Celebrating Winter in Wakamow at Winterfest
The weather might have been almost the exact opposite compared to the previous year, but that did little to dampen the enthusiasm surrounding Wakamow Valley’s annual Winterfest on Feb. 11 at the Kiwanis River Park Pavilion.
The free family event featured wagon rides, skating, crafts and a host of winter activities throughout the late afternoon and early evening, offering a full slate of fun for everyone involved.
The only drawback was the bitter cold – temperatures were in the -20 C ranges with a -31 C windchill at the beginning of the event that only got colder as the night went on.
“The weather definitely had an impact, we were hoping that it would be -10, -12 degrees, which was the official forecast in the early part of the week,” said Wakamow Valley events planner Trish German. “We still had around 250 people show up, so it was still a good time and we thank everyone who came out despite how cold it was.” While it wasn’t quite as busy as past years, the park was packed with patrons from start to finish; folks were still able to enjoy the events, some of which were educational like building a birdfeeder to hang in the park. “It’s It s part of our Junio Junior Naturalist program than we run, getting the younger kids i involved and letting them know that there is wildlife out there t that have to survive somehow du during the winter,” German said. ““So, it was a matter of making s some birdfeeders with minimal w waste to give the kids a bit of an education, as well.” This year’s Winterfest also included a special event for ad adults – a tree-toss with a dinner for four at Temple Gardens’ Harwoods on the line. P Plans are already in motion for n next year’s winter celebration. “T “This is an annual event, so we p pretty much go minus-40 or p plus-40 in February, whatever w we get,” German said. “This is S Saskatchewan and you can’t pred predict the weather, so we make it as f fun as we can no matter what.”