Wiscasset Winterfest draws families

Mon, 02/04/2019 - 11:30am

    Bobbi Sanfratello just moved from Oklahoma to Wiscasset, but she's gotten used to the cold already, she said. At Winterfest Saturday with daughters Emery, 2, and Jaydis, 4 months, and her mother Tiffany Monnett, also of Wiscasset, Sanfratello hoped to meet some new people.

    The two-day event had a big turnout, according to Parks and Recreation Director Lisa Thompson. In an email response Monday, Thompson said Friday night's trivia-pizza party sold out. More than 100 people were there, she said.

    "Saturday (was) very well attended and busy all day," Thompson said.

    Saturday afternoon, attendees interviewed were citing the horse-drawn carriage rides and Chewonki Foundation's owl presentation as some of their favorite parts. Dresden’s Katrina Willey said Thompson does such a good job putting together events and programs, she likes to turn out to enjoy and support them.

    At a bonfire in front of Wiscasset Community Center, Willey's daughter Jessie, 10, and friend Linnea Andersson, 12, of Wiscasset were making clumps of snow and bringing them up to the fire. "You will become water," Willey said as she placed one near it.

    Wiscasset's Sarah Joyce was sitting in the lobby near a table where son Sully, 12, was selling hot chocolate to benefit Southern Maine Gearbots. Sully and 18 other members make up the Wiscasset area affiliate, she said. "I'm really happy that we can be here to help," and that Winterfest provided a chance for children to get to help with a community event, she said.

    Friday night's party and a silent auction that ended Saturday raised over $1,500 for the Cooper-DiPerri Scholarship Fund, Thompson said. The fund confidentially helps people afford the department's programs.