Annual Wakamow Valley Winterfest fun for whole family
It isn’t often you’ll find folks hoping for more snow, but when it comes to Winterfest, a bit more would be a little better.
The annual Wakamow Valley Winterfest celebration of the season takes place on Feb. 11 at the Kiwanis River Park Pavilion from 3:00 p.m., to 7:00 p.m. and will feature a whole host of events for kids and adults alike. “It’s a free family event to get everyone out and enjoy the valley in the middle of winter,” said Wakamow Valley events planner Trish German. “We have wagon rides, crafts, snowshoeing and ice skating. Rodger Ross, an aboriginal story-teller will be joining us again and telling tales around the fire circle. It’s just going to be a nice late afternoon-early evening in the park for the family.” The wild card with such an event is, naturally, the weather. We’re hoping for a happy medium…cold enough to keep things frozen but warm enough for families to enjoy some time in the great outdoors.
“It was really mild last year, it turned into more of a mudfest,” German said with a laugh. “We had pictures of the skating oval and the oval was pretty much non-existent. But this year we know we’ll have skating because it’s in really good condition... It’s really nice. It would be nice if we had a little more snow for the snowshoeing, but as long as it’s not 40 below I’ll be happy.”
The current forecast for that weekend is in the -10 C range, which German describes as “perfect”. Conditions like that would ideally bring out plenty of patrons.
“If it’s nice, I would love to see 300-400 people out,” German said. “We have lots of activities going, especially for adults – we have a Christmas tree toss with a prize donated by Temple Gardens, a dinner for four at Harwood’s, so hopefully we get some more adults out along with the kids.
The one current concern is the overall lack of snow in the area, with little remedy for that issue expected. Should the winter drought continue through that weekend, some events – like snowshoeing – will be replaced with other activities.
“I have a Plan B. So, if there’s not a lot of snow, skating will still be a go, we’ll have crafts and a scavenger hunt, and the Christmas tree toss will still be there... It’ll still be pretty fun out there, no matter what!” German said. The whole Winsterfest event is completely FREE of charge.