Snow warms up mid-winter

Moriah Weston and Bek McIntyre enjoying the 30 meter long snow tube run at Winterfest. 103897 PICTURE: Rebecca Bills

By REBECCA BILLS

EARLIER this month a real snow tube run was made at Mount Evelyn’s Discovery Church during a weekend long conference called Winterfest.
The youth and young adults weekend was packed with fun events, give aways, DJs and speakers from around the country and saw four tonnes of ice brought into the church grounds to create a 30 meter long snow tube run.
Youth Pastor at Discovery Church Nathan ‘Dubsy’ Want said although the snow run was exciting the sole purpose of the weekend was to refresh and equip the youth and young adults participating.
“It’s really about engaging our youth and young adult community that is already present but also our wider community,” he said.
“Internally it’s something that can be used as a fresh spiritual injection into the rest of the year.
“You get to the middle of the year and we all tend to get a bit of the ‘mid-year blues’ and it was really an opportunity to have a heap of fun and connect not only our members but the local community.”
Mr Want said the event was planned months in advance and it took 60 volunteers to run the event that more than 250 people attended over the weekend.
“This included 10 other churches from around Victoria that attended the conference,” he said.
“We started talking about Winterfest as an event five to six months ago and then a team of volunteers starting meeting once a week for the last three months to really ensure the event was planned out and ready.
“We are planning to make this an annual feature at the church and we are really excited about that.”
Moriah Weston and Bek McIntyre were two participants of the weekend and said they really enjoyed everything the conference had to offer, especially the snow.
“The snow is awesome and it has been really great to be here,” Miss McIntyre said.