Winterfest in CBS going virtual

By Chris Lewis | Mar. 11, 2021

The Town of Conception Bay South’s annual Winterfest is going to look quite different in 2021.

Winterfest, an annual celebration that sees residents gather together in the cold to enjoy some winter activities with their friends and family, usually includes activities like free skating sessions, pancake breakfasts, and hockey games. This year though, as was confirmed by councillor Junior Bursey, the festivities are going to have to endure a bit of a makeover due to COVID-19 restrictions.

Bursey, during the March 2 council meeting, said that while the celebration itself is not cancelled, all of the in-person events are.

Instead, the Winterfest committee has been working on ways to make the event a virtual celebration.

“While the majority of these events will carry the Winterfest theme, they will be carried out over a longer period of time to allow as many residents as possible to avail of the opportunity,” Bursey said.

Some of the events include things like virtual bingo, trivia events, story time sessions for younger folks, and an open mic night.

Bursey said it was unfortunate that the event could not go ahead as normal this year but did congratulate the Winterfest committee on a solid effort at temporarily re-branding the event.

“When we announced last week that we were shutting down the in-person, there were a lot of sad faces around the Zoom meeting, for sure,” Bursey said.