Matt Pryde was perhaps even more excited than the average Sackvillian when Zone 1 returned to the orange phase back on February 9th, because it meant his planning would not go to waste.
Hear Matt Pryde on Tantramar Report here:
Winterfest under the red phase would have been a radically different, and strictly virtual, affair, with no in-person activities able to go ahead.
“We were pretty excited when we saw the switch over,” says Pryde. “We weren’t too sure what we were going to do… We had some virtual plans, but it’s definitely nice to be able to do some stuff in person.”
Planning for Winterfest events started back when Zone 1 was still in the yellow phase of recovery, but Pryde says all planning was focussed on meeting orange phase guidelines. “We didn’t want to get into a situation where we were going to need to cancel another event,” says Pryde, who has had his fair share of cancellations and postponements since the pandemic began.
The festival starts out slowly on Thursday with a lunchtime skate at the Civic Centre, and on Friday with more a moonlight snowshoe in Beech Hill Park.
“Most of the highlights take place over the weekend,” says Pryde.
Saturday starts with a guided birding walk through the Waterfowl Park, a guided cross-country ski with the Tantramar Outdoor Club, and Winterfest at the farmer’s market, where there’s an after market feast on offer. Then there’s a family day event at Beech Hill Park, says Pryde, “where we have five different stations set up and we’ll be rotating through the stations to keep people socially distanced.”
CHMA DJs will be playing music to skate along with at the Civic Centre on Saturday night.
On Sunday there’s a winter scavenger hunt, a family skate, and snowshoeing at the Church by the Lake.
The weekend also features ice sculpture creations, a story walk through Bill Johnstone Park courtesy of the Sackville Public Library, and a virtual cross country ski race at the Crooked Tree trail off Walker Road.
You can find the full schedule of events at this link (PDF).
Many events require pre-registration, in order to make sure COVID restrictions are followed. “That’s basically just to make sure that we’re not going above the required the requirements for gathering,” says Pryde. But if a program looks full, it’s worth getting on the waiting list anyway. Most programs were planned back when outdoor gatherings had to max out at 25 people, but orange restrictions have since been modified to allow for up to 50 people in a gathering, with social distancing in place.
“We’re going to take a look at the waitlist and see if we can open up to more people once we once registration closes,” says Pryde.
Registration happens at this link, and closes Wednesday night, February 17, 2021.