Bangor Winter Festival offers fun, draws few

BANGOR – The city’s Winter Festival had all the elements of a good time, a mixture of outdoor and indoor events that offered physical activities as well as creative ones.

All it needed was more people.

It was the festival’s first year and likely will be remembered as a building year, as the events drew slight turnouts. Organizers said they had stiff competition from the high school basketball tournaments in Bangor as well as winter festivals in other communities.

But they made a go of it.

Bangor’s waterfront was the stage for Frisbee golf and a sled race where, instead of dogs, people pulled children around on sleds.

Lewis Snyder and Carl Briggs, both of Bangor, showed up for a little fun with Snyder’s little sister, Tamara, 7, and Briggs’ daughter, Kayle, 5 and son, Zachary, 3.

They’re always looking for things to do with the children outside, Briggs said, and the weekend activities offered just that, an alternative to sitting at home watching television.

“Just because it’s winter doesn’t mean you can’t have fun,” Briggs said.

And that’s what organizers hoped people would get from the festival.

Brad Ryder, owner of Epic Sports, one of the sponsors of the weekend event, said that while some Mainers may be hunkering down, waiting for the end of winter, others are taking advantage of the recreational activities the winter months have to offer.

Saturday’s events showcased some of those activities, including demonstrations of snowshoeing, sledding and the impromptu snowball fights that occasionally erupted. Spread out across town, events included a creative snowman-making contest as well music events, art and other exhibits.

And there are more ways to get out and enjoy the winter, according to organizers, from skiing to something as simple as taking a walk.

Ryder admitted that improvements will have to be made next year. Some things such as increased publicity they can take care of, while other things, such as more snow, are out of their hands. A little more snow would have helped, he said, although the waterfront wasn’t as bare as some other places in the city that look more like early spring or late fall.

“That snow we had back in December would have been really nice,” Ryder said.

A sign of the success that the festival did have came from Tamara, Kayle and Zachary – they didn’t want to leave.