Winter Spirit alive and well
Carnival catches a break from mild weather
The Tyne Valley Winter Festival was in full swing over the weekend with numerous events, contests and activities taking place. A select few were named the winners of the snow sculpture contest.
Mother Nature helped the Tyne Valley Winter Carnival survive a meltdown, with an eleventh hour burst of cold weather and a bit of snow layered on top.
“We were worried early in the week before the carnival,” admitted sculpture contest organizer Ashley Bishop. But the timing of the change in conditions turned out to be perfect with a temperature drop and several centimeters of snow enhancing the activities.
“We had a moonlit snowshoe event Saturday evening that we had to delay for half an hour to re-groom the trail.”
But the event was all the better for it, she noted.
The extra layer of snow was also a bonus for Saturday’s snowmobile run and the Sunday afternoon horse-and-sleigh rides.
The change of conditions encouraged a lot of last-minute activity, especially among the 26 contestants entered into the community snow sculpture contest who wanted to refresh colour and form before judges passed by.
“The sculptures were above and beyond expectations,” Bishop assessed. Attendance reflected the heightened spirits a mid-winter carnival is designed to inspire.