The Butler County Conservation Board is hosting their annual Lighted Night Ski event Saturday, February 1st on the south side of Heery Woods State Park in Clarksville near the nature center.
Butler County Naturalist Annette Wittrock says for those attending the event, you can bring your own ski equipment, if not, the conservation board will have equipment to use.
“We have quite a few skis, poles, boots, so anyone who needs to borrow one, we probably have them. We won’t even charge you to use them that night. So you can just walk in, get you the gear you need, and if you do walk in, we may or may not have the correct boot size for you, but we’ll get close. And if there is snow or is not snow, we’ll have other activities taking place, and we’ll still have the hobo stew.”
There is no cost to attend the event but the board asks to bring a canned good that can be added to the stew. Wittrock says the event depends on having enough snow to ski on. If there is no snow, the board plans to host a lighted hike that night. She says there are some other items attendees might want to bring.
“So we do recommend bringing a headlamp with you. Gives you a little extra light on the trails. Sometimes the candles get blown out by the wind or from someone accidentally throwing snow on them while skiing or falling down near them. And we don’t want anyone to lose the trail. If you have questions or want to call ahead to reserve your boots or just to get more information, you can call us at the nature center. Just make sure if you’re leaving us a message, you give us shoe sizes that you need and whether they’re men’s, women’s, or youth sizes and we’ll have them set aside for you the night of the event.”
For more information or to register for the event, you can call the nature center at 319-346-6551 or visit mycountyparks.com.
