“The thing that I most looked forward to was the fact that it actually snowed.”
Adam Polinski, member of the Cooper’s Rock Foundation Board, hosted the ninth annual Winterfest at Cooper’s Rock, with plenty of winter activities. There were several open house activities for people to participate in, including a sledding hill, snowman zone, disc golf and more.
Polinski said out of the nine Winterfests, they have successfully had snow at seven of them, which is something that he was proud to see this year.
Those in attendance also had the opportunity to try out snowshoes, which was overseen by Fairmont State University assistant professor and Outdoor Recreation Leadership Jan Kiger. Kiger also had students from her classes volunteering with the demonstration of walking in snowshoes.
“[We’re] giving people an opportunity to snowshoe and experience the outdoors in the winter because the outdoors doesn’t close down just because it gets cold outside,” Kiger said. “There’s a lot of fun things to do in the winter.”
Kiger has attended the Winterfest every year and has been coming to Cooper’s Rock since she was three years old, it has become one of her “most loved places in the world.”
Mountaineer Area Rescue Group (MARG) was represented by Lee Fuell, president of MARG, and Operations Officer Patty Lindsay. MARG is a volunteer search and rescue organization, and their main mission is searching for missing people.
MARG also had training with their English Shepard dogs at Winterfest. Lindsay said the dogs have required training every one to two weeks.
One of the activities Polinski had planned was the women’s frying pan toss, which was an idea that Polinski said he borrowed from the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival; a winter fest that has been hosted in New York since the 19th century, according to Polinski.
“We figured if they do the women’s frying pan toss, so should we…and that’s a fun event every year,” Polinski said.
The Winterfest also served as a fundraiser, with all proceeds from the Cooper’s Rock Foundation Board going towards a new campground – Rhododendron Campground – which officially opened in 2018 at Cooper’s Rock. Polinski said they are going to be building tent pads, which serve as a dry and flat area for campers to place their tents.
Polinski said that Winterfest is one of the several events hosted to showcase Cooper’s Rock, and that it is a place to be all-year round.
“The genesis of this is to promote winter recreation and to remind people that Cooper’s Rock is a four-season outdoor recreation destination,” Polinski said.
TWEET @DominionPostWV
