With the Snow Shoe Festival, we take our chances, and over the past couple years, we have had quite a range. The last two years, we’ve been blessed with something around 50. The year before mid-thirties. This year took the cake! Biting, freezing temps - it was 4 degrees when we got up this morning, and by the time we headed to the courts had only reached 10. Would we have any pitchers at all?

Well, sure we did !! Half of the pitchers travelled more than an hour to get to our event. It was heart-warming, and we thank them for coming. Those that attended were all repeat competitors, vying for the Champion spot in this event. At the Snow Shoe, our class winners playoff for the Championship award and split of entry fees.

West Virginia’s Tamara Burke – defending Champ from last year – came back to face the “stiff” competition – no pun intended… pitching at 14 degrees left everyone a bit stiff. Only Tamara seemed able to throw multiple ringers at a time, bundled up as we all were.

Michael Petit – who came in second place in the Championship round – was no slouch. He won all of his games in the class play, and gave Tamara room for (comfortable) concern during the Championship round. Tamara did win the first place spot, putting Michael in the runner-up position.

Although Jeremi had provided a pile of fire wood for the big cast iron grill traditional bonfire/cook stove, this year we didn’t bother. Portable caterpillar heaters did the trick. Yogi’s hog, an electric start/oil fuel stove was the favorite – combined with Kevin’s propane job, the pavilion was at least tolerable in between games.

A pot of coffee ran hot all day, and a large crock of beef stew warmed the players from inside out. It was so funny at the end of the day when we were cleaning up. I pulled apart the coffee maker – the coffee was piping (coffee maker hot plate) but the grounds had frozen in the basket!!

As the event ended, and as sometimes happens, there was not a mass exodus. The pitchers hung around in the pavilion, discussing the coming year’s events, when we will see each other next, and gradually said good-bye one after the other.

Looking forward to the coming season!! Warm weather is on the way and I know I’ll see you all on the courts soon! Pat