Syracuse continues to embrace the frigid, snowy season with the city’s annual Winterfest. The festival begins on Thursday and runs through Feb. 24, featuring art exhibitions, outdoor skiing and snowshoeing, professional ice carving, music performances, literary events and treasure hunts.

Bill Cooper, the president of Syracuse Winterfest Inc., said he spent “thousands” of hours organizing the festival by gaining sponsors, contacting local restaurants for culinary competitions and selling tickets for the events. Each year, he said, the festival attracts visitors from outside the Syracuse area — even outside the state.

“We have people that come with bus loads from Virginia … Pennsylvania,” Cooper said. “We have people fly in from California and visit their relatives just for this and buy tickets ahead of time.”

The festival has drawn crowds since 1985, when the inaugural Winterfest was organized by the UpDownTowners of Syracuse. For the past 34 years, the festival has grown, gaining support from the city of Syracuse, Onondaga County, local businesses and residents.

For some, the success of Winterfest is evident in the sense of comradery that the event kindles in the community.

“It’s a nice way to bring people together in the coldest part of the year,” said Steve Morrison, owner and head chef of The Mission Restaurant, one of the restaurants participating in the festival.

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Winterfest aims to get people outside and experience the downtown Syracuse community, despite the freezing temperatures.

“Syracuse people don’t like to be cooped up,” said Katie Beckett, general manager of Clinton Street Pub. “They don’t like to be told they shouldn’t go out.” Beckett also manages The Penny Pub and co-owns Modern Malt, both of which will be participating in Winterfest 2019.

Cooper said Winterfest draws in approximately 100,000 visitors each year. He added that at the festival, cold weather becomes the center of attention rather than a cause for distraction. Some of the more popular events are the festival’s food and beverage competitions, starting with the Culinary Cruise on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. Participating restaurants include Peppino’s Neapolitan, The Sweet Praxis, Clinton Street Pub and The Mission Restaurant, among others.

The following days are dedicated to the Chili Cook-Off walking tour, beer tastings, a Sandwich Stroll and the Margarita Mix-Off. Other competitions feature other local restaurants and eateries. Tickets are sold at the Winterfest’s ticket booth in Clinton Square and at participating restaurants for $5 per ticket for each event, with limited numbers available.

“You don’t make any money off of it,” Beckett said. “In fact, you spend quite a lot of money on product that you give away for free, so it’s not a profitable thing.” She added that Winterfest offers small businesses potential new customers since some of the visitors might not normally venture downtown.

For Jennifer Walls, co-owner of The Sweet Praxis, seeing visitors’ reactions inspires her to participate year after year.

“I love just seeing the looks on people’s faces,” she said.

As the festival continues to grow year by year, Cooper said there’s a need for more volunteers — especially from younger generations. But despite only having a half-dozen other hands to help with planning, Cooper said “the rewards are tenfold” for him and everyone else involved with the festival.

Published on February 12, 2019 at 10:49 pm