This year’s New England BKL Festival is taking place in our own back yard at Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Craftsbury, Vt on March 4 & 5th. It’s not that far away this year, so even if your child doesn’t want to race, you should consider going because there is a Nordic Adventure category where they get to do all these fun activities on skis.
Here is how the Festival Works:
This is a ski festival for kids and it’s a lot of fun for everyone. It’s big- there will be over 400 kids participating from all over New England. There are races both days- a skate relay on Saturday and an Individual Classic race for all age groups on Sunday. But there is lots more going on besides the races. There is a whole schedule of Nordic Adventure activities like a parade, a mini-marathon, terrain park, laser biathlon with US Biathletes, maple sugaring demos, draft horse logging demos, an autograph session with Bill Koch, and more. All the Nordic Adventure activities are included with a racer registration but your child could also sign up for just the Nordic Adventure activities if they are not interested in racing.
For MNC, we will have a big contingent of racers and Nordic Adventure skiers going. We will set up a team tent which will be our home base and hang-out spot, put together a pot-luck lunch for both days, have coaches on hand to wax kids’ skis and help them preview courses and get ready for the races. For the relay day, Coach Rosemary works hard the week before to set everyone up with a relay partner. Sometimes kids get paired with someone from another club and have the opportunity to make a new ski friend.
The races are going on all day long and so are the Nordic Adventure activities. So, your child might have their race in the morning and then they will probably spend the rest of the day on their skis, going between our tent (for snacks) and all the different Nordic Adventure activities.
Read more about the Festival and Register on Ski Reg: https://www.skireg.com/nebklfestival
We had a great time up in Craftsbury last week during vacation! We previewed the BKL Festival courses, then went for a classic tour in excellent powder conditions. After lunch we took over the lower soccer field, did some team sprint relay races and then played a lot of sharks & minnows and everyone’s it tag. Beautiful weather, great conditions made for a very fun day!
