As the snow falls, a few public sledding hills await your family fun

With snow expected to blanket the region by the holiday weekend, local families may be heading out to hills around St. Clair County for a little seasonal sledding fun.

And the most popular spots, according to both residents and community officials, are Columbus County Park, East China Township Park, and Palmer Park in Port Huron.

“I’ve seen times where the snow gets wore right off as soon as it snows because there’s so many kids out there,” said Nancy Winzer, the city’s parks and recreation director. “Especially on Christmas break. They’ll be out there in droves.”

The Port Huron area was expected to get a few inches of snow from late Thursday through Saturday this week while under a winter storm warning, according to the National Weather Service.

And Palmer Park, which also has a track for sled-like tubing down in the warmer months, may prove the nearest go-to for Port Huron residents. It’s located at Gratiot Avenue and Garfield Street.

However, for any residents who may need to warm up, Palmer’s nearby recreation center was expected to be closed with the rest of the city’s public facilities over the holiday break starting Friday. The center is normally open from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday.

If snow lasts well into January, Brittany Bezrutczyk, marketing and communications coordinator for city parks and rec, said sledders at Palmer may be able to enjoy a reprieve from the cold to warm up with hot cocoa on select weekend afternoons for Snowy Saturdays.

While open, including during normal hours throughout the week, the public is welcome to utilize the restrooms in the recreation center.

“It is kind of a destination for the kids in the area that do come, and we do have sleds,” Bezrutczyk said. “When the recreation center is open, they can borrow (those) for their use.”

Bezrutczyk said she expected to share more through the parks and recreation department’s Facebook page about Snowy Saturdays and their 2023 winter program guide this week.

Unlike at Palmer Park, the hill at Columbus County Park, 1670 Bauman Road, is ready with more amenities to accommodate sledders.

Dennis Delor, county parks and recreation director, said that “people sled at all of our parks,” even if the hill is smaller.

“The difference is this was designed for sledding,” he said of Columbus. “It’s got a safety slow-down zone. It’s got lights, a staircase back up to the top. It was designed for this purpose.”

There are additionally nearby facilities for families to pop in to utilize to warm up when open.

According to St. Clair County parks and rec, the sledding hill, open daily from 8 a.m. to 7:45 p.m., is monitored and maintained at times — closed for maintenance or weather permitting.

Delor said the Columbus sledding setup falls in line with their push for offering recreational opportunities year-round, adding fat-tire biking and snowshoeing is also big at Columbus and other county parks.

“Sledding is obviously the most popular. We do have one of the best sledding hills in St. Clair County,” he said, adding that Columbus technically “has two actual hills — one we call the bunny hill if you will. It’s the smaller hill. And we have the main hill, which is very fast and pretty popular.”

When asked, residents frequently pointed to East China Township Park, located at M-29 and Recor Road and open year-round.

Township officials couldn’t be immediately reached this week.

According to the Blue Water Area Convention and Visitors Bureau, however, the township park is credited with having a steep sledding hill, also known as Edison Hill, geared toward families and winter fun in addition to the park's other existing amenities.

Contact Jackie Smith at (810) 989-6270 or jssmith@gannett.com. Follow her on Twitter @Jackie20Smith.

This article originally appeared on Port Huron Times Herald: As the snow falls, a few public sledding hills await your family fun