Huntsville Snowfest will not be going ahead in its classic form this year, but residents won’t be left out in the cold.
Snowfest normally takes place on Huntsville’s Main St. over a single weekend in February.
This year, festivities have moved to the Eclipse Walk With Light installation at Muskoka Heritage Place. They’ll be spread out over the winter months, according to Kelly Haywood, Executive Director of the Huntsville Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce.
“With the level of uncertainty that we’ve been up against, it’s been a challenge to determine whether or not it was the right thing to do,” says Haywood. “So we’ve decided to sort of rework the event, and switch the activities to be over at the Eclipse Walk With Light, so there’s lots of great things to do over there all winter.”
Haywood says those activities include Snowfest mainstays such as snowshoeing, dog-sledding, and horse-drawn carriage rides. Also on the table are new offerings such as goat-walking and snow yoga, and sculptures made of snow and ice are being set up around the downtown core.
She adds that the move to the Eclipse Walk installation will help keep things COVID-19 safe.
“The reason we’re holding all the events there is because we can manage the occupancy for the number of people in the park,” says Haywood. “Plus, it’s just so beautiful. It is a remarkable place, it’s outside, there’s vendors there. It just makes sense that we’d try to draw as many people to see it as possible.”
Bracebridge’s Fire and Ice Festival was cancelled in December, and the Gravenhurst Winter Carnival has been changed to a hybrid format.
Haywood says to keep an eye on the Eclipse Walk With Light website for up-to-date event postings, as there’s a few surprises down the line.