Winterfest, an annual community get together, took place in the heart of Biddeford February 9th through 11th. The fest featured lively performances from locals, giveaways, activities for the kids, free hot chocolate, snacks, and so much more!
WinterFest has been a tradition since 2012, with the intention bringing the community together and providing a fun weekend experience for the town, free of cost.
Organizations and locals such as New Life Church, City of Biddeford, Heart of Biddeford, City Theater, McArthur Library, West Brook Skating Rink, Blaze Brewing, and many more, combined their talents and generosity to arrange this wonderful weekend. A huge, sledable snow hill was the main event downtown; this happens every year no matter the weather. Volunteers get together and build this snow hill for those of all ages to have an exciting sledding experience. Other activities included a mobile art bus, provided by Common Roots Studio on Saturday, which allowed kids to make arts and crafts. And local students from Biddeford High School’s Choir performed at the main stage downtown.
New life Church greatly contributes to this yearly event, along with many other sponsers. Not only did the Church help provide free food and drinks, a group by the name of “Hands that Stitch” put out hundreds of handmade hats and gloves for people to bring home.
“Hands that Stitch” is a womens crochet, knit, and sewing group that is part of New Life Church in Biddeford. “We all get together two times a month, and we do this all year,” said Roxanne Caporino, leader of Hands that Stitch.
The group’s main goal is to give back to the community in any way they can through their creative talents, Caporino explained. They make hats, gloves, scarves, prayer blankets, and more. By two o’clock on Saturday, of the hundreds of hats and gloves they made, there were only an estimated forty left.
Everywhere you looked, people had on colorful hats made by Caporino and her team.
The joy simply could not be missed at this three-day party. As Freshman Tara Galvin said when she attended the event on Saturday, February 10th, “Winterfest was a really nice experience! There were so many activities, overall, I enjoyed it so much and would definitely go next year on all three days.”
Although the fifty-degree weather was different from a typical Maine day in February, the people of Biddeford were still warmhearted and good-natured, creating a festive atmosphere.
