Well, we’ve done it again. Another successful and fun Fire and Ice Festival at the Anarchy Zone and Ithaca Children’s Garden.
The “Hands-on-Nature” Anarchy Zone is one of the first of the US’s new Adventure Playgrounds inspired by the European model and filled with loose parts and trained playworkers— it’s a place where kids are free to climb trees, dig in the mud, built forts, cook over fires and much more. But it’s also a place where we have occasional events and celebrations.
We kicked off opening the Anarchy Zone by celebrating International Mud Day in June but celebrations and play are not for warm months alone. That’s right: we need play in winter just as much as summer (maybe more - winters in upstate NY are long and cold!) So with that in mind we started the Festival of Fire and Ice. Our third year, was huge — over 700 people attended and we just had our tenth on Feb. 4th!
There was sledding, snowball fights, huge mountains of snow to climb on, caldrons of hot chocolate, marshmallow roasting, fire sculpture, ice laboratories, snow fort building, and when the sun set out came the fire hoola hoopers and fire jugglers. Yeah!! Take a peek at the photos above.
Could you do this too? Even in warm climates you can make ice in freezers and make smores beside a fire. Give it a try. What better way to get through long cold winters than to have fun, play, and celebrate with family, friends, and community. (and fire!!)
