Forced by icy conditions to cancel Winter Fest last weekend, the Harvard Lions Club has rescheduled and relocated the yearly celebration to Sunday, March 2, at Carlson Orchards. Starting at 11:30 a.m. and ending at 3 p.m., the event will feature many—if not quite all—the activities and contests attendees have enjoyed in past years.
Winter Fest-goers will be able to test their strength in the traditional iron skillet toss, where contestants vie to throw a cast iron frying pan along a measured line. The winner will be determined by both distance and accuracy.
Linda Hoffman and Blase Provitola at last year's Winter Fest. (Photo by Thomas Kilian)
Another long-standing tradition at Winter Fest is the chili contest. Would-be judges can buy a set of tickets and sample the various chilis. Then those tickets become the judge’s ballots, to be cast for the chili considered tastiest. For anyone who prefers pasta to meat (or is really hungry and likes both), there is also a mac and cheese contest.
People will also have a chance to vote for their favorites in the winter photography contest and the knitted hat contest. Or they can take part in an outdoor scavenger hunt and explore an exhibit of “fairy doors” in the fields.
For a warm snack, the Lions will be roasting chestnuts over an open fire—a venerable winter tradition. And Carlson’s Cider Barn will have other food and beverages for sale, including hot chocolate and hot cider.
Later in the afternoon comes the wassailing ceremony. In a tradition dating back to medieval times, the wassailers will sing and toast to the health of the apple trees, wishing all the area orchards a good crop in the coming year.
Lions Club member Joe Schmidt, who has been a leading organizer of Winter Fest since it began, thanked Carlson Orchards for hosting the event when it had to be postponed from its original Feb. 22 date at Fruitlands.
Schmidt said the event is one of the Lions Club’s major fundraisers. Most of the causes and organizations the Lions support are close to home—Loaves & Fishes Food Pantry, the Virginia Thurston Healing Garden, and local scholarships. The club also supports the Massachusetts Lions Eye Research fund, which has donated over $42 million since 1951 to help fund eye research and prevent vision loss among children and adults. (People can donate old eyeglasses at Winter Fest.)
The 5K race has been part of Winter Fest since its beginning in 2019. But this year, the race has been rescheduled to Saturday, March 15, when it will start from the Bromfield School.
