With a few past events returning, excitement is building around this weekend’s Denare Beach Winter Festival.
Village recreation director Laurie Stomp is pleased to report the return of snowmobile racing after about six years.
The Snow Drags will be held off the Main Beach on Amisk Lake with different heats for different engine sizes.
Tomorrow’s event is open to both adult and youth, though some restrictions may apply.
“There has been a discussion to get them back for quite some time,” said Stomp.
Through a recreation board connection, Stomp was able to bring the Snow Drags in from southern Saskatchewan with an organizer.
Another event coming back to the festival will be Sunday’s trapper events demonstration and competition.
Clinton Merasty will perform a demonstration of tea boiling, fire starting, jigging, nail pounding, trap setting and snowshoe racing before adults are able to compete against each other.
Stomp is unsure how long it has been since the festival had those events, but it has been quite some time.
“It’s nice to get some of these traditional events back,” she said.
Also returning to this year’s festival will be Freezie Mountain, where children will dig to uncover copious amounts of frozen treats in snow hills.
Stomp says there is no limit per person, but she says in the past the children have always been good about sharing with those younger than themselves.
Horse-drawn sleigh rides are a popular winter activity regardless the age.
Tomorrow and Sunday’s sleigh rides will begin at the Denareplex and make a loop around the community before returning to the starting point.
Temperatures are forecast to be favourable this weekend, with Stomp seeing little risk of cancellation because of the weather.
The majority of the outdoor events for the festival are held near the Denareplex, giving participants a chance to warm up inside.
Festivalgoers will have to travel further for events like the Snow Drags and the family fishing derby.
Anglers are to register for the derby at Angell’s Marina tomorrow morning.
Live music by local musicians will close out tonight’s celebrations, as local band The Usual Suspects will wrap up tomorrow night.
It will be a busy weekend in Denare Beach with events and activities getting underway today at 5pm. Tonight’s festivities will wind down at midnight following live music from local musicians.
Tomorrow’s pancake breakfast will kick-start the day bright and early at 8:30 am with plenty planned until 4:30 pm. A quick supper break will allow the Denareplex to be set up for The Usual Suspects to perform tomorrow night from 8 pm until 2 am.
Sunday’s events have a later start with a breakfast at 10 am. The festival will officially end at 4:30 pm.
