Weather takes toll on Valley Stream's Winterfest

Valley Stream’s first Winterfest wasn’t all that it was cracked up to be — but that was Mother Nature’s fault.

The two marquee events for the first Winterfest were canceled — an ice-skating session at Grant Park on Dec. 26 and Family Day on Dec. 29 — were wiped out by wet and windy weather.

All the indoor events went out as scheduled including a Kwanza crafts program, a pajama party and holiday games at the Henry Waldinger Memorial Library, and an arts and crafts session at the Hendrickson Park Community Center.

On Dec. 28, children made masks, toolboxes, birdhouses, wooden cars and trucks and snowflakes in the Community Center’s Burgundy Room with their help of their parents and recreation aides. The night before, children were invited to the library in their pajamas for a showing of the movie “Elf.”

Village officials say they hope to reschedule the ice-skating session for later this winter, however the planned fire truck rides probably will not be.