Syracuse celebrates the season with Winterfest

Dan Smith, 46, from Brewerton has lived near Syracuse his whole life, but has only been to the city’s annual Winterfest six times. He has not gone other years mostly because of harsh weather.

This year, he decided to make the trip on the last of the festival.

“It’s a nice day to walk around,” Smith said. “The event had no bearing.”

The weather last weekend was finally a perfect setting for the twelfth and final day of Winterfest in downtown Syracuse, which ran from Feb. 17 to 27.

People from Syracuse’s surrounding areas ventured to the heart of the city to spend their weekend engaging in indoor and outdoor events.

Cook-offs

The Chowder Cook-off brought different restaurants and organizations together to face off and see who serves the best chowder in Central New York. All participating restaurants came to Hanover Square the morning of the event and prepared all of their food in front of customers. The public voted on their favorite chowder, and the one with the most votes won the People's Choice Award. A panel of judges also gave out awards to which chowders they decided were the top three entries.

Kitty Hoynes took home the People’s Choice Award and awarded first place by the judges for the second consecutive year.

Damien Brownlow of Liverpool has been a cook at Kitty Hoynes for 11 years. Kitty Hoynes has been participating in Winterfest for nine years, Brownlow said.

“We enjoy doing it,” he said. “We’re all indoors for three months of the year. It’s nice to get outside.”

On Saturday, Hanover Square hosted another Winterfest signature event, the Chili Cook-off. Ten area restaurants competed to win the top prize. The warmth from the chili helped keep people outside and participating in the Winterfest events long enough for the public to vote DJ Inn. Up In Smokes won first place from judges and also the People's Choice Award.

Cindi O’Brien of Mattydale and Mike Schaap of Cicero, are both close friends with the owners of DJ Inn. They were enthusiastic about the cook-off and wore bright red outfits advertising their choice, completing the outfits with sombreros and chili pepper necklaces.

“It’s a team thing,” O’Brien said.

Music

Besides the free food, Winterfest offered free entertainment events that fit a variety of musical tastes.

Friday night at Wise Guys Comedy Club, a jazz band started playing at the beginning of happy hour when a few people started stopping in for drinks and lasted up until 8:00 p.m.

The band “ESP” named one of their first songs “My Toes Are Cold”, in honor of Winterfest. The four-man local band, started by friends Matt Vacanti and John Magnante 12 years ago, plays every Friday at Wise Guys.

Los Blancos, a blues band, played at Empire Brewing Co. restaurant. Dinosaur Bar-B-Que also hosted a series of rock bands Sunday while serving wings as part of the Winterfest Wing Walk.

Other activities

All the loud bands may be too much for family outing. That’s why Winterfest provided a family-orientated Kids Karnival in the City Hall Commons Atrium. It included games, face painting, and balloon animals for children of all ages. Blessed Virgin Mary of God Academy sponsored the event.

“We try to include a winter theme in the games,” said Jeanette Peterson, the coordinator of Kids Karnival and a parishioner at Blessed Virgin Mary of God Church.

Even if adults felt embarrassed or too old to play in the games at Kids Karnival, many made sure to keep in touch with their inner child with a Teddy Heads hat.

Teddy Heads is a primarily online business that has a few store locations scattered across the country. The business sells hats that have an animal face on the top of the hat with long ear coverings, which represent the animal’s paws.

“Everybody thinks that more kids would wear them, but adults love them,” Jean Koch, a friend of the owner, said.

Families, couples, and friends could end their day by doing a few laps around the ice skating rink in Clinton Square. The rink was located next to an ice castle, new to the festival this year, which was lit up as soon as dusk hit downtown Syracuse.

Edward Flewllen of Syracuse is moving to North Carolina, but will definitely come back and visit for Winterfest, he said.

“This is what it's about.” Flewllen said. “This is Central New York in your hands.