Berkley to celebrate season with WinterFest’s return

BERKLEY — Berkley’s annual event celebrating the winter season will be back next month.

Berkley’s WinterFest will be held from noon to 2 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7, outside the Berkley Community Center, 2400 Robina Ave.

The best part of the event for Parks and Recreation Superintendent Dan McMinn is being able to gather as a community in the winter months.

“Parks and Recreation is very prevalent in the spring and the summer months, but the opportunity to come out and be a part of our recreation activity in the winter months and just know that recreation is here year-round is very important to us,” he said. “I think it’s something that the community takes to very well. We’ve had very good crowds the past couple of years and we’re looking forward to another great event this year.”

The free event will feature a variety of activities including bounce houses, fire pits, s’mores, a cake walk, lawn games, ice sculptures, a petting farm and an area that will serve mini doughnuts and hot beverages.

McMinn said they try to change things a bit each year to keep the event fresh, but they also never want to change WinterFest too much.

“We know what people like and we try to keep them coming back for those specific things,” he said. “One of those things that people really tend to like is the unicorn rides that we do as part of the petting farm. So, those will be back again this year as well.”

During WinterFest, there will be three ice sculptures available for photo opportunities. The sculptures will be made by Clear Cut Ice Sculptures in Commerce Township.

Two will be logos for the Detroit Red Wings and Detroit Pistons, and one will be the Berkley marquee.

“We try to do something Berkley-themed every year so people can take pictures by it,” McMinn said. “And we thought the marquee would be something fun to do this year.”

Clint Rich, owner of Clear Cut Ice Sculptures, said it takes about three hours to create a sculpture.

Ice sculpture can either be hand carved or made through a machine. Rich said these will be made with the help of a machine.

“There’s usually a couple chainsaw cuts in there to kind of layer it, and then we sand it and detail it. So, we finish it by hand,” he said. “The part that I like about it is … just seeing people’s faces light up when they see the sculpture and they’re just amazed that you can create something like that out of ice.”