These are the events that make you
hope the weather stay wintry. How else do you set a world record for snow
angels or carve ice sculptures? And chili tastes so much better when it’s cold
out, doesn’t it? We have two local winter festivals, and several more are
within a drive. Let’s celebrate winter.
Mendon Ponds Winterfest
January 23, Mendon Ponds Park
The Friends of Mendon Ponds Park are
nice people — they want everyone to be able to enjoy winter and the outdoors.
That’s why their Mendon Ponds Winterfest is and always has been free.
And admission would be worth so much
more. While winter camping, birding, face painting, and demonstrations by
Monroe County K-9 and mounted patrol units are going on at the Nature Center,
ski and snowshoe orienteering groups will be heading out from Cavalry Lodge,
and ski demonstrations, lessons, and races will be taking place at Stewart
Lodge. There will also be curling, ice boating, and ice fishing demonstrations
on Hundred Acre Pond; storytelling and more kids’ activities at the West Lodge;
and star and planet gazing, tubing, and ZooMobile at the East Lodge. A new
event this year is a demonstration by Finger Lakes Community College’s Lumber
Jack and Jill team.
For
more information on Mendon Ponds Winterfest, visit
www.mendonpondswinterfest.org or call 256-4950.
Lakeside Winter Celebration
February 6, Ontario Beach Park,
Charlotte
Every year the city stages an
afternoon party at Ontario Beach Park. The two keystone events of the festival
are the annual Chilly Chili Challenge, a cook-off that’ll give festival-goers a
nice warm fire in their bellies, and the Polar Plunge, a chilly dip in the Lake
that benefits the New York Special Olympics. And you might want to try those
activities in the opposite order.
There is also a snow sculpture
contest (open to anyone) and an ice-sculpture contest (for professionals only,
which is probably for the best). There will be games for kids, horse-drawn
sleigh rides, dogsled demonstrations, and a sailboat race. This is a concentrated
festival, only an afternoon long. But there will be special ice-skating hours
at Manhattan Square Park all weekend.
The
Lakeside Winter Celebration is free. Get information at 865-3320, 428-6755, or
www.cityofrochester.gov. Register for the Polar Plunge at 800-836-6976 or
www.polarplunge.net.
Light in Winter
January 28 to 30, Ithaca
Ithaca celebrates the season with
what they call “a fusion of music, art and science.” It’s a unique and
ambitious concept for a festival, since many festivals have been organized
around ideas much less lofty — food, for instance. This thinking-person’s
festival only debuted last year, notably bringing together a Nobel-winning
chemist, a performance artist, a Celtic harpist, and an electric cellist for
one performance.
This year, even more is on the
docket. The first evening will see a Carnival for the Rainforest, including
music by Brazilian composer Hector Villa-Lobos, the songs of Antonio Carlos
Jobim, and new music inspired by the sounds of the rainforest, all performed by
Paul Winter and his Brazilian Consort, along with Ivo Aruajo and his Manhattan
Samba band. The Kronos Quartet will perform world music the second night. On
the third day, the key performance is called Dance of the Machines, which explores the beauty to be found in
machines — demonstrated by the words of a scientist and the dancing of Byron
Suber and Ensemble X.
In between these gala performances
are workshops and performances all at the intersection of science and art and
treating audiences to swirls of film, music, fiction, poetry, and lectures.
Plus there are free or low-cost events going on at museums, nature centers, and
planetariums all weekend, and late-night live music at restaurants and cafes
around Ithaca.
Light
in Winter is at venues throughout Ithaca. Tickets are available for individual
events ($10-$30), or you can buy a festival pass for $120. For information and
detailed event schedules call 607-273-4497, 800-284-8422, or visit
www.lightinwinter.com.
WinterCity
January 28 through February 10,
Toronto
Toronto’s WinterCity definitely wins
points for pomp and glitter. The two-week party gets the whole city involved,
and concentrates on the arts and fine food. Probably the biggest spectacle is
the Wild on Winter series of free, outdoor performances. This year France’s
Groupe F will illuminate Nathan Phillips Square opening weekend with its own
brand of pyrotechnics, music, and street theater. The following weekend
Holland’s Close-Act will turn the Square into a fantasy land full of stilt-walkers,
hot-air balloons, giant birds, acrobats, and futuristic silver creatures. The
rest of the series has comedy acts, performance art, dance theater, and circus
and street-performance acts.
Indoor entertainment includes La Boheme, a performance of Tennessee
Williams’ The Glass Menagerie, an
acrobatics show, master classes with the National Ballet of Canada, a film
festival, comedy at The Second City, and a roots, blues, and folk music
marathon. Tickets range in price, but most are affordable. Families can take an
animation workshop, participate in special activities at museums, take
advantage of lift-ticket discounts, or catch some theater for kids.
The festival’s culinary component,
Winterlicious, lets you dine at 120 of Toronto’s best restaurants, all at prix
fixe menus.
A
WinterCity passport gets you discounts at restaurants and landmarks throughout
the city. Many outdoor performances are free. Maps, schedules, and ticket
information can be found at 416-338-0490 or www.toronto.ca/special_events.
Syracuse Winterfest
February 18 through 27, Syracuse
Winterfest in Syracuse is all about
snow. The theme is “There’s Snow Place Like Central New York” and this year the
organizers are going to try to break the Guinness Book of World Records for the
most snow angels. They need more than 1,792. That’s a lot of powder.
This ambitious 10-day party packs in
150 events. Watch ice carving demonstrations, listen to live music, pull a pal
in the human dogsled race, try your hand at trivia or karaoke, cut a rug at one
of several dances, or volunteer your tasting services in the gumbo, chili, and
chowder cook-offs — or at the martini and Bloody Mary mix-offs.
There is also the Medallion Hunt: A
plastic disc is hidden somewhere in Onondaga County and finder gets $1000.
Don’t forget to make a snow angel.
For
more information, including schedules and ticket information, call 315-466-9468
or visit www.syracusewinterfest.com.
This article appears in Jan 12-18, 2005.
