BIG AIR IN BEND OREGON!
Bend WinterFest is said to be the biggest off-mountain rail jam west of the Mississippi. Beautiful weather, sunshine and community spirit helped to make the 2011 Bend WinterFest a big success.
WinterFest officials along with event vendors said that this year’s middle-of-event snowstorm blew in a big crowd, but the final day had sunshine and brought in lots of smiles to an event that rocked Oregon.
WinterFest has become the President’s Day destination for tourists from San Francisco to Seattle. Families came out on a road trip and people traveled in from Europe. Last year this big exciting event provoked over 25,000 people to attend a 3 day rail jam. This year it is said that the BendWinterfest may exceed that amount of people.
The rail jam is a monumental structure built in Bend’s Old Mill District—it takes a team of design engineers a week to build it and requires 50 dump truckloads of snow to be hauled from Mount Bachelor to downtown Bend.
Over 50 national and regional snowboarders and skiers competed this year for large cash and prize giveaways. Many other events took place as well:
- Nordic sprint races with individual, high school teams and open relay teams competed for cash and prizes throughout the weekend.
- A Winter Wine Walk featured both Northwest and California wines. Wine Walk patrons paid $20 and received a commemorative Bend WinterFest wine glass, 10 tasting tickets and a WinterFest button (good for entry all weekend to WinterFest activities)!
- Some of the street performances ranged from exciting acts like Fire Dancing to comedy and music.
- The Ice Carving and Snow Sculpting Contest attracted groups and individuals from around the region who wished to display their artistic talent with ice and snow!
- European-style market place featured the Northwest’s best food, wine and fine art.
- Performances by freestyle motocross team Metal Mulisha, featured crazy tricks and death-defying stunts.
Families from all around the world celebrated Central Oregon’s unique culture and embraced its live music and arts. From snowshoeing to snowboarding, from ice carving to snow sculpting, from downhill skiing and snowboarding to cross-country – BendWinterfest brought opportunites for winter sports to EVERYONE and NEVADO was THERE to show off your products!
