Afternoon of outdoor winter fun capped off with wine tasting fundraiser
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Sabrina Schaller and Memphis Hanson zip down the sledding hill Sunday. T -
Madilyn Gaikowski and Jalene Reiner enjoy the ice skating rink. -
The new warming shed keeps volunteers warm and out of the wind. -
A wine tasting event was held at the Field House Sunday evening hosted by Baker’s Design and serving as a fundraiser for Winter Park Activities. Left to right are: Gwyneth Fastnacht, Laura Baker, Loree Gaikowski. -
Maddie Neely and Lynn Damm visit with Laura Baker about South Dakota wines featured at the event.
Sledders, ice skaters and Winter Park Activities volunteers alike enjoyed offseason improvements made at the city park on Sunday.
“I’m especially excited about the 22 new pairs of ice skates. With grant funds we ordered half youth and half adult sizes with the youth skates being adjustable to accommodate a wide variety of sizes,” said Gwyneth Fastnacht, organizer of the wildly popular Winter Park Activities that, on many winter weekends includes sledding, wagon rides, ice skating, hot cocoa and free ice skate rentals in the Wessington Springs City Park.
The group also purchased an ice skating rink sidewall and will be experimenting and exploring the best way to utilize it.
“Before the season, Jeff Argo dug out and leveled the deep end of the rink creating a berm to allow a more even flow of water to freeze more smoothly and evenly.”
The City of Wessington Springs and Winter Park Activities purchased and installed a new warming shed at the top of the hill by the Rube Goldberg machine to help volunteers watching the tow rope stay out of the wind and warm. The city also put in a new, improved rope for sledders to hold on to when going up the hill.
Once families loaded up their sleds for the day, the Field House opened for a Winter Park fundraiser, featuring wine tasting, spearheaded by Fastnacht and Laura Baker, owner of Baker’s Design.
“We thought it would be fun to take a more grown up angle for the evening while also raising funds for the nonprofit organization that brings winter magic to families from across the region,” Baker said.
The park is always open and free to the public, but for organized activities check the Winter Park Activities Facebook page.