Article Contributed by
Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce
While our mild winter has been nice to avoid frigid temperatures and snow-covered roads, seasons like this year create a real challenge for businesses who rely on winter weather for sports or traffic, including the Chamber’s own Mayville Winter Festival. It’s clear at the moment that the weather is not fully cooperating for an ice castle, nevertheless the annual Mayville Winter Festival will go on as planned over President’s Day Weekend with many exciting offerings.
This outstanding annual event is planned and executed each year by dozens of local volunteers, working with our Mayville-Chautauqua Community Chamber Committee. These hardworking people set a schedule of events, plan the logistics, work with vendors and sponsors, and then staff all the facilities and programs during the festival. It’s a lot of work, and they do an amazing job!
Even without a great base of snow on the ground, the festival will include a wide variety of vendors including food trucks, warming fires dotted throughout Lakeside Park, a cold-water rescue demonstration, a pet parade, a children’s area with games and face painting, a chili cookoff, a beer and wine tent, a volleyball tournament and 5K run on Sunday, and a fireworks display Saturday night at 8pm. There will be a lot to see and do.
In past years an ice castle or snow castle has been one of the centerpieces of the festival. This year, even if the weather precludes that construction, the Mayville-Chautauqua Community Chamber Committee has a stand-in. They have had a wooden castle constructed as a standing parade float, and the wooden castle will be lit Friday night at the beginning of the event.
We hope you will attend the festival this coming weekend in Mayville and support the numerous volunteers who make this possible every year. They have been working since August to make this a reality, and the weather will not stand in their way.
For the full schedule, you can see the event listing on our website calendar at www.chautauquachamber.org or follow the Mayville Winter Festival on Facebook.
