Rutland Winterfest returns, even bigger

By Adam Davis

Rutland Winterfest will be kicking off its 23rd straight year with a large number of new events in downtown Rutland starting Friday, Feb. 14 with events held daily through Saturday, Feb. 22.

There’s truly something for everyone at this year’s Winterfest, as there are now over 40 free and low cost events scheduled over nine days featuring everything from the family-friendly and  ever-popular night sledding down Center Street and the great bigfoot chase, to a Valentine’s Day pub tour, an evening adult snowshoe hike through Rutland Country Club, and human foosball at the Center Street Marketplace. The chili cook-off, an old favorite back by popular demand, will be returning to the festival this year, and Real Rutland Feud will return to the Paramount Theater stage. Snow sculpting is also back this year and will for the first time serve as the Vermont qualifier for the national snow sculpting competition.

Rutland Winterfest started in 2003 with a modest number of events and has grown exponentially ever since with the help of local sponsors and organizations. This has helped the once small, one day festival evolve into a large nine day extravaganza by bringing the community together with activities for children, teens, adults, and families.

“In the last decade, with the help of the Rutland Rec. Department, Carpenter and Costin, the people at Wonderfeet Museum, Casella Construction, and so many others, Winterfest has become huge,” said Arwen Turner, the executive director of Come Alive Outside, another local partner of Winterfest. “It’s unique to have a festival where all the events are completely run and funded by different businesses and organizations.”

In addition to the events, participating downtown restaurants will be temporarily adding Winterfest-themed items to their menus, as well as special deals at participating businesses. An official Winterfest sticker will be found on the doors of all participating restaurants and businesses, a new feature for this year’s festival. 

“The Speakeasy Cafe will have French-style hot chocolate, which if you’ve never had it, it’s amazing. Ernie’s (Hand Carved) is going to have a bigfoot beef and cheddar sandwich, and there are more that are coming in daily,” said Turner.

As new menu items are being added daily, so are the overall number of events taking place at the festival over its nine day run. Expect to see new events popping up on the schedule in the week leading up to the festival. 

“When we first put out the calendar there were 35 activities, now we’re up to 40. I bet we’ll have 45-50 events by the time it actually rolls around,” Turner said. “Some of the new ones are super cute things, for instance Rutland Appliance is going to have a kissing booth with therapy dogs.” 

For a complete list of events at Rutland Winterfest,see page 13 or visit: rutlandwinterfest.com.