The Average Person Winter Olympics was hosted by Downtown Frosty Forks Fest, a festival filled with food trucks, music, and “Frozen’s” Olaf. The average Olympians competed for, amongst other prizes, a trophy by competing in various winter events.
The entire event was organized by the Grand Forks Downtown Development Association. As vice president of marketing for the DDA, Svea Benefield manages their social-media platforms and handles marketing and public relations for the organization and their events, including Downtown Frosty Forks Fest.
“With us being a small staff, I have a hand in the events side of things too,” Benefield said. “Helping out with logistics and things like that.”
The DDA began planning for Downtown Frosty Forks Fest around late November.
“I feel like all of our events are kind of a year-long thing,” Benefield said. “It’ll be just random times we think ‘this would be super cool for Frosty Forks Fest.”
Downtown Frosty Forks Fest kicked off at 10 a.m. with a five-kilometer and fat-bike race.
“The day will start with a five-kilometer race on the Greenway town square, as well as the fat-bike race,” Benefield said. “Basically, people put larger tires on their bike for wintertime to trail ride.”
Then, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., festival goers could ice skate, grab a slice of pizza provided by Rhombus Guys or a cup of coffee, and watch the Average Person Winter Olympics by the fire pits at 1 p.m.
“It was just an idea they, our former CEO Blue Weber and one of his friends, had been talking about there’s so many annoying things about winter,” Benefield said. “That it would be fun to make a competition out of it.”
The Average Person Winter Olympics consists of a snowball relay, three-legged race, dodgeball on ice, human hungry hungry hippos, and a scavenger hunt.
“We wanted to have an event to help people embrace winter more,” Benefield said. “We know it gets long sometimes here, but there’s also ways to enjoy it through recreation.”
Besides a trophy, the winning team of the Average Person Winter Olympics will receive a swag bag including sweatshirts, t-shirts, and gift cards.
“We have a really fun community that you can go out, do different things, meet people,” Benefield said. “Maybe just get off campus to experience the community.”
Besides Downtown Frosty Forks Fest, there are plenty of activities to be enjoyed as winter concludes, such as ice skating, snow-shoe hiking, and visiting the Greenway or downtown Grand Forks for coffee or dinner.
Dylan Campbell is a Dakota Student Section Editor. He can be reached at [email protected].
