Cold weather fun at Glen Ellyn's Arctic Blast

The Glen Ellyn Park District hosted its third annual Arctic Blast on Sunday, giving residents a chance to enjoy winter fun by skating on Lake Ellyn and playing in the snow on a pleasant late-winter day.

“I'm glad it's not really arctic,” said Mary Defiglia, the park district's assistant superintendent of recreation “The weather really hasn't been too bad when the sun is out.”

Throughout the afternoon children took advantage of the frozen lake by competing in ice skating races and shooting goals with a hockey stick. They were awarded medals that several children wore proudly around their neck for the rest of the afternoon.

Temperatures usually aren't cold enough for skating on the lake in late February, according to one of the park district employees responsible for maintaining the ice.

Eric Yassell, who works in park maintenance and operations for the Glen Ellyn Park District, said he was glad it was cold enough for the children to skate, just as many of their parents and grandparents had before them when they were young.

On shore, children tested their throwing accuracy at the Snowball Toss.

Emily Maruyama, who was helping run the game, said only a few children successfully hit the center of the target in the first hour of play. The target was tied to a tree about 50 feet away from a cooler filled with snowballs. Maruyama said the snowballs had been frozen, allowing them to keep their shape and be reused. That meant was less time shaping snowballs, but more time retrieving the ones that missed the target.

Also on shore were the essentials of winter weather enjoyment, hot chocolate, fire pits, marshmallows and long sticks with which to roast them.

Last year, the event was held at Maryknoll Park, which was covered in snow. Defiglia said last year's snow was better for playing, but being able to have skating on the lake made this year's event the most successful Arctic Blast yet.