TEMAGAMI - The Temagami Shiverfest is back this weekend and it is jam-packed with activities.
With the purchase of a $5 Shiverfest Button from March 10-13, available at the Temagami Arena on the weekend or at downtown Temagami businesses now, there will be something for everyone and almost all of it will be covered with the purchase of the button. Only the Temagami Legion Spaghetti Dinner on Saturday evening will have an additional cost of $10 per person.
Temagami Parks and Recreation co-ordinator John Shymko said that the last Temagami Shiverfest was held in 2020, followed by a two-year absence. Now it is back so, "I wanted to make it a good one," he said.
Most of the four-day event will be held at the arena with activities upstairs in the hall, on the ice, and outside.
Shymko says the weather forecast is calling for a nice weekend with good weather, with perhaps an inch of snow on Sunday.
On Saturday, there will be a couple of buses running between the town office and the arena.
Seniors can climb aboard at 12:30 p.m. to travel to the arena to take part in the planned senior's activities. The bus returns to the office at 4:30 p.m. At 8 p.m. the bus heads to the arena for those attending the licensed Shiverfest Dance. It leaves the arena at 12:30 a.m. and will drop people off at their homes. Those who drove to the arena can choose to leave their vehicle at the arena overnight, catch the bus home, and then return to get their vehicle in the morning, explained Shymko.
Activities throughout the four-day event include public skating on Friday evening, followed by a family dance, sponsored by Early On. People will be able to enjoy a community bonfire and music outside the rink on Friday.
On Saturday morning there will be a pancake breakfast and a donut-eating contest.
On the rink, several skating games are lined up, followed by some general skating time.
Seniors will be able to enjoy some activities upstairs during the afternoon.
There will be kids' hockey on the ice from 5 to 6, and from 6:30 to 8 there will be an adult hockey skills competition.
The Legion Spaghetti Dinner will get underway at 5:30 p.m. (with a cost of $10 a person). Then at 8:30 p.m. the DJ Shiverfest Dance will start.
Much of the action moves outdoors on Sunday starting at 10 a.m. Activities will include log-sawing, Money in the Hay, nail-driving, a sleigh competition and race, a snowshoe relay obstacle race, taffy on the snow, a Tug O' War challenge, a snowman contest (snow permitting), and a council barbecue.
The afternoon on the ice will include two hours of curling beginning at 2 p.m., followed by three hours of human ice bowling.
Sunday will wrap up with a music jam and karaoke beginning at 7:30 p.m.
The weekend may be finished at that point but the activities aren't. There will be a family movie at the Bunny Miller Theatre on Monday afternoon from 2 to 4. Back at the arena on Monday evening, there will be public skating from 6 to 8 and adult Pickup Hockey from 8 to 10.
Darlene Wroe is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter with the Temiskaming Speaker. LJI is funded by the Government of Canada.
