This ‘Get Outside’ column was originally published in Jan/Feb 2008. For more information on this year’s Lowell Winterfst, read ‘Travel Advisory’ in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Meerimack Valley Magazine or visit www.lowell.org.
Photo courtesy City of Lowell
As Lowla, the spokesbear for Lowell Winterfest, is known to say, “Don’t hibernate. Come celebrate.”
The city of Lowell will throw a party for roughly 100,000 guests at it’s annual Winterfest, which offers many of the festival attractions found throughout the Valley during the summer. But the snowy backdrop and a wild display of strength, speed, and weirdness make Winterfest a unique spectacle.
The first Winterfest was held in 2001 as a replacement for New Year’s First Night, which had become a fiscal burden on the city, according to Andy St. Onge, Lowell’s special events coordinator. About 15,000 people attended that year, a number that has grown exponentially.
“We’ve gotten as many as 110,000, but it’s all weather dependent,” says St. Onge. “I could get nobody here in a Nor’easter, but those bands are still gonna be out there playing.”
The weekend, which is funded entirely by private contributions, features a variety of outdoor and indoor activities focused downtown around Arcand Drive.
For children, Tsongas Arena is transformed into a sprawling playland with free ice skating; arts and crafts in the Museum Madness area; magicians and performers at the Penguin Playhouse; and enough sugar to ensure hyperactivity at the Oompalowla Chocolate Factory. (Note that the Factory also offers chocolate martinis to those of you who must dutifully cope with said hyperactivity.)
Photo courtesy City of Lowell
Also at the arena, children can hang out with Lowla Bear, the bear that even wears sunglasses at night. St. Onge explains that there were no shades when Lowla was initially conceived as Wintefest’s mascot. But when the costume arrived, Lowla beared a slight resemblance to a Boca grandma after her sixth eye job.
“Her eyes were sort of wide and cracked out,” St. Onge says. “I thought, ‘This is gonna scare kids.’ So I called the company and said, ‘You’ve got to do something here. At least send us some sunglasses or something.’ Now we just say she is one cool bear.”
That one cool bear has become the face of Winterfest. But the signature event is the National Human Dogsled Championships held along “50 yards of frozen tundra” on Arcand Drive. Dressed in anything from gorilla suits to diapers, sixty-four teams of six race in a double-elimination tournament, competing for best times and best costumes.
St. Onge says the contest was the first of its kind, but is now imitated throughout the country. More than 240 U.S. news stations have broadcast footage of the tournament, and it drew high praise from PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals).
When PETA called, “my heart sunk,” St. Onge says. “What did I do now? But they loved it. People go crazy for this event.”
They also go crazy for the food served at the outdoor Arctic Grill and the soups served in the Masonic Temple during the North Bowl Soup Competition. There, eighteen Valley chefs dish out their own concoctions, which are judged by the public and a celebrity panel that last year included Billy Costa of TV Diner fame.
Photo courtesy City of Lowell
“I was so impressed by the turnout and how many different events they had going on,” Costa said. “And I was even more impressed with the soup competition. Not just the variety, but the quality of the soups…It blew me away.”
Across the road is Club Celsius, also called the Nordic Nightclub, where partygoers can take refuge in a heated tent, hit the bar, and dance to live music. Jim Plunkett, a self-described “man of simple songs who just likes to have fun,” will get the crowd moving on Friday night. And renowned U2 tribute band The Joshua Tree will headline on Saturday night.
Saturday night also features a fireworks extravaganza that rivals anything you’ll see on the Fourth of July. In the past, fireworks have been shot off from Tsongas Arena while massive pyrotechnic displays were fired from the roof of City Hall.
“The Fire Chief gets nervous every year,” St. Onge says. “He always asks, ‘Do you really want to be the one to burn down City Hall?’”
Of course, the answer to that is no. But if that’s what it takes to heat up the party and help get us through another New England winter, then so be it. All in the name of a very, very good time.
