‘Mother’s morning’

Congregation Beth Shalom temple hosts snow day ahead of Mother’s Day

Dozens of moms and their preschool-age kids were treated to a snow day in the desert at the Congregation Beth Shalom temple on Friday.

As workers set up the snow-spewing contraption, the children were eagerly waiting. As soon as it started to produce snow, a roar of excitement was let out by the children.

The process took some time, especially when the hose needed to be cleared. But even as the small field where the snow was being laid was only partially covered, the kids, many of whom had never seen snow before, could not hold back their excitement and would periodically slip away from their parents to go and touch it.

Mandy Hatfield, whose son has never seen snow, said it was

wonderful to see everyone back and that her little one was very excited for the day.

“It’s great to see all the kids together,” said Hatfield.” “He’s been really excited about this for, like, days. He’s been like, ‘Mommy, you’re coming to school and they’re gonna do snow day.’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah!’”

Every Friday before Mother’s Day is “mother’s morning” at the temple, but this year was different. The last two years the temple was only able to have virtual or socially distanced events. But now kids were free to play in the snow, next to one another and maskless.

“So we do snow day every year [and] we raise money specifically for today,” said Carol Bloom, preschool director of Congregation Beth Shalom. “We usually raise it on our dad’s day when we’re here we have a trike-a-thon, [and] all the funds go directly to snow.”

So how do you make it snow in Santa Clarita?

According to Ricardo Moreno, distribution manager for Arctic Glacier Premium Ice, it takes a lot of ice, a refrigerated semi-truck, and a snowmaker.

“We load in a 300-pound block and it crushes it, kind of like a tree trimmer, on the side of the machine,” said Moreno. “It’s connected with piping and a hose and then we just pretty much point it to wherever we want to spray the stuff.”

Whatever it took to make it snow in May, it mattered not to the kids playing in it.

Dan Watson/The Signal Mother and son, Jillian and Evan, 5, have a snowball fight with other moms and kindergarteners during the Snow Day for Moms at Congregation Beth Shalom in Santa Clarita on Friday.

Dan Watson/The Signal Mothers and their kindergarteners play in 18 tons of snow during the Snow Day for Moms at Congregation Beth Shalom in Santa Clarita.

Dan Watson/The Signal (Top left) Beto Nava from Arctic Glacier sprays some of the 18 tons of snow. (Top right) Miriam and daughter Maggie, 5, prepare to play in the snow. (Bottom left) Kindergarteners, Sasha, 4, left, and Rebel, 3, look on wearing their snow hats and gloves. (Bottom right) Kindergarteners cheer as they watch the 18 tons of snow being sprayed on the grass.