If the winter blues have you down, check out a new event designed to get people out of the house.
Naperville Park District’s new winter event, “Glow in the Snow,” will be from 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, at Central Park, 104 E. Benton Ave. The event is free, open to all ages and is designed to inspire people to enjoy the winter evening, said Erika Rubo, community engagement and event manager with the Naperville Park District.
It will feature illuminated decorations and lights in the trees along the walking path in the park, she said.
“Someone can simply walk around and enjoy the ambiance of that,” she said. “But throughout the walk as well we are going to have (pictures of) hidden winter animals you can find – we will have a half-sheet scavenger hunt so they can look for those animals and check them off. As well as that, we will have some animal educational stations – matching an animal track in the snow to an animal, learning about how animals stay warm in the winter and what they have to do to find food in the winter.”
There will also be some glow games like lighted basketball and ring toss, she said.
“We’re really excited to have the Naperville Astronomical Association with a couple of telescopes, weather permitting,” she said. “They’re hoping to show both the moon and Jupiter. We’re really excited about that, to bring that whole different element to it as something that families and people can do outside during the winter. This (event) falls on one of their regularly scheduled public viewing nights, so we’re excited about that collaboration with them.”
The Naperville Astronomical Association is an amateur astronomy club that hosts regular meetings and coordinates sky-viewing events in the area.
There will also be free hot cocoa and three different photo stations.
“We will have an element that looks like a snow globe as well as a backdrop area and big letters that spell out ‘glow’ that are all lit up,” she said. “Something to capture the memory of the night.”
Rubo oversees events from outside organizations held on park properties as part of her position. When she was given the chance to come up with a new event for the park district, she recognized a need.
“We don’t offer a lot for the winter months that’s outside of holiday time,” she said. “I was looking for something that could get people out of the house to enjoy nature and recreate a little bit, even in the winter. I wanted to make it to where they could do something for 10 to 20 minutes or they could experience and take advantage of everything the event has to offer and be out there for an hour to an hour and a half.”
Inspired by trendy “glow” events, she knew the event had to be at night and it had to be outside. She wanted opportunities for interaction, so she paired a scavenger hunt and animal education with the event.
“Coming from a mom of an almost three-year-old boy, I look for things to do with him outside almost year-round,” she said.
She’s hoping others are just as inspired to bundle up and venture outside on a February night.
“We’re hoping for decent weather so it’s not absolutely freezing but still has winter ambiance to really promote that there are fun things to do in the wintertime to get out of the house to get your bodies moving,” she said. “We want (people) to come … and enjoy the lights, take a walk around the path and grab a cup of hot chocolate. If you have your kids, we want them to interact with every single station, every single sponsor and get an hour to an hour and a half outside with activities.”
The event will be held with or without snow on the ground. Registration is not required.
Annie Alleman is a freelance reporter for the Naperville Sun.
