A pair of area festivals celebrating northern winters will take place in the coming weeks.
The Denare Beach Winter Festival and the Bust the Winter Blues festival will take place on back-to-back weekends later this month and in early March. Denare Beach’s annual fest will get underway first, running from Feb. 24-26.
The festival gets going Feb. 24 with the first events, all held around the Denareplex. Those include the traditional musher supper, kids events inside and the world turkey curling championships - where participants curl using a series of duct-tape-covered turkeys, complete with door handles added for extra grip - on the bunk behind the centre.
Saturday, Feb. 25’s events include the ice-fishing derby on Amisk Lake,along with family events at the Denareplex, a community bingo and crib tournament. Horsepower will be the main event Feb. 26, with the snowmobile drags taking place on the Beaver Lake Day grounds.
Coming one weekend later is Bust the Winter Blues, running from March 3-5 in Creighton and Flin Flon. This year’s attempt to bust the winter blues starts March 3 with a seniors’ event at the NorVA Centre and a trivia night organized by the Flin Flon Kinette Club at the R.H. Channing Auditorium. The next day will mainly feature events in Creighton, with most of the scheduled plans happening at the Creighton Sportex - a free skate with members of the Flin Flon Bombers at 1 p.m., free hot chocolate and hot dogs and a kids’ cupcake decorating clinic. The annual celebrity smooshing contest - a team skiing event where several entrants try to race one another together on large skis - will happen at 2 p.m., while snow painting, sliding, a bonfire and other events will take place at the Sportex’ parking lot.
Other events will happen on the Manitoba side of the border March 4, including a free toddler gym session at the R.H. Channing Auditorium from 10 a.m.-12 p.m. and the home business market at St. Ann’s Roman Catholic Church, starting at 10 a.m. The Whitney Forum will also play host to a free scrub session from 5 p.m.-8 p.m.
March 4 events will culminate with a fireworks display at the Oval of Dreams soccer and football field at 7 p.m., along with a Hawaii-themed family dance at the Creighton Community Centre.
On March 5, the festival will end with a trio of events - a snowmobile poker derby starting at the Sportex at 10 a.m., organized by the Border Explorers Snowmobile Club; a free snowshoe event at the T&D Amisk Camp near Denare Beach starting at 1 p.m.; and the return of the Flin Flon Ski Club’s Centaloppet event, the first time it has been held since 2020, opening with a mass start at 2 p.m.
Further information about this year’s Bust the Winter Blues can be found at the Creighton rec office or through the office’s social media channels.
