Maine Honors Their 'Finest Athlete' With Look-a-Like Contest

If you bundled all the quirk and charm of Maine into a single person, you’d get Donny Pelletier , a Moxie-swilling skier known for crushing moguls, rocking flannels, and spouting off endlessly quotable one-liners.

Pelletier, who now has a legion of fans on social media, is synonymous with his home hill, Sunday River, Maine, which, this weekend, is throwing an event that honors the state’s finest athlete (that’s Pelletier, by the way).

On Saturday, September 28th, Sunday River is hosting a Donny Pelletier look-a-like contest judged by the man himself. The three judging criteria are creativity (how uniquely you capture the essence of Donny), likeness (how closely your look matches the classic image of Donny), and vibes (how well you embody the spirit of Donny in both appearance and attitude).

Given the simplicity of Pelletier’s look—flannel, jeans, speed shades—I imagine that last criteria will carry a lot of weight. You could probably pick up something close to his wardrobe at a thrift store for less than $50, but his demeanor? That’s priceless.

We shot Pelletier an email to learn a bit more about what competitors can expect at the contest. "I'm lookin forward to judgin what they're callin the Donny P Lookalike Contest. really what it is is a shahpest dressah contest though," he wrote. "Everyone kno's that buffalo plaid's reserved 4 folks in high fashion, so this's all about who's the spiffiest dressah. there ain't no-one bettah to make that judgmint then me."

Couldn't have said it better myself.

The look-a-like contest is part of a larger, weekend-long Sunday River happening called Flannel Fest, which, you guessed it, is dedicated to the essence of one of the Northeast’s favorite clothing items. Other events include demonstrations from New England's finest ax-women, a skillet toss (yes, that’s exactly what it sounds like), craft beer tastings, and live music. The Flannel Fest lasts until Sunday.

Flannel Fest arrives as the idea of winter—that old thing—starts to get a little more real. The autumnal equinox is officially behind us, so ski resorts like Sunday River are presumably thinking about what’s next.

Last season, the Maine ski resort fired up the lifts on November 14th, which, all things considered, isn’t that long from now. Sunday River hasn't shared an opening date for this season, but it’ll probably land in a similar window as last year.

New for Sunday River in 2023 was the Barker 6, a swanky Doppelmayr D-Line chairlift that transports skiers to the top of Barker Mountain. The ski resort emblazoned several of Barker 6’s lifts with quotes from prominent thinkers like Plato and Pythagoras. Their ranks included Pelletier . “Point em' downhill, bub," Pelletier’s quote read. It makes you think, doesn’t it?

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