Polson Winter Carnival entertains packed house
Nicole Tavenner
Children play musical chairs accompanied by live music performed by the Polson High School Pep Band.
Nicole Tavenner
Dennis DeVries of Polson Heart and Soul explains value statements gathered from people whose input is vital to the direction Polson will grow in the future.
Nicole Tavenner
NT Tucker takes a huge bite of locally grown food.
Nicole Tavenner
Montana Co-op Kids sell cupcakes made with local ingredients that participants can decorate with icing.
Nicole Tavenner
An organic Flathead Cherry pie is up for auction at the Winter Carnival.
Nicole Tavenner
Isaac McNair sinks into the ball pit at the Winter Carnival at Polson High School.
Nicole Tavenner
Isaac McNair sinks into the ball pit at the Winter Carnival at Polson High School.
Nicole Tavenner
Nicole Tavenner
Tessa Nunlist shapes balloons at the Winter Carnival Sunday, March 22 at Polson High School.
Nicole Tavenner
Tessa Nunlist shapes balloons at the Winter Carnival Sunday, March 22 at Polson High School.
Nicole Tavenner
Tessa Nunlist shapes balloons at the Winter Carnival Sunday, March 22 at Polson High School.
Nicole Tavenner
Students facepaint to raise funds for their class.
Linda Sappington
A small smiling face emerges from the ball pit.
Linda Sappington
Three smiling faces emerge from the ball pit.
Linda Sappington
The senior class at Polson High School holds a cake walk at the Winter Carnival.
Linda Sappington
Wooden coins from the 1970s carnival are displayed.
Linda Sappington
Students facepaint to raise funds for their class.
Nicole Tavenner
Kid’s Co-op member Stephen Roberts calls himself “the master pizza maker" at the Winter Carnival.
Linda Sappington
Floating rubber ducks provide entertainment for young children.
Nicole Tavenner
The Polson Heart and Soul wall offers an opportunity to gain more public input into the direction residents would like to Polson grow.
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News from Polson Heart and Soul
POLSON – Musical chairs is more fun when played with a live band, and cake tastes sweeter when it is won at a cakewalk. Those things and much more were discovered by hundreds of people who showed up to support Polson High School classes and clubs at the Winter Carnival on Sunday, March 16, at Polson High School.
The event had a déjà vu quality for long-time residents and Polson High School graduates from the previous century.
Toby Nelson, head coach and athletic director, started the Winter Carnival in 1948 with help from co-worker Jack McQuinn, who had once worked for Barnum and Bailey Circus. The carnival encouraged class pride as freshmen, sophomores, juniors and seniors competed with hilarious skits, decorated booths, parade floats and a King and Queen.
“It was about class pride, a huge rivalry,” Julie (Smith) Christopher said. Her sister-in-law, Deborah Kim Christopher, agreed.
“One of my funnest memories was at carnival,” she said.
Although once the highlight of local winter activities, the Polson Winter Carnival had been absent from the community calendar for about 15 years before making its reappearance this past weekend.
Organizers of the two-year Polson Heart & Soul project, which concludes at the end of this month, noticed during community values identification work, that residents often mentioned the Winter Carnival as a positive example.
“It was brought up in conversations about the desire for more winter activities, it was given as an example of events that can bond a community together, it was provided as an example of honoring tradition and family, and it was even mentioned in conversations about teaching youth business and leadership skills,” said Darlis Smith, co-coordinator of Polson Heart & Soul. “So when it was time to decide on some type of gathering to wrap up the project, the Winter Carnival immediately came to mind. We knew it would draw a large number of community members to help us complete final Heart & Soul project tasks, and that it also would be about the best gift we could give to the community – the beginning of the comeback of the much-loved Polson Winter Carnival.”
The event began in the high school auditorium with a welcome by Polson Heart & Soul and premiere of the group’s wrap-up video. It then quickly moved into the gymnasium and cafeteria where an exciting array of carnival games and local food selections awaited the eager attendees.
“Seventeen classes and organizations provided 21 games,” said Shelley Quinn, an Envision Polson volunteer who organized the carnival portion of the event. “Even though this year was sort of a ‘mini’ event because it lasted only two hours whereas the former Winter Carnival was more like a two-day event, the kids put the effort in and it paid off.”
Quinn cited several examples: The senior class cakewalk yielded nearly $750. Theater Club’s 10-minute original play “Pirattitude” and Indian Club’s beanbag toss each brought in over $250 for their respective organizations. And the junior class boosted their funds for the upcoming prom by more than $300 with their fishing and balloon dart throw games.
“Tickets were only 50 cents, and most games cost only one or two tickets. If it wasn’t clear by the swarm of people in the gymnasium, the financial results of the classes and clubs clearly showed that we had a lot of community members show up to support our youth and have a great time playing games together,” said Daniel Smith, co-coordinator of the Heart & Soul project. “As one of those people for whom the Winter Carnival is a favorite memory of my growing-up years in Polson, I couldn’t be happier with the results.”
Confidence is high among school and Envision Polson volunteers that there will be another Winter Carnival next winter. To volunteer, contact Shelley Quinn at (406) 261-4298.
