Coben Scott
On Saturday, Feb. 1, El Paso County Parks and Recreation hosted a Winter Fun event at Fox Run Regional Park, located just northwest of Black Forest. A team of volunteers greeted the event-goers and provided information and plans for the nature center in the park. The event was a fundraiser for the nature center; construction for the center is set to begin in 2025. To learn more about the nature center, visit https://www.tdg-frnc.com/project-info.
The location for construction is planned for little impact on the local ecosystem, and includes plans to reforest the surrounding area to minimize the footprint.
The Winter Fun event included a number of educational booths and activities for attendees. Hay rides attracted the younger crowd.
Games included a spin on horseshoes where players had to toss hula hoops around snowmen. More big hits with the families were the storytellings, food roasting and a canine costume parade. At the amphitheater, four different sessions of storytelling with a nature theme, often featuring puppets, cycled throughout the day.
At the food roasting station, visitors were roasting their own hot dogs and marshmallows while a wide variety of music could be heard throughout the area.
The most anticipated part of this event was the canine costume parade. Planned for noon, each dog got ready to march the loop. To the tune of Pete Seeger’s “She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain,” they were off. The winner won with her bumble bee wings and earned a bag full of goodies.
Pikes Peak America’s Mountain and the Colorado Parks and Wildlife were educating people about the different wildlife in the region and the state. Colorado Springs Search and Rescue educated people about wilderness safety. Theatre Without Borders had a costume activity where anyone could make a cutout bunny headband. The Colorado Springs Astronomical Society had several telescopes set up, a couple built to view the sun and a digital one that was live streaming a view of the bunny headbands activity from across the lake.
Outside of the scheduled activities, the kids created fun on their own. Tiny snowmen could be spotted scattered around the loop. There were snowball fights through the trees, and a snow hill plowed from the road created perfect ice slides.
When asked what her favorite quality about the event was, Mary Jo Lewis, supervisor of the Bear Creek Nature Center, said, “It’s such a good way to get the community out, and for families to have fun.”
