Though it’s still more than a month away, plans for the Rossland Winter Carnival are already getting set.
Organizers are gearing up for the 115th year of the carnival.
Lisa Wegner, who is liaison for the Winter Carnival, said the event will be the weekend of Jan. 27, 2012.
Events will begin Friday, although there will be a special presentation of Ski Bum the Musical the day before on Jan. 26.
“We’re getting a real early kick off with Ski Bum the Musical,” Wegner said.
The carnival was started 115 years ago by Olaus Jeldness.
“The whole concept of him skiing down, not necessarily the back of Red, everyone took, quite simply, their own course and there were some unfortunate casualties along the way, skiing all the way down to the finish line of Columbia Street.”
She said the Carnival still has that same underlying concept that can be witnessed in the pages of the old newspapers.
The festivities usually took the role of a lot of partying in the Rossland mountain air, which Wegner concedes has changed a bit, since over the years more kid-friendly events have been added.
For Facebook users, you can ‘like’ Olaus Jeldness.
“We also have the Rossland Winter Carnival on Facebook,” she said. “It’s great because people can link up on that page to volunteer and we really, really need volunteers.”
She said that’s the other joy of Rossland.
“I’ve been away since January of ‘94,” she said.
“Right after that winter carnival, I departed to the coast, and so I saw that level of community spirit. Nothing has replaced that no matter where I’ve been in Canada or anywhere. I wouldn’t say it’s easy to get volunteers, but it would be nice to see some fresh faces.”
She also urges the rest of Greater Trail, Castlegar and anyone else to come out.
This year they are featuring scarves with the Olaus winter carnival logo, while last year it was toques.
“So get the whole set,” she said.
Olaus would be 154 years old this year and Wegner said that though it’s the 115th year of Winter Carnival, the event is still going strong.
“We’ve got one heck of a line-up of events,” she said.
After the Thursday presentation of Ski Bum the Musical, there are events all weekend.
Just to get an idea, Wegner mentioned a few.
The rail jam is on Friday and Saturday. A classic Rossland event, the firefighters pancake breakfast, is on the Saturday.
On Sunday they have the Olaus Invitational B.C. Cup Luge Race at Red Mountain.
The weekend will also feature a chance to win a Red Mountain Resort Ski pass if you enter the parade with a costume or float.