Preparations underway for Altoona's first Winter Fest

Friday, January 23, 2015
Courtney Ryan, WEAU.COM

ALTOONA, Wis. (WEAU)-- The first annual Winter Fest will start Friday Jan. 23, on Lake Altoona. Festival organizer Brad Windeshausen said they've been planning the event for more than a year.

"We're basically taking a frozen lake and turning it into a small city out on the lake," Windesahusen said.

He says they are expecting a large crowd this year; one reason is because Snow Biz will be part of the three day festival.

"We were able to actually work with United Cerebral Palsy which has been doing Snow Biz for the past 20 or so years and they've outgrown their space on Brackett and are bringing their festival on Saturday into our festival,"Windesahusen said.

Local volunteers were out in full force, putting last minute touches on the set up. William Kasputs said they ran into very little issues when they were setting up.

"It was difficult unfolding the tarps, they're frozen- kind of makes it a little bit hard," Kasputs said.

Bruce Franzway of Franzwa's Café Custom Catering was on Lake Altoona Thursday getting ready to serve up food this weekend.

"I got deep fryers that have to get set up today, the big grill for hot dogs and hamburgers, all our roasters and stuff for chicken," said Franzway.

Franzway says with a good forecast in the mix, he expects it's going to be a great weekend.

"We're also going to have chili, hot chocolate, coffee, so it should be a pretty good event with cheese curds so it's going to be awesome," Franzway said.

Winter Fest starts at 4:30 Friday night and runs through Sunday. It is free to attend.

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