Wallace Winter Fest put on hold for now

WALLACE — Dreams of a white Christmas didn’t come true for most of Shoshone County, and on the east end of the Valley it was felt even more as Wallace was forced to cancel their Winter Fest events over New Year’s Weekend.

This meant no skijoring down through the streets of Wallace and no snowbiking or snowmobiling in Mullan.

After holding out through Christmas, Ski Wallace chairman Sheena Braulick and her committee made the difficult decision to postpone the event due to Mother Nature’s lack of cooperation.

“We had contingency plans to truck snow in but there wasn't much snow in the surrounding area,” Braulick said. “The cost to truck in the amount of snow needed would have been very expensive and as a non-profit we were relying on volunteers and donations so that wasn't feasible.”

Holding out on the decision until the day after Christmas was the latest the group could wait before giving the local Wallace businesses the proper notifications.

Fortunately, for those who were looking forward to Wallace Winter Fest, Braulick and company have rescheduled the event for President’s Day Weekend in February.

Winter Fest’s success last year made rescheduling a no-brainer for the Ski Wallace organization as the event has a dramatic economic impact on the entire east side of Shoshone County.

Braulick just hopes that the people who planned on making it on New Year’s Weekend will be able to make the later date work.

“I'm not sure how many people were turned away, but last year the event brought several hundred people to town for the weekend festivities,” Braulick said. “The hotels were booked up, restaurants sold out of food and bars had great sales. Our Ski Wallace! Inc non-profit board members are extremely disappointed that weather caused us to cancel. The snowbike and snowmobile races also had to be canceled. Overall a big hit to our economy this December but no one can control or predict the weather. We have a great event planned and the town really benefits. Weather permitting, it will happen in February.”

Ski Wallace did still benefit from the burlesque show they put on as a fundraiser and they plan to utilize some of those funds to make sure they can put on a quality event later this winter.

President’s Day Weekend is Feb. 16-17, and more information can be found at skiwallace.com.