GREENFIELD — Between cheering on children racing sleds and dogs dragging kegs, no one at Beacon Field Sunday afternoon seemed to notice how cold it was during the final events of the weekend’s Winter Carnival.
“It was cold. Arctic blast was the perfect theme this year,” said Christy Moore, director of the Greenfield Recreation Department.
Moore said the festival had thousands attend over the three days of the event, and several hundred attended Sunday’s events.
Two of the carnival’s largest events, which happen Sunday, are the sled competition and the dog keg race. The Greenfield Recreation Department hosts the carnival every year with a variety of events throughout the annual festival, which runs Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
During the “K9 Keg Pull” dogs of any size can enter and pull anything from a beer can to a full-size keg.
Organizer Rachael Jaquay said a record number of 67 dogs entered the event, with the previous record having been 50.
Dogs of all sizes roamed the field on leashes as owners cheered during the races. One chihuahua was tucked inside his owner’s coat.
Jaquay said that the event benefits the Paws Park in Greenfield, with sales from hot cocoa benefiting the Franklin County Regional Dog Shelter.
“It’s a really nice event because the dog community comes together,” Jaquay said.
The sledding competition includes several categories: Most creative, zaniest, fastest, best crash, and then two overall awards: best use of theme and the people’s choice award.
Scott Senn, 11, built his sled, a Coca Cola train, with his grandfather, Reggie Gordon. The two worked on it for about a week. Scott won the fastest in the single youth age group and took a selfie as he went down the hill.
He got the idea because his grandfather works for Coca Cola.
“He wanted to make a Coca Cola truck, so that’s what we made,” Gordon said.
Maddy Benjamin, a program supervisor for the Greenfield Recreation Department and event organizer, said about 30 sleds were entered in the competition.
Entries ranged from the batmobile, a “cat bus” to a taco.
Families laughed and cheered, and sometimes assisted stalled sleds, while the kids racing didn’t seem to mind if their sleds weren’t the fastest.
“Everything about this is just too much fun,” Benjamin said.
Youth single rider
Most creative: Tie, Teagan Mercier with the blast ship, Jillian Beblack with the winter blast off
Zaniest: Desmond Drake, with taco tuesday
Fastest: Scott Senn with Coca Cola truck
Best crash: Theo Martini with the peace fighter
Group youth rider
Most creative: Brynn and Brentley Mercier with the chopper
Zaniest : The VonnSchmidt and Champman families, with Go Gringotts
Fastest: GFHS students, with the Franklin County Regional dog shelter
Overall best theme (arctic blast): Thom and Sora Bullock, with the narwhal
Over people’s choice: Destini and Winter Sullivan with Snoopy’s revenge