The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
Between children, teens, adults and seniors, roughly 350 people passed through the Denare Beach Winter Festival this past weekend. The Village had people out for events Friday night and then Saturday afternoon before wrapping things up Saturday night with the annual social. "I think it went really well," says recreation director Jennifer Donaghy. "The place was almost packed to full capacity on Friday night for supper." As well as looking around noticing all the children, Donaghy says she heard from a few people that there were some younger faces in the crowd this year. "It's nice that the younger families are coming out to take part," she says. The director says she has heard nothing but good comments about the festival Ð which offered a wide-variety of events like a fishing derby, bonfire and children's events. "Lots of people (also) enjoyed the ice sculpting," she says. "There have been a few locals from Denare Beach who have taken ice from the lake to do their own (sculpting). "It sparked creativity and energy in some people, I guess," she adds. As some enjoyed the ice sculpting lessons the best, Donaghy says her favourite had to have been the horse-drawn wagon rides. Taking off from their regular route a little bit, the wagon brought children down to the lake where they could take part in the children's games as well as the bonfire and hot dog roast. As the wagon brought everyone down to the lake, the organizer says it made things a little chilly, but nothing that couldn't be handled. "It was a little (cold) on Saturday down by the lake, a bit more than we were expecting, but as long as you were dressed for it, it wasn't that bad," she says. "It was wintery."
