Springhill gets ready for annual winter carnival

By Chris Dowbiggin

SPRINGHILL - The 35TH annual Springhill Chilli Willi Winter Carnival kicks off in February, and the community is already gearing up to chase away the winter blues.
The fundraising event takes place from Friday, Feb. 18 to Sunday, Feb 27, and features a variety of fun outdoor activities, such as snowman building contests, snowshoeing and even possibly sleigh rides for this year.
The Springhill Leisure Services Department is encouraging community members, businesses and organizations to contribute to the event, and make it the most successful year to date.
“We have just done a call-out to the groups and organizations, making sure they’re aware of the date,” said department director Pam Adams.
“We’re waiting for the feed back but this year we’re hoping there are new initiatives to take place. We’re always looking for new initiatives, and then there are the traditional ones like the variety shows that are always so popular. So it should be fun.”
Last year’s Chilli Willi Carnival featured 33 events. So the Leisure Services Department is looking to improve upon that for the 2011 event.
The All-Saints Anglican Church in Springhill has been hosting luncheons for the event for a number of years.
Church Guild president Rose Nicholson said church member volunteers get much satisfaction out of the success of the luncheon year after year.
“The advertising the Chilli Willi festival does really helps us, because usually we have to do our own advertising for our luncheons at the end of each month. But with the carnival going on at the same time, it gives us that added exposure to the community, and we do quite well by it,” said Nicholson.
Adams says the timing of the carnival each year is perfect, because it occurs just after the mid-way point of winter, when everyone gets restless from being indoors all day.
“It’s just a way for the community to escape the blues and hibernation that comes with dealing with winter. It gets people outside and enjoying the weather with hot food, and fun activities and entertainment.”