Karen Perro had heard about the Jack Frost Festival last year.
“Some of my friends were going with their kids,” she said.
“I didn’t have kids at the time.”
Despite this, she’s been wanting to make the trek over from her home in Antigonish, N.S., to check it out ever since. So, she and her boyfriend decided to brave the low temperatures and take his kids over to this year's winterfest.
The Jack Frost Festival took over parts of downtown Charlottetown from Feb. 14 until Islander Day (Feb. 17). Families from all over bundled up to check out some of the event's outdoor and indoor activities, which included snow slides, fir tree throwing, and plenty of ice sculptures.
On Saturday, Perro and her boyfriend’s son, JR MacDonald, were taking in as much as they could of the annual weekend event. They were looking forward to seeing the busker performances and fireworks later that night.
MacDonald had taken a stab at snowskating just earlier.
“It’s basically like snowboarding, but you have no grips at all,” he said.
He had never tried it before, so trying to stay balanced while sliding downhill proved a bit of a challenge for him. But overall, he was having a good time, he said.
“I haven’t not liked anything.”
For Dave Matthews, it was also his family’s first time at the festival. They travelled from Nine Mile River, N.S., after winning a free getaway from a radio station.
They were making good use of the two snow slides, one which they used a tube sled to ride down. The radio prize included their hotel and bridge pass, but they were having such a fun time that Matthews would love to come back in the future.
“I think it’s awesome. Lots of kids out, lots of snow stuff. It’s great family fun,” he said. “I would recommend it to anybody.”
Matthews said he didn’t have anything like the Jack Frost Festival when he was a kid.
“We made our own sleds when I was growing up.”
Neither did Rustie and Caroline Maloney. Last year, they moved to P.E.I., from South Africa. This was their first Canadian winter.
They made the trek from their home in Alberton to attend this year's festival.
“We just heard so much about it,” Rustie said.
They found the festival to be very well-organized, and had clear signage making it easy to navigate the activities. There was so much to do at the festival that their daughters, Julia and Jessica, were struggling to make up their minds.
“The kids are having a ball,” Caroline said. “(They’ve) been busy all day.”
Julia said her favourite part of the indoor activities, was the bouncing castle located in the P.E.I. Convention Centre.
“Because it’s bouncy.”
