The second annual Winterfest took place on Sunday Dec. 8 and in spite of no snow approximately 150 people attended for a fun-filled day of family orientated activities in downtown Barriere. The day’s events were sponsored by the District of Barriere’s Recreation Committee in partnership with the Barriere Volunteer Fire Department.
Many participated in the street hockey tournament with six teams taking part and the defending champions, B-Town Burning Pigeons were crowned champs again for the second year.
The District of Barriere recreation committee coordinator, Louise Lodge said the recreation committee was "very pleased" with the attendance, even though it did not snow.
"The community came out and looked like they had a great time," Lodge said. "The hayrides and carolling were full each time they went out, the Senior's Centre was jam-packed with families doing crafts and the hockey games were entertaining. This day would not have been possible without the help of all the volunteers. We had great volunteers helping with crafts, refereeing games, and working in the senior’s cafeteria, and assisting in the set up and clean up. We want to thank everyone, especially our volunteer firefighters, as they had been out on a call earlier but still helped to the very end."
The fun-filled day offered ongoing hayrides and carolling hosted by the Christian Life Church through town, gingerbread house making, crafts, face painting, candy cane and book hunts, a scavenger hunt, curling, outdoor club info, hot cocoa served by the Barriere Search and Rescue, Barriere Secondary Sr. Boys Basketball tree sales, and Santa and the fire department ended the day with the traditional Tree Light-Up.
When Santa was asked what he thought of the day’s events, he answered true to form with a jolly, “Ho-Ho-Ho it will be a Merry Christmas for all!”
Lodge added, “We want to sincerely thank the businesses that participated with sales and specials, our community partners; AG Foods, IDA, Timber Mart, and Teniye Market. And a special thank you to our sponsors from Tolko and Taseko. The snowman building contest will be something to look forward to in the New Year and is postponed until January when there is snow to create the best snow people Barriere has ever seen!”