Lowell Winterfest – Jan/Feb 2008
This ‘Get Outside’ column was originally published in Jan/Feb 2008. For more information on this year’s Lowell Winterfst, read ‘Travel Advisory’ in the Jan/Feb 2011 issue of Meerimack Valley Magazine or visit www.lowell.org.
Photo courtesy City of Lowell
As Lowla, the spokesbear for Lowell Winterfest, is known to say, “Don’t hibernate. Come celebrate.”
The city of Lowell will throw a party for roughly 100,000 guests at it’s annual Winterfest, which offers many of the festival attractions found throughout the Valley during the summer. But the snowy backdrop and a wild display of strength, speed, and weirdness make Winterfest a unique spectacle.
The first Winterfest was held in 2001 as a replacement for New Year’s First Night, which had become a fiscal burden on the city, according to Andy St. Onge, Lowell’s special events coordinator. About 15,000 people attended that year, a number that has grown exponentially.
“We’ve gotten as many as 110,000, but it’s all weather dependent,” says St. Onge. “I could get nobody here in a Nor’easter, but those bands are still gonna be out there playing.”
The weekend, which is funded entirely by private contributions, features a variety of outdoor and indoor activities focused downtown around Arcand Drive.
For children, Tsongas Arena is transformed into a sprawling playland with free ice skating; arts and crafts in the Museum Madness area; magicians and performers at the Penguin Playhouse; and enough sugar to ensure hyperactivity at the Oompalowla Chocolate Factory. (Note that the Factory also offers chocolate martinis to those of you who must dutifully cope with said hyperactivity.)
Photo courtesy City of Lowell
Also at the arena, children can hang out with Lowla Bear, the bear that even wears sunglasses at night. St. Onge explains that there were no shades when Lowla was initially conceived as Wintefest’s mascot. But when the costume arrived, Lowla beared a slight resemblance to a Boca grandma after her sixth eye job.
“Her eyes were sort of wide and cracked out,” St. Onge says. “I thought, ‘This is gonna scare kids.’ So I called the company and said, ‘You’ve got to do something here. At least send us some sunglasses or something.’ Now we just say she is one cool bear.”
That one cool bear has become the face of Winterfest. But the signature event is the National Human Dogsled Championships held along “50 yards of frozen tundra” on Arcand Drive. Dressed in anything from gorilla suits to diapers, sixty-four teams of six race in a double-elimination tournament, competing for best times and best costumes.
St. Onge says the contest was the first of its kind, but is now imitated throughout the country. More than 240 U.S. news stations have broadcast footage of the tournament, and it drew high praise from PETA (People for Ethical Treatment of Animals).
When PETA called, “my heart sunk,” St. Onge says. “What did I do now? But they loved it. People go crazy for this event.”
They also go crazy for the food served at the outdoor Arctic Grill and the soups served in the Masonic Temple during the North Bowl Soup Competition. There, eighteen Valley chefs dish out their own concoctions, which are judged by the public and a celebrity panel that last year included Billy Costa of TV Diner fame.
Photo courtesy City of Lowell
“I was so impressed by the turnout and how many different events they had going on,” Costa said. “And I was even more impressed with the soup competition. Not just the variety, but the quality of the soups…It blew me away.”
Across the road is Club Celsius, also called the Nordic Nightclub, where partygoers can take refuge in a heated tent, hit the bar, and dance to live music. Jim Plunkett, a self-described “man of simple songs who just likes to have fun,” will get the crowd moving on Friday night. And renowned U2 tribute band The Joshua Tree will headline on Saturday night.
Saturday night also features a fireworks extravaganza that rivals anything you’ll see on the Fourth of July. In the past, fireworks have been shot off from Tsongas Arena while massive pyrotechnic displays were fired from the roof of City Hall.
“The Fire Chief gets nervous every year,” St. Onge says. “He always asks, ‘Do you really want to be the one to burn down City Hall?’”
Of course, the answer to that is no. But if that’s what it takes to heat up the party and help get us through another New England winter, then so be it. All in the name of a very, very good time.