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Vernon Winter Carnival a success

57th annual mid-winter party in Vernon wraps Valentine’s Day with jopo raffle draw
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Lisa Mazurek/Morning Star Phil Southward, Tamara Cinnamon and Bee Hodges take part in the Ice Bucket Challenge during the Vernon Winter Carnival’s annual Polar Bear Swim held Sunday at Kal Beach. The ice buckets had to be adopted due to the lake being frozen over. The Polar Bear Swim has been an annual event orchestrated to raise funds for sustainable projects in Zimbabwe.

Officially, the 57th annual Vernon Winter Carnival wrapped up Valentine’s Day with the Carnival jopo raffle ticket draws for some sweet prizes.

Unofficially, Vernon’s annual mid-winter party concluded Sunday with such popular events like the Toonie and a Tin community skate at Kal Tire Place; the annual Polar Bear Swim, which turned into a Polar Bear Ice Bucket challenge due to Kal Lake being frozen; and the Starting Block 10km run in Lavington.

“Wow, what a fabulous 57th Vernon Winter Carnival,” said Deb White, Carnival chairperson. “The events were fabulous; the parade was magical with the snow falling and on Family Day in the park, the sun was shining. We couldn’t have planned it better.”

The raffle draw – which includes prizes such as a houseboat vacation, shopping sprees downtown and at the Village Green Centre and a Vernon Vipers package, took place at 4 p.m. Tuesday at the Village Green Centre.

Winners will be contacted by phone if they were not present at the draw.

Plans are already underway for the 58th Vernon Winter Carnival in 2018, and Carnival organizers are asking for the public’s help in planning next year’s theme.

“You can give us your suggestions at the office, by e-mail or send us a message on Facebook,” said White. “There are many suggestions already received, but we love the variety. The theme is chosen by the board of directors of Vernon Winter Carnival.”

The 2017 theme was Carnival celebrates Canada’s 150th birthday.



Roger Knox

About the Author: Roger Knox

I am a journalist with more than 30 years of experience in the industry. I started my career in radio and have spent the last 21 years working with Black Press Media.
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