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It’s Wintertime at the Beaches!

Finally, a local beaches establishment has grabbed the idea of creating a winter wonderland, complete with outdoor ice skating, and ran with it. I have personally been hoping that this would happen here at the beach for several years.  I thought that the area in front of the SeaWalk Pavilion would make a great place for outdoor ice skating, but what we finally have is a far better venue, with a wide-range of wintry fun for all of us.

Thanks to Adventure Landing in Jacksonville Beach and a significant host of corporate sponsors (who you can find on the Jax Beach WinterFEST website,  and thank by patronizing their businesses)  beaches kids (and parents!), teens, adults  – many of whom have never laced up a pair of ice skates on an outdoor rink in Florida – will have the chance to do just that…without having to  leave the beach.  What could be better?  Snow, skating, and milder northeast Florida temps – running now through the second day of 2012!

I first encountered a Florida outdoor ice rink in Gainesville several years ago, while there for a business meeting.  A resident of the state for about five years at the time, I’d never conceived of outdoor skating, here. I grew up in Michigan, skating every winter for years on an amazing backyard rink – built, maintained,  and kept in peak ice condition by my meticulous and devoted dad.   Excited,  I immediately went to that Gainesville rink in the middle of town,  taking my children, who, as beach kids, had never skated on ice before.  It was a blast.  Well, it was a blast for me, as I spent the next couple of hours racing around the smallish ice rink, whirling and twirling and showing off my backward skating, and figure-eight (rudimentary techniques, really) skills to my amazed children (who were younger then, and more easily impressed).   They clung to the sides,  just trying to stay upright. But by our second and third time there, they were getting the hang of it.  Ice skating is fun.  And Adventure Landing and the WinterFest sponsors have thought of everything: click right on over to the Jax Beach WinterFEST website. They’re offering skating lessons too!  Did you keep your November issue of Money Pages?  I hope so, because you’ll find a coupon for one free skate rental.  (It’s in the final few pages of the magazine!) December’s issue has deals for WinterFEST, too.

WinterFEST, however, is about so much more than ice skating.   We’ll be treated to nightly snowfalls, an Alpine Racer 130-foot long slide, a ‘ski lodge’ area they’re calling Crystal Creek Lodge offering seasonal delights like chili, hot chocolate, gourmet coffees, fudge…you get the idea.

Then there’s Blizzard Bluff Village which will feature lots of fun for kids – holiday carnival games and crafts, Christmas cookie decorating, the teddy bear factory, WinterFEST train rides, holiday movies on the big screen, and of course, everyone’s favorite: Santa.  Oh, Santa.  I still love you!

WinterFEST started on November 18 and there is plenty of time to get out and play because it’s going on until January 2!

If you’ve already been, tell us all about it!  I’m going…but you probably already guessed I would, now didn’t you?

 

[Editor’s Note: The photograph of WinterFEST Blizzard Bluff Village was borrowed from the Adventure Landing Facebook Page; click the link and give ’em a like!]

 


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About the Author

Jeannie Greenwald is a freelance photographer, neighborhoods evangelist, and editor-in-chief of The Beaches Online. She is also a degreed psychologist and occasionally works as an adoption social worker for Jacksonville area families. She founded The Beaches Online, LLC, in 2011 to write about the happenings in 'the beaches' - the island-without-a-name, in Duval and St. Johns Counties, Florida. Always equipped with cameras, she roams the beaches, the string of barrier islands from Amelia to Anastasia, and also journeys inland, to the rural banks of Florida's blackwater rivers, and the pristine, freshwater springs. Jeannie's lived at the beaches for twelve years, and considers herself a common-law native. She celebrates the joy of living in a coastal community that prides itself on its beautiful beaches and strong, independent local business community.

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