The end of October brings Halloween and the end of harvest. The weather begins to turn, the landscape preparing for winter. For Kenmare, it also brings GooseFest, an annual hunting festival which coincides with the peak migration of snow geese.

Kenmare is in close proximity to three refuges, the Upper Souris Refuge, Lostwood Refuge, and Des Lacs National Wildlife Refuge, which it lies along. Each year, these three refuges welcome over 400,000 snow geese for several weeks during the fall migration.

Each fall, the Kenmare area becomes a true hunter’s paradise. Besides the snow geese, hunters will find Canada geese, mallard ducks, Hungarian partridge, sharptail grouse, and ringneck pheasant. Hunters can bag a limit of geese before setting their sights on upland game, flushing them during the fall afternoons. North Dakota has been known as the “duck factory of the United States” and this is especially true for Kenmare.

The GooseFest celebration includes hunting contests as well as special events and activities including, a goose shoot calcutta, free feeds at local taverns, a chili cook-off, events for the family, Ladies’ Night Out, and a Goose Hunter’s Hall of Fame induction. The week concludes with a banquet and awards. While GooseFest is famous in and of itself, the Goose Hunter’s Hall of Fame induction won widespread recognition when Minnesota Vikings’ coach, Bud Grant, a yearly participant in the festivities, was inducted in 1990.

The self-proclaimed “Goose Capital of North Dakota”, Kenmare and the GooseFest is a dream for hunters, near and far.