Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Thursday Thirteen 95: Winter Fest

Last weekend was the annual Madison Winter Festival, with most events held on the Capitol Square. The festival includes skiing, snowshoe races, ice and snow sculpting, tubing, and snowboarding. This year also included a 5K run/walk, and ice skating on Lake Monona, in front of the Monona Terrace (though with the warm temps of the week before, I don't know how good the ice was). Snow for the track was made and trucked in by of local ski basins. Due to a prior engagement, I did not make it up to this year's event as hoped, but thought I would share thirteen pics from last year. Click on any photo for a larger view.


The highlight of the event are World qualifying cross-country ski races. Last year's track took up half ofg the Capitol Square, from Wisconsin Ave circling west to MLK Blvd. In previous years, the track circled the Capitol completely and included a bridge that allowed people access from one side of the street to the other for viewing. Participants compete from around the world, including the woman in the blue and yellow cap, a professional skier from Sweden.


The event also includes open skiing, including an early morning "Fit City Kids" event. Here, one of the competitors who volunteered to teach kids the basics pulls two young ladies behind him, while another tries to keep pace.


On the State Street corner of the Capitol Square, one gentleman entertained the crowd with amazing ice sculptures. Here are three of his creations. (Guess which one is my favorite!)




Snow sculptures--according to one of the artists, the snow and cold wasn't ideal for sculpting, but they managed to do pretty well with what they had.




To the delight of the younger attendees, a hill was erected on MLK Blvd that had snowboarding on one side...


...and tubing on the other.


LINKS TO OTHER THURSDAY THIRTEENS:

Adelle Laudan * Alice Audrey * Marcia * Betty
Thornesworld * Ms Menozzi * Stephanie Adkins * Mel
Jennifer McKenzie * Carmen * Brenda ND
Karen * Debbie * Paige Tyler * Shelley Munro
RJ LeBeau * Claudia * MyExpressions


(leave your link in comments, I’ll add you here!)


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others’ comments. It’s easy, and fun! I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 13 things.


Gallery of 2009 photos (not mine)



24 comments:

Unknown said...

That looks like a blast for the kids. I tend to hibernate in the winter. Happy T13!

Heather said...

Adelle ~ usually prefer to hibernate as well. Last year I forced myself to get out of the house for this event, having been snowed in for three months by that point. And, of course, it snowed again the day I was there. LOL

marcia@joyismygoal said...

What a blast is right and whatvtalent in those sculpture

Anonymous said...

Wow, the snow sculptures are beautiful! We don't have snow here, so I've never really seen one before. Love the pix!

Anonymous said...

In all the 13 years I lived there, I never once went to Winter Fest. Doy. Wish I had.

Anonymous said...

I'm an inside -by-the-fireplace-looking-out-the-window-at-the-pretty-snow kinda gal, but that looks like a blast!
Happy TT!
I'm up at both Thornesworld
and with my very first TT at my new blog, Eclectic Witch!
I hope you'll stop by!

Ms Menozzi said...

I miss snow! That looks like sooooo much fun, too! Even I might be tempted to get out of the house to enjoy something like that! LOL!

Happy T13!

Ciao!

Anonymous said...

Those are so cool! Love the sculptures! Happy Thursday! My link is www.stephanieadkins.com

Anonymous said...

That looks like a blast. I always love it when you do local events. Madison is so cool. My sister lives there.
Great pics, Heather.

Carmen said...

those snow sculptures are cool. :)

Mia Celeste said...

What fun! I'd like to try the tubing! Happy TT!

Karen said...

Gorgeous ice sculptures. Looked like a fun time!

Debbie@Like a Rose said...

That looks like a fun event. The sculptures are pretty impressive.

Paige Tyler said...

Looks brrrr cold! I'm a warm-weather girl! LOL!

*hugs*
Paige

My TT is at http://paigetylertheauthor.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

Gosh, I had no idea this went on! Thanks for sharing all of this! The photos are amazing!

Shelley Munro said...

Great shots. I loved the ice and snow sculptures.

My expressions LIVE said...

Ok I so want to innertube down that slide!

Heather said...

Marcia - The sculptors are quite talented, aren't they? Thanks for visiting!

Betty - I'm glad you like the pix. Maybe you'll get a chance to see some in person some day!

Alice - LOL...well, it has seen many incarnations over the years. Looks like this one may last a while. *g*

Thorne - When I was a kid, my sisters and I spent a lot of time sledding and skating. Now...I'm more content to watch the snow from inside as well. ;)

Heather said...

Ms Menozzi - Ah-ha...so, you can be tempted with a bit of snow, eh? Good things to know! ;)

Stephanie - Thank you. I wish I could have gotten pics of more of the sculptures, but it can be hard to do in a big crowd.

Jennifer - Thank you! It's been so long since you mentioned her, I had forgotten your sister lived here. Doh!

Carmen - Thank you, and thanks for visiting!

Brenda - Tubing is a lot of fun. Heck, riding almost anything down a hill can be fun! ;)

Heather said...

Karen and Debbie - Thanks, it was a fun event--even if it was a bit cold after a while. Sometimes two pairs of socks just aren't enough. *g*

Paige - Aw, c'mon...you don't think it looks even a little bit fun? Whimp! *grin*

Claudia - You're welcome, and thank you.

Shelley - Thank you, the sculptures seem to be a huge hit. *g*

My Expressions - Doesn't that look like fun? It's not a very big or long hill, but it is nicely steeped.

The Bumbles said...

Tubing would get me out in the cold for sure. So fun!

Anonymous said...

That looks like so much fun! That's the one thing about living in San Diego. We'll never have anything like that on our city streets.

Alexia Reed said...

wow, some of those pics are really cool! looks like a lot of fun :)

Heather said...

Bumbles, RJ, Mel - Definitely fun, so long as you are dressed appropriately!