After Blizzard, No Snow at Winter by the Bay

The third annual Winter by the Bay event took place at the Ronkonkoma Recreation Center on Rosevale Avenue last week, featuring horse and buggy rides, sledding and ice skating, snowman building contests and a fireside lounge.

The weather caused a problem from the first day, thanks to the blizzard that eventually hit Long Island with over a foot of snow. The final day of the event, which is hosted by the Town of Islip, was hampered by rain, making a few of the event's attractions non existent.

"I thought they were going to have snow for the sleigh riding and the snowman contests. I thought they were going to make snow because they advertised this event before the blizzard, so how were people supposed to do all the winter things they advertised without snow?" asked Liz DaSilva, who came to the event from her West Islip home with her husband, Lee, and their two children.

According to the the Commissioner of Parks and Recreation for the Town of Islip, Greg Dawson, the Town planned on making snow but the weather did not cooperate.

"While the blizzard unfortunately forced us to cancel last Monday's (Dec. 27) Winter by the Bay activities, it left us plenty of snow for sledding on Tuesday and Wednesday ( Dec. 28 and 29)," Dawson said.  "As temperatures warmed up later in the week, we brought in snow (made from ice shavings) that was donated by The Rinx at Hidden Pond Park (in Hauppauge). This worked great for Saturday (Jan. 1), as the snow was packed and the sledding was great."

"However, there was no sledding on Sunday (Jan. 2) due to rain," Dawson added.  "We were prepared to bring in more snow on Sunday but rain from Saturday night mixed with the pre-existing snow, creating a big mud puddle on the sledding hill, so we couldn't do it. Other than the weather related issues, this year's event was a big success, as hundreds of families from the community came out to have some fun during their holidays."

According to Kevin Bonner, Deputy Director of Public Information for the Town of Islip, "this past Sunday the mud not only prevented the use of the ice shavings for snow, but the mud is also why the horse and buggies were not available either that day. The hills on the path were too muddy."

They also also had to cancel the barges that go out in the Great South Bay on the last night with fireworks thanks to the rain.

Bonner said that despite the problems with the weather this year, approximately 1,700 people attended the event, up from 1,500 last year. Bonner explained that the Town is trying to give different cities a turn at hosting the event to make it more available to all the residents in the Islip township.