snowmobiling

The annual Moncton PolarFest event will feature something new and exciting.

It’s called Barbegazi, and it brings snowmobile acrobatics to Moncton’s Main St., where you can watch talented athletes soar through the sky.

Related: Moncton’s PolarFest to begin Family Day long weekend

Chris Coosemans, a spokesperson and rider for Barbegazi, initially planned on doing tricks in front of the crowd this weekend.

Coosemans was one of the riders performing in Ottawa’s Winterlude earlier in the year when he had a mishap during a run.

“We ended up finding three riders who were available or not hurt, including myself. Then, unfortunately, in Ottawa, I actually ended up having a crash, so I will be out this weekend as well,” said Coosemans.

“I fractured my ankle and have some damage to my back and wrist. I’ve got some other things popping up as days go on, but I’m surviving. It could have been a lot worse.”

Coosemans also brings the equipment for Barbegazi shows and organizes the riders that will be performing.

The event will bring his fellow riders, Rasmus Johansson and Daniel Shaffer, to New Brunswick.

Coosemans and Shaffer both reside in Ontario and recently made their rookie appearances in the 2026 Aspen Colorado X-Games.

Johansson is from Sweden. For him, Aspen was his fifth X-Games appearance.

“Rasmus, I mean, his tricks are going to speak for themselves. He can do some of the biggest tricks in the world that he will be doing in Moncton. For example, like doing a backflip into hanging upside down off of the snowmobile,” said Coosemans.

The Swedish rider placed 5th in the X-Games snowmobile speed and style event, just behind Coosemans in 4th and ahead of Shaffer, who placed 7th.

“Dan, he does a lot of very good upright tricks. He used to do backflips, and then he had a couple injuries that started to scare him, so he started focusing on (upright tricks).”

Coosemans got into snowmobiling young and built his first ramp at 13 years old.

“I have just been practicing and getting better ever since, and I am at a point where I can call this my part-time job,” he said.

A standard jump from the ramp to the inflatable landing for these athletes is 70 feet. Coosemans says the equipment they use kept him safe during his crash.

“Lots of people see the inflatable landings that we use and think it’s almost a dumbed-down or safety version of what we should be landing on, but in reality, it does add quite a bit of safety. If we did not ride to those in Ottawa, I would not be in very good shape right now,” said Coosemans. “Those landings make it pretty easy for us to set up, tear down, and crash as bad as I did and walk away from it.”

Coosemans is hoping for clearer skies this weekend after having to cancel their Friday night performance in Ottawa due to snowfall.

“Lots of people say, ‘How do snowmobiles and snow not mix?’ but setting up on the street, we have our snowmobiles set up specifically to not ride on snow. As soon as we get snow and freezing temperatures, it starts to freeze the equipment that we use to give us traction. It makes our entire setup unpredictable and unsafe.”

“It seems like an oxymoron, but we do set up everything specifically to ride on pavement,” he explained.

Coosemans, Johansson, and Shaffer are prepared to put on a show this weekend, with performance times at 6 p.m. and 8 p.m. on Feb. 13 and 14.

There will be meet and greets hosted at The Pit Stop/The Bunker at 9:30 p.m. both nights.

For more information, refer to the PolarFest event page.