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w at er lo oc hr on ic le .c a W at er lo o C hr on ic le | T hu rs da y, Ja nu ar y 24 ,2 01 9 | 18 festival will run Jan. 25 to 27 - will hopefully provide more cold in the minuses, as well as more of the fluffy white stuff that's so inte- gral to winter-themed ac- tivities. "One of the challenges is that some of the area we use, the ground is frozen, or we're expecting it to be frozen, and when it warms up we can't even use them because it's so muddy," Bean said. Winterloo in January will become the new norm, he expects, because "As the years pass on, it's just go- ing to get more and more difficult to hit that cold weather." So far, the forecast for this year's festival looks promising, Bean said, add- ing that no matter what time the event is held, a thaw is never entirely out of the question. "It's challenging and we're trying to build our programming so it's adapt- able to that," he said. "We don't have the ice slide this year because it's a pretty significant invest- ment, and you have to make that commitment ahead of time, because they have to make the ice. With the fluctuation in weather we didn't want to make a huge commitment to something like that and then end up wasting the money." Bean doesn't discount bringing the ice slide back in future years, however ice carving is back on the schedule both days this year, while dog sledding, which has become a staple to loyal festivalgoers, will be back on Sunday only. "The one kennel we worked with is retiring, so we're transitioning and getting new people on board and hoping to bring it back for the entire week- end in the future, but try- ing new things as well," said Bean. There will be five main themes at this year's Win- terloo. 'Winter Uptown' will feature skating in Water- loo Public Square with a DJ, movies at Princess Cin- emas, as well as program- ming put on by The Button Factory, public library and Canadian Clay and Glass gallery. "The BIA has expanded their chili cook-off to in- clude a mac-and-cheese cook-off, so there's both," Bean said. Anyone can indulge for a $5 fee on Saturday, from noon to 3 p.m.. The eighth annual chili cook-off will be held at Abe Erb while Stark & Perri hosts the in- augural Mac 'n Cheese Challenge. "Horse-and-buggy rides go from the square to the train station and then over to Waterloo Park West by the skate park, which is where most of the pro- gramming is," Bean said. "We really like the idea of having the connection between Waterloo Park and the uptown. Waterloo Park - when there's a lot of snow, we can do a lot of fun stuff. Instead of doing stuff in a parking lot in uptown that's not an ideal venue for snowshoeing or cross- country skiing, we're try- ing to move it into the park where we have some grass and some snow and we can kind of play around with it. "We're trying to have sort of a rebirth with the themes where we rethink how we approach things." 'Winter Warmth' will be located at the train station, which will have a storytell- er around a firepit, JACK the Nimblebus - an indoor playground on a bus - as well as NFB films and a photo booth inside. People can get warmed up before moving over to Waterloo Park West, where activities will focus on win- ter survival, sports and culture. The Waterloo Re- gion Police will be hosting a polar plunge on both days beginning at 1 p.m. to help raise funds for the Special Olympics, and there will smaller activities includ- ing ice-fishing game and air hockey. Mountain Equipment Co-op will be doing a Nerf biathlon. Snow carver Matt Mor- ris will be back by popular demand. "I think we'll have enough snow for him this year," said Bean, who ref- erenced snowman build- ing, snow graffiti, winter golf and obstacle courses as other popular attrac- tions. The Waterloo Region Nordic Club will be doing cross-country demonstra- tions. The full schedule of events can be found at wa- terloo.ca/winterloo. There will also be information booths at the public square, train station and park. THINGS TO DO SLED DOGS RETURN TO WINTERLOO ON SUNDAY ONLY Continued from front Got plans for the weekend? FIND MORE LOCAL EVENTS AT WATERLOOCHRONICLE.CA 36WELLINGTON STREETWEST, GUELPH 668 ERB STREET, UNIT #B2, WATERLOO ON SALE UNTIL JAN. 30, 2019 WHILE QUANTITIES LAST Organic Blueberries 2/$6