 Lake Bemidji's premiere winter weekend is fast approaching. Our Josh Peterson met with the organizers of Lake Bemidji's Winterfest to find out how preparations are going. It's the one weekend where everyone celebrates the ice, snow, and cold of winter. The fourth annual Winterfest celebration on Lake Bemidji is Northern Minnesota's newest celebration of winter. And each year, the Winterfest committee works hard to keep it new and fresh every year. We're just trying to build the different events and try to figure out what people are looking for based on what they're doing as winter activities throughout the year, and just incorporating that into Winterfest. Winterfest may be over two and a half weeks away, however, preparations for one of its largest events has already begun. Flooding for the curling rinks has started, and yet there's still plenty of work that remains to be done. Last Wednesday, we did our first flood Wednesday night. Perfect weather, no wind, and only 20, or about 10 below. We do that, it's about four to five floods that we need to get the curling ice prepared. What looks like a makeshift ice rink will soon be the center of Winterfest curling action, with up to 28 teams competing. Throughout the entire Winterfest event, curlers of all ages will be able to take part. The ice is an equalizer. You can have novices out there that can do just as good or better than experienced curlers because the ice isn't perfect. Winterfest always takes pride in offering something for everyone, which is why event organizers believe it has seen Winterfest grow every year. I think the vision from the very beginning was that we would continue to add aspects of Winterfest to try to highlight many different interests. With Winterfest sitting near the shoreline on Lake Bemidji in the shadow of some of Bemidji's hotels, the hope is that people from all over will travel to the area and experience why the people of Bemidji embrace and celebrate the cold winter months. In Bemidji, Josh Peterson, Lakeland News. And we have posted a link to the full schedule of events and all the Winterfest information you need to know on our website, lptv.org, slash news. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.