Although most of us do like a little snow now and again, and enjoy a hike in the woods, blanketed with snow, we all agree it’ll be nice to not have to go caching with snow boots and gloves on!
The Snowman Burning event will help celebrate and usher in Spring. Festivities will start at 11:30am, when we will meet up and chat with friends old and new. At precisely 12:00 noon, we will ignite our snowman and label Winter as officially over! Afterwards people are welcome to stick around for more laughs, or head out to celebrate spring in their own way. We will be there until at least 12:30pm.
The event is serving a second purpose as well. A group of us have been laboring to paddle cache at least once per month for a year. As of now, we are at Month #11 – all that is left is March. For those of us paddling in, we will meet at 10:00am at L1 for the 1mile paddle to the event.
If you are walking in, you can park at P1, and follow the indicted trails on this map. It is about a mile each way. There are several caches between parking and the event.
So, come on out, and get ready to strip off your parka, scarf and mittens as we welcome back Spring!
As always, watch the listing for any updates.
Some history...
The first spring snowman burning at Lake Superior State University was held in March 1971 by the Unicorn Hunters, a former campus club. Traditionally it has been held on the first day of spring to bid good-bye to winter and welcome spring.
The burning takes its inspiration from the Rose Sunday Festival in Weinheim-an-der-Bergstrasse, Germany. In the festival, a parade passes through town to a central location, where the mayor makes a proposal to the town's children. If the children are good, study, obey their parents and work hard, he will order the (straw) snowman to be burned, and spring will officially arrive. After the children yell their approval and make their promise, the snowman is burned. The smoke rising from the bonfire is supposed to ward off blizzards and usher in the spring season.