The Haines Dolphins swim team will host its annual Winter Games Jan. 21-23.

Racing is scheduled to start 6 p.m. Friday and 9:30 a.m. Saturday and Sunday at the Haines swimming pool.

"Whitehorse and Juneau will come, and sometimes Petersburg or Sitka," said head coach Steve Vick. "It all depends on the ferry. Last year I think we had around 120 swimmers come to town. We usually expect 100 or so."

Dozens of volunteers will help run the events.

"With 100 kids coming, we usually have more volunteers than swimmers, by the end of the weekend," Vick said.

Those volunteers handle responsibilities such as officiating, timing and organizing awards, concessions and a team store.

"We just had an officials’ training, and half the people who trained don’t even have kids on the team," Vick said. "They volunteer just to help out the kids in town. Not their own kids, but the kids that they see every day."

To volunteer at the Winter Games, contact K.C. O’Connor at 766-2142.

Vick expects about 30 Dolphins to participate in the meet. "What I like best is we get a higher turnout of our own swimmers. Our younger kids can experience a bigger meet without leaving town."

Vick noted the Haines competition also has been big for local businesses the last several years.

"A town our size, you get 100 people from out of town, and you just filled our town," he said. "It’s a very busy weekend. If you go to the swim meet, you’ll see that we actually put menus up from all the places that people can eat. We get to show off Haines in the middle of winter, which is a great time of year for us."