Winter Carnival encourages community to get outside

Finding the motivation to get outdoors during cold, dreary February days can sometimes prove to be difficult, but Centre Region Parks and Recreation organized the inaugural Winter Carnival at Blue Spring Park Saturday to bring some fun to the community.

Activities such as ice skating, broomball, scavenger hunts, creating natural bird feeders, geocaching and more were available to attendees. If skaters got chilly on the ice, CRPR had plenty of hot chocolate and s’mores to warm them up.

“I think we always look for exposure and ways to connect with the community,” said Beth Lee, CRPR’s recreation supervisor. “For us, it’s good to try something new and get some feedback from the community.”

Donations were also being accepted on behalf of the Centre County Women’s Resource Center. Visitors were invited to clip hats, gloves and scarves to the “Winter Warmth Tree” before they were donated to the center.

An impromptu soccer game broke out between Brian Ladrido and his son and daughter. Ladrido said he and his family had been to the ice rink before, but were looking forward to the additional events that were added.

“We probably had a little bit of cabin fever. We wanted to get outside and see what this is all about,” Ladrido said. “I thought my kids would last about five minutes, but they’re doing all right out here for 25 degrees.”

While family-friendly, the event was not targeted toward just children or families. Ken Hull and Claire Lorts, of Boalsburg, said they were excited to participate in a community event despite not having any children of their own.

Lee said she was happy with the number of people who took part in the carnival, but she is already looking forward to preparing for next year’s event.

“I’m hoping that it continues, and we’re always up for feedback from community members as to what else they would like to see,” Lee said. “We’d love to continue this in the future. We have bigger and better ideas of things that we can keep adding.”

This story was originally published February 3, 2018 at 6:44 PM with the headline "Winter Carnival encourages community to get outside."