Both St. Adolphe and Ile Des Chenes are making the most of the warmer weather this weekend during their winter festivals.

Yvette Bernat is one of the organizers of the Ile Des Chenes Snowman Festival. She notes three years ago a number of residents and business owners started the Snowman Festival to give the community a reason to get together in the middle of winter.

The family dance in Ile Des Chenes"We started off small and we have just kept growing it. Every event at the festival is run or organized by a different member of the community or business in the community. The more people you get involved, the more people get excited about the festival."

Bernat says the festivities got underway Friday evening with fireworks at 6:15 P.M. followed by a family dance. She notes the winner of the annual community-wide snowman building competition was supposed to be announced at the dance, but they have extended the competition until February 28th due to the cold weather.

Meanwhile, in St. Adolphe the Winter Carnival is in full swing. Organizer Andrea Vermette says the carnival is a long-standing tradition that dates back to the 1980s. She says on Thursday evening approximately 150 St. Adolphe residents helped kick off the Winter Carnival with a night at the A Maze In Corn snow maze. 

Vermette says the whole weekend is designed to reach all ages.

"It just brings the community together. There are so many different types of people like the seniors, the baby boomers, the people who have toddlers, and it is just a nice time to bring the community together and see each other in the winter when we normally don't see each other, we are all hidden in our houses."

Both the St. Adolphe Winter Carnival and the Ile Des Chenes Snowman Festival will wrap up Saturday evening.

kids getting involved at the family dance in Ile Des Chenes