BLANDFORD – The Blandford Ski Area will be celebrating the winter season with its annual jubilee next Saturday, February 21.
Some of the day’s events will include the Inferno Downhill Scholarship Race at 2 p.m. on the Broadway Trail, with proceeds for the event going into a scholarship fund that will be presented to a college bound high school senior from the Blandford Race Team, whose members hail from Agawam, Westfield and Gateway Regional School Districts.
At 6 p.m. that evening, Blandford Ski Area ski instructors will present a torch light parade down the Broadway Trail, an annual event where club members join the instructors to gather out on the slope and cheer the parade of torches as the instructors ski down the mountain.
Blandford Ski Area Marketing Director David Fraser is excited for the event, which he says goes back at least two decades.
“It usually happens the Saturday of the school vacation week and it is an opportunity for club members to enjoy a meal and a past president of the club, Dave Gibb, will be making Gluehwein, a warm German/Austrian winter drink known to tourists as a popular drink to be enjoyed after a long day on the slopes,” said Fraser, adding that there will be representatives from ski companies doing product demos in the morning, and that memberships for next year will also be on sale for visitors.
Following the conclusion of the torch light parade, Fraser said there will be a chicken parmigiana, lasagna and eggplant dinner held for club members and visitors.
“The ticket sales are just under 100 (people), so we’re hoping for 150,” he said Friday afternoon, adding that he’s expecting several hundred non-members to hit the slopes this weekend.
Tickets for the jubilee dinner are $18 for club members and $23 for non-members, while tickets for children ages 6-10 are $8.
