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| JESSICA KOLDITZ / Scroll |
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| Ryan Stowers, 10, from Rexburg, joins his father in the polar bear swim despite the snow flurries. |
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Swoosh! Blonde hair bouncing, a little girl squealed with delight as her sled carved down the slope.
On Saturday, Jan. 28, SnowFEST took place in Rexburg with activities varying from sledding to polar bear swimming.
Rachel Valentine, a resident of Rexburg, took her two sons Zack, 3, and Jay, 4, to the activity. They were digging for buried treasure in the snow bank treasure hunt. “I found three gold coins,” Jay said.
This was the family’s first time at SnowFEST. “We’re having a good time. We’ve been here all day and we’ve been sledding and [went] on the horse and carriage ride,” Valentine said.
SnowFEST was created five years ago. “We started in 2000 in conjunction with the Olympics when the Olympic torch came through,” said Kari Bowman, coordinator of SnowFEST. SnowFEST is held every fourth Saturday in January at Smith Park.
“We needed something in the wintertime to celebrate and shake off those January blues,” Bowman said.
Bowman’s husband is the recreation director for the city, and she went with him to a national recreation conference in Denver. At the conference, one of the meetings discussed festival planning. On the way home they began planning a festival for Rexburg.
The activities Saturday included buggy rides, ice skating, a chili cook off, sledding, a snowball throwing gallery, a snow bank treasure hunt, ice sculptures, a polar bear swim, winter softball games and snowmobile races.
The polar bear swim consisted of jumping into a pool filled with ice-cold water and then jumping into a hot tub. Adults and children were running back and forth between the pools in just bathing suits. If they completed the task, they were given a polar bear club hat.
When some disagreed with the activity, a woman mentioned the free hat, and they gave in. “I did it for the hat. [My friend and I] were making fun of it, but then we did it for the hat,” said Heather Jones, a sophomore from Rexburg.
Everything except the snowmobile race on Saturday was free of charge.
One goal of SnowFEST is to have a cost-free event for the community. “Some of these people can’t get out and do things that cost [a lot], so keeping it as free as possible is our goal,” Bowman said.
“I wanted to contribute to the community,” Bowman said. She is a stay-at-home mom. Her three kids come every year with her to SnowFEST and partake in the activities.
