Perris Park Transformed into Snowy Winter Wonderland

All around was a winter wonderland, a blanket of pure white snow glittering under the sun at San Bernardino's Perris Hill Park on Saturday, Dec. 13. A whopping 30 tons of real snow was shipped into the park for San Bernardino's first Winter Wonderland event, drawing 4,000 residents throughout the day-long event hosted by the City of San Bernardino's Parks, Recreation and Community Services department, partnered with the city's fire, police and Community Development departments, Integrated Waste, Patrons of the Roosevelt Bowl, Community Ho Ho Parade, Urban Conservation Corps and San Bernardino Farmers Fair and Market. With the city facing financial challenges, the goal of the event was to put on an event that would cater to the community, explained Aviana Cerezo, the community recreation manager with the city's Parks, Recreation and Community Services department. "This year we really wanted to collaborate and unify the efforts and the resources of our departments to do one event," Cerezo said. The free event kicked off at noon and ran until 10 p.m. Saturday, and included a Santa photo booth, a HoHo display and parade, sledding down "Snow Hill," a 5 p.m. tree lighting ceremony, an evening showing of the animated Christmas film "Arthur Christmas," live entertainment, vendors and food trucks. An estimated 400 volunteers donated their efforts to bringing the event to life - turning out to be so popular that volunteers ran out of wristbands within the first hour, said Cerezo. The original attendance goal was 1,000 people. "We well exceeded that. We had to go to the store and pick up some back-up wristbands because that was the only way we could keep track of attendance since it was a free event," she said. "Everything we had planned for was for 1,000 people: the arts and crafts, the number of volunteers and vendors, the snow and sleds. As my director always says, these are good problems to have." The "snow" was created from shaved ice blocks delivered to the park by two semi-trucks, Cerezo explained. The blocks were then put into an ice shaver and shaped by workers to form the sledding hill and cover the park in snow. It took approximately three hours for the park to be transformed. Hosting the event free of charge was another important aspect of the event, Cerezo said. "We recognize that not only is the city struggling financially, but some residents are going through hard times as well," said Cerezo. "We wanted to make sure this was something that everyone could enjoy regardless of their economic situation." Planning for the event began in late October, but Cerezo said its success was credited to the work of volunteers. "Everyone had specific rules and things they had to do and that's why we were able to get it pulled together so quickly," she said. The event is planned again for next year, and the hope is to make it even bigger. "We're hoping to have twice the amount of snow next year," Cerezo said.