The 103rd Winter Carnival in Steamboat Springs was undoubtedly one of the best.
The usual celebrations and street events were as fun and festive as ever, and we also had some new activities which only made the good times better. Here’s a run down of everything that happened, as well as a bunch of great photos.
This year we decided to add to the fun by hosting a new event: the S’more Family Fun Night.
After the kids activities that take place at Howelsen Hill, F.M. Light & Sons and the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club hosted an event aimed at getting all the kids and and all their parents together to have a good time. Everyone enjoyed Chili and cornbread, roasting marshmallows around the open fire, dancing, and fire swingers. A ton of great photos of this fun event can be found on the Winter Sports Club’s Facebook page.
Most importantly the event got the community together for some good times and family fun, and that is what the Winter Carnival is all about.
Our favorite part of Winter Carnival is the street events.
We like all the snow on Lincoln Avenue – because, after all, what’s there not to love about more snow – and we especially love having all the horses replace all the cars. There’s just something about the crisp morning air and the pounding of hooves that makes us feel alive. And once again, getting the whole community together along with a bunch of friends for a common activity is just a thing that warms our heart. Here’s a gallery of street event photos. We also really liked this video taken from the helmet of a person taking part in the ski jouring. In the video you can see why we hand out participation ribbons to the contestants; not simply because they participated, but because if you strap on skis and get pulled down main street at high speed by a horse, then you deserve a ribbon!
Something that was especially amazing about this year’s Winter Carnival was the fireworks display that took place Saturday night.
This year’s carnival featured the largest firework ever detonated in North America. It was simply too spectacular to describe, and is best served by just showing you. Here you can find a video about the firework and who made it, and here you can watch a fantastic 360* field of vision video of it being lit off. Enjoy.
It is always humbling to be able to be a part of Winter Carnival.
We enjoy being part of this community here in the Yampa Valley, and whenever we can all get together and celebrate it is a really special opportunity. If you would like to read more about the history of the Winter Carnival, we’ve written quite a lot about the subject in our blog post, here, including a still photo 360* view of the 101st Winter Carnival parade. This page also includes a link to a great interview that was conducted with Leif Howelsen, Carl Howelson’s son. In it he discusses his father’s part in starting the Winter Carnival and the Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club, and the love he had for the Yampa Valley and the people in it.
