FAMILY FUN
Town’s annual Winterfest provides good time for everyone
CLIFTON PARK, N.Y. >> Residents from across southern Saratoga County enjoyed the town’s annual Winterfest, a mid-winter, activity- filled event that gives families a chance to kick off the cobwebs and get out of the house.
Winterfest is always a day filled with music, food, adventure, physical activity and food and this one was no different. If one were to try and take everything in it would end in exhaustion.
The day’s warmer activities were found inside Clifton Park Center near the mall’s Time Square area. On Saturday the musical entertainment started early with a selection of familiar tunes from the Clifton Park Community Chorus. They followed by the more hip musical numbers from contestants in the Clifton Park Idol Contest.
There are two age-specific categories for contestants in this competition, six years to 12 years and 13-years to 17 years.
The year’s first round found five female contestants vying to make it to round two as one of three semifinalists. All five showed no signs of nerves, hit their notes, and carried the melodies without a problem.
That made it difficult on the judges.
After a second set of tunes from the young singers, Ashlynn Boyce, 11, singing the musical number “Pulled” for the first round and “Sky Scraper”
for the second was chosen the winner. Coming in second and third were sisters Fiona Foulke, 10, and Bronwyn Foulke, 11, respectively.
All three know each other and have competed in the past. This was the second year in a row that Boyce has won the contest for her age group.
“I’m pretty comfortable on stage,” she said. “I had a few nerves this year because I won last year and I wanted to make sure I made it to the second round. I had a few friends that came this year who had never heard me sing and that made me a little nervous too.
“I want to come back next year and make it three in a row.”
The Foulke sisters come from a musical family that has its own band. With brother, Rhys, 13, and younger sisters Teagan, 8, and Maeve, 5, the family’s living room has become the band’s rehearsal room.
“Being around the house is awesome,” said family matriarch Colleen Foulke. “It’s great, a shared passion.”
Fiona Foulke said she finds competition helps her because she watches the other contestants and sees what they are doing.
“I like getting up in front of people,” she said. “I want to let people know I can sing.”
Bronwyn, who accompanied herself on guitar with her musical said she feels the same.
“I want to show people that I sing and play the guitar,” she said. “I’m a little more nervous than the others at the start but I find that I get over it pretty quick as I go deeper into the song. I like hearing what the judges have to say.
“Each year I take their advice, work on it, and come back and show them how I’ve improved.”
As the vocalists for the older category of singers were limbering up another of the day’s other activities was taking place across the road at the Southern Saratoga YMCA, the Shenendehowa Rotary’s Outhouse Races where six teams were lining up to compete for prizes.
In freezing cold and across a sheet of ice teams with names like, “The Punishers,” “The Red Neck Fishermen”, “Queen Fiona’s Royal Throne”, and “Poop Happens” challenged each other in two team heats until a winner was decided.
“It’s always great to see the folks in the community come out and support something like this,” said emcee Ray Anthony. “This is a fundraiser and it’s all about fun. The proceeds go to local projects that we support like dictionaries and the Ronald McDonald House as well as local Rotary efforts like water filtration projects and shelter boxes that are used during emergencies.
“We make every effort to see that the proceeds stay in the community.”
The last activity of the day’s events was the Taste of Clifton Park Soup Contest held in the ballroom of the Hilton Garden Inn. This contest is one where anyone walking in the door can sample as many of the 10 soups provided by local restaurants as they want, at no charge.
The contest has its own set of fans that turn out every year.
“This is our year,” said one of the staff of Ravenswood Pub as she ladled out the establishment’s sweet sausage and corn seafood chowder.
Some at the competition, like Jess McCarthy, were selective in their choices for which soup tasted the best.
“I’m looking for bacon, cream and filet mignon,” she said. Others were wide open. “This has a great taste to it,” said Anthony Furnai as he sampled the Ravenswood entry. “It’s not salty, there’s lots of seafood.”
When Furnai was asked how he chose a winner he admitted it was difficult with so many tasty soups. Howard Loenicker agreed.
“I’m partial to seafood,” he said when questioned on his selection method. “But I like corn chowder too.”
Loenicker’s wife Carol put the soup competition in perspective.
“This is great,” she said. “All the different kinds of soup does make it difficult but it makes you want to go to the restaurant and try other things, get a meal.”