Winter Carnival to bring the Ellicottville community together this weekend

ELLICOTTVILLE, N.Y. (WIVB) — Even though the clocks spring forward this weekend, there’s still time for skiers and snowboarders to hit the slopes at Holiday Valley in Ellicottville. They have events planned all month long, including this weekend with their Winter Carnival.

“We’ll see thousands of people there this weekend,” said Dash Hegeman, Director of Marketing with Holiday Valley. “It’s a little weather dependent, but even when the weather is not perfect, people come out for this.”

From live music, to their annual snow bar, to face painting, ice cream socials, and skiing competitions, there are events planned for all ages on Saturday and Sunday.

With the consistent cold temperatures and around 180 inches of snowfall so far this season, Hegeman says this winter has been night and day compared to the last two.

“I would encourage anyone that hasn’t been happy with this winter to start skiing and snowboarding and then they’ll be happy with it because it has been fantastic,” Hegeman said. “When we’re successful, the village is successful and vice versa. We’re stoked to be able to do our part to bring people into this Western New York community.”

“Our goal is to bring people into Ellicottville, we want them to stay the weekend, we want them to shop, we want them to dine, we want them to come down during the week too and make a whole vacation out of it because we are a resort and destination,” Barb Pump, executive director of Ellicottville’s Chamber of Commerce said.

The Chamber of Commerce says their village Mardi Gras weekend traditions, including the Mardi Gras parade, started more than 25 years ago, to bring people into Ellicottville, promote the businesses, and bring the whole community together.

“Holiday Valley Ski Patrol does a collection for the food pantry, and this year–there’s going to be a boot collection for Zach Golley, there was a tragedy that happened,” said Pump. “They are going to be out there this weekend on Saturday, collecting funds for his wife Emily and their daughter Bailey.”

Pump says anyone who cannot make it to the parade, but would like to donate, should call the Village of Ellicotville for more information, or donate to the GoFundMe page.

The village’s annual Mardi Gras Parade will take place at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday.

For more information on the Mardi Gras and Winter Carnival activities, visit the Chamber of Commerce website here. For future events at Holiday Valley, and hours of operation, visit their website here.

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Kayleigh Hunter-Gasperini joined the News 4 team in 2024 as a Digital Video Producer. She is a graduate of Chatham University.

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