February Vacation Fun!

[Sarah Southam]

Hi Everyone,

It is looking like a perfect week to play outdoors. We are so lucky to live here and have so many opportunities to venture outside. I think you can stay busy every day of the week! I am sharing some of the things I know are happening. Please share other information you may have about fun events going on in the area. Also, get out together and enjoy!

Saturday, February 14th:

1) Mahoosuc Land Trust's Winter Fest 10am to 2pm: 

https://www.mahoosuc.org/winterfest. There will be llamas, sledding hill, story book walk and hot cocoa there!

2) Chris Benchetler's Mountains of the Moon film at The Gem: Social Hour at 5:30, Film at 6:30. Find out about this cool, surreal film that has a Grateful Dead soundtrack and athletes doing their thing in glowing skeleton suits. https://thegemtheater.com/movies/mountains-of-the-moon/

3) Send good vibes to the Maine West Project Play Middle School Team! They will be competing in their Classic Championship Race at Titcomb.

Sunday, February 15th:

1) Mt. Abram Torchlight Parade at 6pm. There is also music and food every night of vacation at Loose Boots Lounge.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday (Feb. 16th to Feb. 20th):

1) Inland Woods & Trails' Bethel Village Trails: Do the Piney McPinecone Scavenger Hunt while cross country skiing on glorious trails that have been groomed with IWT's new pistenbully. Get on the app Nordic Pulse and explore the trails. You'll see yourself on the trail network and be  able to figure out where to go next. They also give detailed trail reports everyday on the app. IWT's BVT has free season passes for students in the MSAD44 area.

2) Have fun at Carter's XC Ski on the Intervale Rd. Climb up high or explore the pastures by the Androscoggin River. MSAD44 students can ski free at Carter's!

3) Skate at the Community Ice Rink on Philbrook St.

4) Ski in the woods or go to the CATS trail in the Bethel Community Forest. I have attached a fun scavenger hunt that we did with the MKA skiers this week. It can be a good distraction for younger kids to look for things and do odd things on their skis.

5) Post an outing you want to do this week and invite others in the Bethel Outing Club to join you! Just send an email to: bethel-ou...@googlegroups.com (and yourself so that you see the post).

Lastly, after enjoying all these winter activities, come to this important event at The Gem that is being put on by CEBE on Friday, Feb. 20th at 5pm: Winter Worth Protecting: Films and panel about the future of outdoor recreation in a changing climate. There will be 2 Protect Our Winter films followed by a panel and a great raffle with ski lift tickets from local mountains. Find out more and reserve a seat HERE.

Have a great vacation everyone!

Sarah