Warm temperatures did not keep kids – and their parents – away from a day of snow fun at Two Strike

By Mary O’KEEFE

Snow and sledding and sleeveless shirts and shorts may not look like they go together but in Crescenta Valley on Thursday it was the perfect way to spend the day.

Over 500 kids and their families came to Two Strike Park on Thursday to enjoy an afternoon in the snow – an afternoon that didn’t require a lot of snow attire. In fact with the nearly 80-degree Fahrenheit weather, getting soaked with melting snow didn’t seem all that bad as kids sped down the snowy slopes created by Los Angeles County Parks and Recreation.

“It went well,” said Abel Garnica, recreation supervisor for LA County Parks and Recreation.

“Well” is an understatement. This is the second year of the Winter Wonderland event that had the Parks and Rec Department bringing in snow, bounce houses and booths to Two Strike Park. Last year Garnica had hoped for at least 100 people; about 500 showed up.

“This year looked bigger than last year,” he said.

The need for hot chocolate was not as great as the need for cold water and the warm weather actually made the snow much more tolerable for the kids, many who showed up wearing T-shirts.

The event is one of many supported by the Los Angeles County Supervisors’ office. Newly installed board member Kathryn Barger, supervisor for the Fifth District, was on hand to see all the fun.

“Look around. Watch the kids playing and they are having a blast,” Barger said of why she loves this event. “It’s a great day for this with 78 degree [weather].”

This year the park expanded the snow fun to include a hillside to sled down, a snow area to play in and another area of snow with a snowman perfect for pictures.

“This is good clean fun. That is what is missing now, events like this where the community is able to come together … and kids are playing. It is that sense of community that I love and I think nowadays everyone gets so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the holidays,” she said. “This day is a time to step back and reset.”

She added that the event is not about politics but about community.

The event does not just happen. There is a lot of organization from the parks and rec staff and help from Prom Plus Club volunteers.

Parks and Rec and the supervisor’s office hosted Winter Wonderlands in three different parks within the fifth district. All three were very successful.

Judging from the comments by kids and parents at the event, the Two Strike Park Winter Wonderland is something they would like to see every year.

“It was really cute because as one of the sled-pushers we would see the same kids over and over and over again,” said Jesse Shelton, president of Prom Plus Club. “They were having so much fun some of them would go down six or seven times. Even parents would go down multiple times – with and without their kids.”

Barger was enthusiastic about the Crescenta Valley’s response to the Winter Wonderland.

“We are going to do this event as long as I am supervisor. This is going to be a tradition. I would love to do it in more parks,” Barger said. “It’s about giving back to the community that is always there, especially in this community, with volunteerism and the [support] of the Crescenta Valley Town Council. This is an easy decision to make.”

  Charly Shelton, Mary Okeefe