The upcoming Rossland Winter Carnival is going to be snow much fun this year.
The Winter Carnival line up of events, vendors, and venues, in conjunction with the Blizzard Music Festival, is running January 24-26 and promises to be an over the top entertaining and enjoyable weekend.
"It's exciting," said Winter Carnival chair Lisa Kwiatkowski. "We obviously have a great snow-year so that's going to make a world of difference, particularly for the bobsled.
"But yea, we're ramping up here!"
The Winter Carnival boasts a variety of enormously amazing events including the Sonny Samuelson Bobsled Race, the Red Mountain Rail Jam, the Carnival Parade, a Learn to Luge program and race, snow volleyball, a curling 'Funspiel' and a Rossland Warriors hockey game to name a few.
In January 2024, Carnival goers were thrilled that after a five-year absence the Carnival board was able to secure insurance for the bobsled race, only to have the race reduced to a smaller event due to rain and unseasonably warm conditions.
"We are always at the mercy of mother nature, but right now it looks like it's shaping up and as long as the temperature stays cold, we have plenty (of snow) to move over right now for a full course," said Kwiatkowski. "Last year, it was on and then it was off, and then it was on again."
Don't miss out on the Carnival's many delightful and delicious vendors and venues during the weekend.
Kwiatkowski highly recommends the Winter Carnival Variety Show with the Boomtown Garter Girls on Thursday night at Rossland Secondary School (RSS).
The Firefighters Pancake Breakfast Saturday morning is always a hit, as are street vendors like the Eagles BBQ Booth, the Lions Club's sizzling sausages, and the Olaus Ice Palace, a very cool place to enjoy a beverage and live music.
The Rossland Museum will also have a bundle of activities for youngsters and older patrons at its Winter Carnival.
The museum will be open by donation all weekend with maple taffy, crafts for all ages, a campfire, its hair-raising toboggan hill, the ever-popular snow maze, and the not-to-be-missed Snowperson-building contest.
The event chair has been impressed with the annual volunteers who step up every year, as well as their ability to secure over 100 volunteers for all the venues.
"I've only been in town for about four or five years now, having worked Olympics before and to know the level of planning that goes into the Olympic Games, Winter's very much like it, everyone just shows up and does their job," said Kwiatkowski.
A couple of uncertainties have also almost taken care of themselves, she says.
"Two major factors, weather and insurance, have been unstable the last few years, so locking in the insurance policy last year, and that being confirmed again this year, helped me sleep at night; and certainly the weather has always been the biggest variable but we've pretty lucky this year with the amount of snow . . ."
Throughout the weekend, the Blizzard Music Festival will be singing and strumming alongside the Winter Carnival, so check out the venues and the bands, and go online to book your tickets at blizzardmusicfest.ca.
The Rossland Winter Carnival goes from Jan. 24-26. A schedule will be released online in the coming days, so check out rosslandwintercarnival.com for more information.
