Winter Park near Kewaunee, January 4, 2024. PC: Fox 11 Online
KEWAUNEE COUNTY, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — What do you get when you mix high-pressured water, some compressed air and a bit of cold temperatures?
Conditions that are just right to “make” snow.
It may be the artificial kind, but one park along the Lakeshore is using the system to make up for lost time.
With temperatures in the the 20s at Winter Park Thursday morning, Kewaunee County Promotions and Recreation Director Dave Myers says four snow guns are going non-stop.
“We just started last night, and we’re hoping to go into Friday morning with this round of snow making. But then it warms up again. So then we’re just going to keep watching the temperatures, and make snow. Every time we can, we’ll be making more,” said Dave Myers, Kewaunee County Promotions and Recreation Director.
Myers says getting the five-lane tubing run ready is the priority.
“Usually we’ll make some big piles. Let that dry out, a little bit. But there’s going to be some residual water in there. It’s going to soak out. We’ll get the groomers to move it, but one issue we have is we’re waiting for the ground to freeze up a little better. Because our groomers are going to tear up the ground. It’s still kind of soft here,” he said.
“The weather’s been a little rough. We normally would like to have more snow by now,” said Hailey Piepho, Winter Park Curator.
Kewaunee County Parks Department Curator Hailey Piepho says Winter Park offers downhill skiing and snowboarding too. Officials say about 14,000 people visited the site last season.
“It’s a lot of fun. It’s kind of hidden away, so not a lot of people know about it. But once they come here, it’s like, hey, this is really nice,” said Piepho.
In the meantime, snow making will continue as long as the weather cooperates.
“We’re not going to be ready to go this weekend. Yet, I’m hoping for next weekend. But we’ll update everything, because we don’t know what Mother Nature will bring next week. Whether it be snow, or rain. We hope for snow,” said Myers.
Once the season starts, Winter Park is open to the public on the weekends.
Last year, the park stayed open until the third week of March.
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