Bragg Creek's Winter in the Woods festival is back for its fourth year on Feb. 1, running from 11 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Bragg Creek Community Centre.
The festival is a yearly celebration that embraces the spirit of winter in all its glory.
The festival primarily focuses on fundraising for the hamlet’s beloved outdoor rink by featuring both on-ice and off-ice events for families.
“This year we are aiming to fundraise $15,000 to support a new project concept to add a Zamboni and upgrade our dressing room facilities,” said Terri-Lynn Duque, the interim president of Bragg Creek Community Association, which is hosting the event.
The highlight of this year’s festival will be U11 hockey game between the Bragg Creek Bears and Diamond Valley, followed by a skills competition and a game pitting kids against parents.
“The proceeds from the previous three Winter in the Woods festivals, along with grants from Rocky View County, allowed us to resurface this asphalt at the rink this past summer, leading to a smoother ice-making process and better year-round surface for non-ice activities like basketball and ball hockey,” Duque explained.
Duque said the outdoor rink is entirely crafted by volunteers. The volunteers not only built the rink, but continue to maintain it each winter season.
Currently the rink doesn’t have a Zamboni or ice chillers. “It is 100 [per cent] old-school authentic natural ice, “ Duque said, "which means it's subject to melting during those chinooks we all love.”
The community association is entirely volunteer run and with the rapid growth of Bragg Creek, new opportunities have opened up. The association is looking to fill two positions: marketing coordinator and rentals coordinator.
“These two positions are integral in terms of bringing in additional revenue to the centre, which is important to us to create more events that bring the community together,” Duque said.
For more about Winter in the Woods, visit the website.
