The Sylvan Lake Winterfest is prepared to brighten the Family Day long weekend with winter fun for the entire family. A range of events and activities are scheduled between Feb. 18 and Feb. 21.
“Preparations for the Winterfest event are well underway and coming along nicely and are ready to move forward as scheduled,” said Nathan Young, special events coordinator. “Winterfest adds a ton of value to the Town of Sylvan Lake. The event has a large draw of tourists that come to experience winter in a lake town, engage in the fishing tournament, and visit the town outside of the busy summer,” he added.
The event adds to the town’s overall community spirit, bringing together local businesses and residents with sponsorships, volunteerism, and engagement, said Young. He expects the event to attract 7500 participants over the four days.
The 2021 Winterfest enabled $93,000 in local business sales and offered 41 jobs in the community.
Event highlights for Winterfest 2022 include the BIG JIG Fishing Tournament with a prize pool of $10,000 including a $3,000 top prize for the longest catch, Kids Can Catch – Learn to Fish program sponsored by the Alberta Conservation Association, Pass-the-Poutine contest and Kinabik Discovery Village sponsored in part by Canadian Tire and the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame and Museum.
This event will also offer sledge hockey, fat tire biking, and local bandstand partnerships featuring DJ Colossal Sam at Chiefs Feb. 18 and Wiklund vs Wiklund at Bukz Feb. 19.
“Although we had to last-minute cancel some aspects of Winterfest last year, due to cold weather, we hope this year’s nicer weather will attract a large number of visitors out to the lake to celebrate winter and enjoy all of our planned activities. We hope that this event will make a positive impact on our local businesses and highlight Sylvan Lake as a year-round destination option for travellers,” said Young.
For further event details visit www.VisitSylvanLake.ca/Winterfest.
“We are excited to invite you to our Winterfest x BIG JIG 2022 event,” said Young, adding, “The ice slide had to be dismantled due to safety concerns, thanks to the warm weather we’ve been enduring. The snow maze can still be used, for as long as it will stand. We also hope folks will respect our park, land and wildlife with a reminder to clean up after themselves and leave the lake in a better condition than when you arrived.”
The lake can be accessed at Lakeshore Dr. and 49 St. with parking available at The Sylvan Lake Municipal Library and Centennial parking lots. Fireworks go off at 7 p.m.