STOUGHTON - Stoughton Central School and the community held their second annual Winter Funfest on Feb. 15, which was open to all who wished to attend.
Kids came dressed for the event, as all activities were held outdoors.
Around 200 youths from the Stoughton school and Ocean Man First Nation attended the fun-filled day. The attendance did not include the teachers, volunteers and parents.
The Grade 10-12 students were assigned to the younger grades and helped out wherever it was needed.
The festivities began at 9:30 a.m. and ran until 3 p.m.
Derek Mercer, the physical education teacher from Stoughton, had a schedule carefully planned out to house the nine events.
In front of the school, kids could be seen sculpting in the four piles of snow to come up with a creative design with their shovels and sculpting tools. Stoughton’s public works crew filled in the forms for the sculpting earlier that week. The students were able to sculpt a turtle, igloo, gnome and castle.
Next year, Mercer would like this event begin a few days earlier to give students the opportunity to put more time into this project.
Stan Logan, who resides north of Forget, had his team of horses, Rex and Dixie, hooked up to the wagon to give rides around town. Youths seemed to enjoy this as they waved at all the passing vehicles.
Sand was donated by Coderre Construction to put on the driveway so the horses would not slip. Rhett Tanner, Jhett and Kruz Brigden and Reid Goudy made sure to get this sand in place.
The Grow Your Community Grant from the Southeast Sport, Culture and Recreation District bought the calf sleds for races. High school students pulled the younger students in a race on the manmade snow track, which went around the yard.
Ocean Man Education Centre supplied the delicious bannock, said Sheila Berner, while a grant from the Multicultural Council of Saskatchewan helped purchase the food shared on this day.
Snowshoeing, skiing, centipede ski races and snow fort building were behind the school.
A large firepit created warmth as the students sat around the fire to listen to stories from Ocean Man’s Elder Peter Bigstone. Bigstone is the language teacher for both schools, teaching the Nakata language. The wood for the pit was donated by Neil and Sheila Berner.
“It was a lot of fun,” said Grade 8 student Cheyenne Lake.
“It was really cold, but still fun,” added Elexia Stovin.
“It was an entertaining kind of day,” said Christian Vogel
Although the temperatures were frigid, Mercer said the students stayed warm as they were always moving around.
High school students will also receive credit for helping out and participating in the events.
According to Mercer, the next big event at the school is in March when the basketball playoffs begin, along with the return of the students from the Saskatchewan Winter Games held in Regina. Nine students from Stoughton are attending.
