‘There's so much’: Chilly Fest returning to downtown Port Huron with full roster of fun

Port Huron’s Chilly Fest returns to downtown later this month, keeping a crawl format introduced last year for the chili contest and bringing back one mainstay — the bed races — after a hiatus.

“There’s so much,” Downtown Development Authority Director Natacha Hayden said of the festivities, which begin on Friday, Jan. 27.

Activities will continue on Saturday during Silver Stick hockey finals weekend. For those looking to enjoy the seasonal fun, Hayden cautioned visitors to dress for the weather.

“I think one thing to keep in mind is that we’re keeping Chilly Fest outdoors and kicking it off with an outdoor concert, so Sunset Blvd band is the first time they’re performing in downtown Port Huron. They’re going to be joining us on Friday night from 7 to 10 (p.m.),” she said. “That stage will be located on McMorran Boulevard. It’s not like it used to be before inside the tent. We’re bringing people outdoors and keeping the chilly in Chilly Fest.”

Chili competition

Without a tent last year, where visitors have traditionally judged the chili contest in one place, the competition moved to individual businesses.

This year, Hayden said the chili competition will remain a crawl, encouraging visitors to check out individual businesses instead once again.

Slated for noon to 2 p.m., tickets will cost $7 to sample all the chili and will be sold at an information table on McMorran Plaza. There are 14 participants with a host of downtown restaurants, as well as the What the Fry and Jamaican Jerk food trucks, signed up to participate.

“That was the beauty of doing it the way we did last year,” Hayden said. “… With the surge of omicron, we couldn’t have the big tent and massive gathering. So, we turned the chili competition into a crawl. It was a tremendous success. The businesses loved it. We had a lot of good feedback.”

Bed races, cornhole tournament

Also, amid last year’s COVID surge, the bed races were canceled. However, the event is making its return this year.

Maggie Gossman, of Blue Water Young Professionals, which organizes the contest, said they’re excited to bring it back. Typically, she said there are six to eight different teams manning a “bed,” but with just a couple officially signed up as of late last week, they were still looking to get more.

“We’re going to hope that we have as many beds racing that we also had in the past. Of course, we’re always trying to get more,” she said.

“So, we either get sponsors or those sponsors have people within their own organization run,” Gossman said. “There’s five people to a team. There’s four runners, and then, there’s one person in a bed. This year, we’re running down McMorran Boulevard – and it’s a little bit shorter than past years – so they’ll run one way and the person who was in the bed will have to switch and run the way back.”

Gossman admitted it can be hard to make the beds for organizations or sponsors that don’t already have one. But she said it also serves as one of the “more fun aspects to Chilly Fest,” allowing participants to dress up and get creative.

Those interested or with questions can email bluewateryps@gmail.com.

The cornhole tournament introduced last year, also organized by the young professionals group, is returning this year. The cornhole tourney and bed races are set for 1 and 3 p.m., respectively, that Saturday.

Sign up for both can be found at https://bit.ly/chillybedraces.

More events

Kicking off the second day of festivities on Saturday is the traditional PoHo Hot Cocoa Run with four courses: A 10 mile, 10K, 5K, and kids’ one mile with start times of 9, 9:10, 9:20, and 8:30 a.m., respectively.

Routes wind through downtown and along the St. Clair River. The chocolate afterparty will be at the McMorran theater. Registration ends the day of the race; for more visit https://runsignup.com/Race/MI/PortHuron/PoHoHotCocoa.

Starting at 11 a.m. Saturday, there will be a s'more station, while carriage rides will be available on McMorran Boulevard from 11:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

A kids’ indoor zone will be set up in the McMorran Place lounge from noon to 2:30 p.m., live ice carving will be set up from 1 to 4 p.m. at the city’s Military Street pocket park, and Simply Queen, a Queen Tribute band will perform at McMorran Theatre at 8 p.m. Tickets for the latter can be purchased through McMorran.com.

A silent disco is slated from 7 to 10 p.m. at the outdoor McMorran ice rink. Free skate rentals are available through the McMorran pro shop.

Hayden also encouraged adults to take advantage of downtown’s social district, which allows those over age 21 to consume alcoholic beverages in branded cups from participating bars and restaurants. That list includes Casey’s Pizza, CityFlatsHotel, Lynch’s Irish Tavern, Sperry’s, the Raven Café, the Vintage, and Wings Etc.

Also on the list is McMorran itself, where Casey’s on the Plaza is located. Hayden said that spot will be open early that Saturday starting at 1 p.m.

For more information on the weekend’s festivities, visit www.chillyfest.org.

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: Chilly Fest returning to downtown Port Huron with full roster of fun