SUNDRE — The municipality hopes that helping to host Sundre WinterFest will not only provide residents with plenty of free activities for all ages, but also entice visitors to come to town for the Family Day long weekend.
The family-friendly event takes place Feb. 19-21. It is being organized primarily by the Town of Sundre in partnership alongside the Sundre & District Museum with support from the Sundre & District Chamber of Commerce as well as Family and Community Support Services. Also getting involved are the Sundre Bike n’ Ski Club and the Cowboy Trail Farmers Market.
On the list of things to check out are: ice sculptures that will be displayed at the Greenwood Park campground with backlighting for colourful nighttime viewing; no-cost admission at the museum by donation; free wagon rides at the museum; tobogganing at Snake Hill; free cross-country ski and fat bike lessons at the community gazebo; and free medicine walks near the first phase of the new interpretive boardwalk in the wooded area on the east side of town near the Visitor Information Centre. The medicine walks are being offered by Mahikan Trails, which provides authentic Indigenous experiences.
Jon Allan, the municipality’s economic development officer, said the operators of the Cowboy Trail Farmers Market also committed to setting up a farmers market at the Sundre Elks Lodge No. 338, across the street from the museum.
And after being cancelled last year because of COVID-19 following the inaugural attempt in 2020, Allan said the second Mountain Survivalist Competition will return on Monday, Feb. 21.
Brenda and Dave Holder, of Mahikan Trails, also decided to lend a hand to run and judge the survivalist competition, he said, adding that Dave is the lead survival consultant on the TV series Alone.
Building on past success enticing people to check out the ice sculptures, Allan said more pieces will be on display this year.
“The ice sculptures were a huge hit over the past couple years that drew in lots of people from away,” he said, adding that while numbers were not officially tracked, there anecdotally speaking were quite a few people who came specifically to see them.
“We’re hoping that even more people will come this year based on the fact that we’re going to have even more sculptures. It’s going to be a growing feature of this really cool winter event,” he said.
The number of sculptures has increased incrementally, from about four the first time to at least half a dozen that are expected this year, he said.
As the final expenses were not yet in, Allan couldn’t say exactly how much the event would cost, but added it would be in the range of $6,000 to $7,000, roughly a third of which is expected to be covered courtesy of corporate sponsorships and donations, not to mention volunteer time.
“We’re getting funding support from multiple generous corporate sponsors in addition to our own budgets,” said Allan, adding the municipality allocated a small amount from its advertising budget.
“As well, there has been some funds requested by the museum through our grants to organizations program. The rest of the funds are being covered by generous sponsors and donors,” he said.
The municipality will also be handling logistics like portable toilets, coordinating the display of ice sculptures as in previous years, as well as additional activities including the survivalist competition, he said.
Describing as essential the partnerships with other organizations, Allan said more hands make for lighter, more affordable work.
“It relieves the burden of organization and cost (on any one group) by spreading it out,” he said.
Asked why the municipality considers getting involved in such initiatives important, he said, “It adds to the quality of life of our beautiful little town. It also brings people into our town and it adds to the culture of our community.”
Additionally, he said there are economic benefits as well and the expense involved in putting on the event is a drop in the bucket when compared with what the community stands to gain.
“It’s a more than worthy investment, in my opinion,” he said. “Considering the fact that some statistics by Travel Alberta show that visitors who come from more than 40 kilometres away, on average, will spend about $80 per person per day at a community that they visit as destination.”
So, even if only 500 people visit from more than 40 kilometres away over the three-day period, with each likely to go to either a local restaurant, shop, liquor store, grocery store, gas station, and maybe even seek out accommodations for an overnight stay, that could potentially represent a boost of some $40,000 into the community, based on the stats from Travel Alberta, he said.
“The economic multiplier effect associated with these kinds of events is huge,” he said. “We’d be shortsighted to not support them.”
