People get warm in the cold of Winterfest
MUDDY CREEK TWP — Although Kari Altman has often hiked and fished at Moraine State Park, she had never experienced one of its premier events, Winterfest.
But when opportunity knocked, Altman and her 7-year-old Bernese Mountain Dog, Raider, joined thousands of other people for the park’s annual Winterfest, which took place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 8.
“My cousin saw an ad for it on Facebook and she said, ‘Hey, let’s go,’” said Altman, who lives near the border between Butler and Lawrence counties. “It’s just a chance to get out. It’s girls’ day. We’re just going to walk around and do some hiking later on before heading up north and getting some lunch. Just making a day out of it really.”
Volunteers from the Moraine Preservation Fund — a nonprofit dedicated to addressing the park’s needs — have organized the event for more than a decade.
“We mix a lot of educational activities and vendors,” Cassandra Dixon, vice president of Moraine Preservation Fund, said. “I work really hard to kind of curate the vendors to make sure that we’ve got a nice spread of categories.”
One of the newest attractions at this year’s fest was a soup cook-off competition, which had entries from eight local restaurants. The entries came from Brown’s Country Kitchen, Family Tradition, Maria’s Country Store, North Country Brew Pub, Rooster’s Coffee Bar, Totalus, Twisted Oak Tavern and Union Brothers Brewing.
The categories were Best Overall, Best Flavor, Best Consistency, Most Creative and Most Comforting.
The soup showdown enticed friends Elaina Hiddeman and Layla Joseph, who bought two of the 150 tickets that were available in order to be taste-testing judges of the competition.
“I’ve never been here before, and (we came) for the soup contest,” said Hiddeman, who is from Slippery Rock. “I was really excited about that. We bought passes for that and were just really interested.”
Tamarack Wildlife Center representatives also attended the fest to emphasize the importance of wildlife rehabilitation. They also gave people an up-close look at several animals, like Bear, an eastern screech owl; Tammy, a Virginia opossum; and Ruby, a red-tailed hawk.
“Crowds at all events, especially Winterfest, they love getting to come in and take a peek at all of the ambassadors that we bring with us,” said Michelle Goodwill, who has been an employee at the wildlife center for nearly three years.
“They really do get a more up-close and personal view than they would if they were to spot any of these creatures in the wild. What’s neat is all of them are native to this region, so it’s possible that they could even see them throughout Moraine State Park.”
Winterfest also included the annual photo contest, which shows off the most scenic pictures from around the park. The six categories included Best Landscape, Best Wildlife, Best Plant Life, Best Activity, Best Sunrise/Sunset and Best Avian/Water Fowl.
Additionally, attendees enjoyed disc golf, horse-drawn wagon rides and a chain saw-carving demonstration
“I think people are excited to get out of the house in February,” Dixon said. “This gives people an opportunity to get out and do something kind of fun. For us, the purpose is to bring people to the park to remind them that the park is here four seasons and you should use it all four seasons because there’s a lot of great things to do in the winter.”
