The festival celebrates a wide variety of skills and activities that were, and in many cases still are, a matter of survival for life in Northern Canada, including ice fishing, muskrat skinning, tea boiling, bannock baking, and chain saw events.
Nine teams entered The Pas Dog Derby that first year to compete for the grand prize of $1,000.
When the Trappers Festival was revived in 1948 until 1976, the dog race was run in three daily laps of 50 miles each.
Mushers who achieve the lowest combined time score in each category over the three-day race are declared the winners.
The World Championship Dog Race is affiliated with the International Federation of Sleddog Sports.