Greenfield’s annual Winter Carnival will not be held for the second year running, according to organizers.
“We didn’t have the Winter Carnival last year in 2021 due to the big C (COVID-19), so I don’t know if that contributed to it not coming together this year or not,” said organizer Dorene Adams.
According to Greenfield resident Jesseca Timmons, who was organizing along with the Greenfield Friends of the Meetinghouse group to participate in the Winter Carnival, there was no one specific decision that led to calling off the carnival this year.
“It just kind of happened that enough groups pulled out that it just kind of fell apart,” she said. The groups mostly pulled out due to the surge in the Omicron variant of COVID, she said.
The carnival was initially scheduled for Feb. 12. Events in the past have included a pancake breakfast and car wash from the Fire Department, activities at the library, skating, snowshoeing, a cardboard sled race and a chili cook-off.
Adams said that because Greenfield is a small town, the carnival’s inception and organization is often informal, and so was this year’s cancellation. As such, she said, she’s not worried about its significance for the town, and is looking forward to next year.
“We’ve been doing it for so many years now, I can’t even remember when it started,” she said. “I just decided to hold off and we’ll see what next year brings.”