The Schrier Park Winter Sports Fest

By Jonathan Kleyer

As the month of January is generally considered the coldest, most snow-covered month of the year, the City of Portage, Parks and Recreation Department, is hosting the Schrier Park Winter Sports Fest on January 16th.

The festival, which will start at noon and conclude at 4 p.m., is meant to provide locals with opportunities to enjoy themselves outdoors, at no cost. According to the Parks and Recreation Deputy Director, Barry Bacon, the city coordinates with organizations such as the Kalamazoo Nature Center to be able to provide “outdoor adventure walks,” Bigby Coffee to provide free refreshments, or Bittersweet Acres for Belgium horse-drown sleigh rides—or wagon rides, depending on the amount of snow that weekend.

“We’ve been doing winter programming for 25 years. We’ve made some revisions recently; we used to hold this closer to the holiday, but we struggled with milder weather then,” Bacon explained about the festival’s developments. “And if we can add a new activity, we do.”
It makes sense that a winter sports festival would require a decent amount of snow, so it is no surprise when Bacon notes that a minimum snow cover of four inches is required for the overall event.

Bacon said that the activities in the festival are based on the strengths of the organizations that are working with the parks and recreation department for the event.
“Our goal is to get people outside and enjoying winter, rather than dreading it, so whatever they could bring to the table, we focus on those events,” Bacon said.

According to the deputy director, this year’s Winter Sports Fest should also feature, as highlights, events such as winter camping and snow shelter demonstrations, Nordic fitness walking and snowshoe instruction, cross country ski instruction and dog sledding demonstrations.
“It’s a great free event. We just ask people to come out that day and enjoy winter. You can’t beat the price,” Bacon commented humorously.

For more information about the Schrier Park Winter Sports Fest and the activities it offers, call the Parks and Recreation Department at 329-4522.