NORTH HERO, Vt. (WCAX) – An annual tradition to celebrate community during the winter blues is back at North Hero’s Great Ice Festival.
Love is in the air in North Hero, not only for the community but for all you can do on the ice. Skating is a go-to activity for reporter Abigail Saxe, but that’s only one thing you can do at the festival.
Sledding, skiing and s’mores are all available at the event.
Back in 2007, the founder of Hero’s Welcome General Store wanted to cure seasonal depression in winter’s coldest months, creating ‘Great Ice!’.
From what people are saying, it’s working.
“We haven’t ever been here in the winter,” said Teo Formalarie of Georgia. “Super nice. The community, there’s a lot more people than I thought.”
“We were going to come for maybe like 20 minutes, but we’ve been here for like five hours,” said Noel Mulkey of St. Albans.
“Great activities to do, great food, it’s just a great place,” said Elliot Krasnow of Charlotte.
“The islands are just my favorite place in the entire world,” said Noa Pinkston, a UVM senior.
With all these people on the ice, safety is a priority.
“Even at a foot thick, there can be types of ice that are just not safe,” said Chris Retz, a volunteer firefighter with the North Hero Volunteer Fire Department.
Retz helped put on an ice rescue demonstration for people to learn how to get out of potential life-threatening situations.
“The more people are understanding the problems that can happen out on the ice, like having spikes on your person or telling people where you’re going or having a float suit like I’m wearing, the better the outcome will be,” Retz said.
Along with the safety gear he mentioned, Retz also recommends checking the daily weather and ice report and going to nearby stores to see what they’ve heard about the conditions.
Seeing the crowd gathered around to watch reminds Retz why he does this job.
“If I can help just a couple people out of all the people here, then I am doing exactly why I signed up to be a volunteer,” Retz said.
If you missed the fun Friday or Saturday, festivities will continue all day Sunday.
