberta, Coosemans started figuring out freestyle on his own, building his first ramp when he was fourteen and going to foam pits for backflip training. Now based in Brighton, Ontario, he runs a construction company full-time while balancing a freestyle touring schedule, and coordinating other freestyle riders for showcase events across Canada and the United States.

“I was running before I was walking. I would jump into learning new tricks, but consistency was difficult in the beginning, but that   consistency has built slowly over time and I’m at the point where I can ride every couple days, and year round, to keep that muscle memory fresh.”

“I’ve been riding professionally for about three, four years. At twenty-five I’m a youngster in this sport. The guys that started out in the early 2000s   in their twenties are in their forties and still riding at the same level. In that sense freestyle snowmobiling is a relatively young, single generation sport.”

 

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Daniel Shaffer Insta:  @shifshaf

Hometown: Based in Winnipeg, Manitoba; born and raised in Dryden, Ontario

Daniel Shaffer competes and showcases his talents in both motocross and freestyle snowmobiling events. The sometimes journeyman truck and diesel mechanic was introduced to snowmobiling at a young age by his dad before fully immersing himself in the sport, and is a sponsored rider for @fxrracing, @rsiracing, and @rmcco._

 

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David England Insta: @dave_england_

Hometown: Yellowknife, Northwest Territories

Freestyle and mountain snowmobile rider and Winter X Games athlete David England is based out of Yellowknife, Northwest Territories  where he works as bush pilot for a diamond mine, and does freestyle “on the side.”

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Daniel Bodin Insta: @mxbodeen

Hometown: Malung, Sweden

Originally a snowboarder and dirt biker, Sweden’s Daniel Bodin figured out at an early age that he could execute dirt bike tricks on a snowmobile. The x5 XGames medalist is the first, (and only), freestyle snowmobiler to land a double backflip. He travels the globe, thrilling audiences with his death-defying maneuvers.

 

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Marcus Ohlsson Insta: @marcusohlssson

Hometown: Sveg, Sweden

A winter XGames athlete in 2020, Coosemans commented that Marcus is “currently one of the best freestyle riders in the world. He goes big, and can execute every trick perfectly on a snowmobile.”

Don’t miss out on witnessing real life superheroes in action, using snow machines as flying machines in an urban setting, while live music fills the streets, and fireworks light up the skies. Dress cozy, and bring your stoke. See you at Celebration Square on NYE …   .

Happy New Year!