The fourth annual White Lake Wanderland will take place Feb. 2-4, with the goal of getting area residents downtown to patronize local businesses during the traditionally lean winter months.
A major highlight of the event each year is the cardboard sled race at the Hanson Street sledding hill in downtown Whitehall. Teams are invited to get creative in using cardboard to create sleds. There will be different age groups in the competition, which begins at noon Saturday, Feb. 3 - after an 11 a.m. registration - and lasts until 1 p.m.
That’s not the only event at Wanderland to utilize snow; there will also be a snow sculpture contest at the Montague Artisan Market, moving from Goodrich Park in Whitehall in an effort to balance the uses of the two downtowns for the event. The contest will take place from 2 to 4 p.m.
Valerie Hanson, who is board president for Wanderland, said although it’s hard to envision a White Lake area without snow for the event given what has happened over the past week, both snowy features of Wanderland will take place regardless of whether there’s any snow that weekend.
“Rain or snow or sun, the sled race will run,” Hanson said. “If there’s no snow, it would just be on a muddy hill, which might be even funnier. The snowman contest will also run. In the event of no snow, you’ll have to consider organic things like a bale of hay or gourds.”
The event kicks off Friday, Feb. 2 with what’s being called a Starry Night in Wanderland in the Whitehall social district. In past years, the Friday night festivities have focused on children sledding. They’re still welcome to do so, but now the evening, hosted by the White Lake Snow Farmers, will also include music and food vendors as well as the traditional hot chocolate, and is intended for all ages.
Following the cardboard sled race, the action will shift to the Snowshoe Shuffle at the Buttermilk Creek park in Montague from 3 to 5 p.m. The hope is the weather will permit use of the skating rink at Buttermilk Creek, but the main draw will be a puzzle for visitors to solve through a walk in the woods.
“We had that last year, and that was a hit,,” Hanson said.
Sunday brings a new event to Wanderland - the Frosty Fashion Quest, from 12 to 4 p.m. In the days leading up to Wanderland, visitors are invited to patronize local thrift stores with a partner and select each other’s outfit for the day; the only rules are the outfit must fit and be appropriate to wear in public. Then, participants will be invited to seek out a series of photo clues posted on the Wanderland website, which will take them throughout the two downtowns. If successful, the participants will discover a free hot soup as part of their travels. Participants should post selfies to Facebook with the clue solutions and the hashtag #whitelakewanderland24 to win the prize.
More details on Wanderland are available at the organization’s website, whitelakewanderland.com.
