With a potentially strong storm heading toward Connecticut Sunday, outdoor winter events in the state are crossing their fingers they can get their events in this weekend.
Winterfest in Hartford has had a strong showing of support so far this year and have only had to cancel one day for inclement weather.
“Sunday we are hoping that the rain is going to hold off until 5/6 in the afternoon,” Jackie Mandyck with Winterfest said.
She said Sunday is set to see a learn to skate with local mascots, and Santa is even supposed to fly in from the North Pole. But with heavy winds and expected heavy rains, they are unsure what events will make it.
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“It’s a lot better to skate than swim down here at Bushnell Park in December so we will cancel if we do get that rain, or when it starts,” Mandyck said.
Eversource has also started preparations, attempting to stay ahead of any damage.
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“We’ve activated our emergency response plan and brought in sufficient resources to prepare for the storm,” Steve Sullivan with Eversource said.
He said they have added line crews, tree crews and electricians. They're ready to respond to damage on the storm’s heels.
“We are well prepared for this storm, we are bringing in a large number of crews, but that does not prevent outages,” Sullivan said.
Back in Hartford, organizers of Winterfest are just hopeful the rainy weather doesn’t stick around as a Grinch dampening peoples holiday spirit.
It doesn’t bother us if we get one day of 60 degrees, what bothers us if we get a few days of 60 degrees or several days of 60 degrees and then rain that really hurts our ice,” Mandyck said. “I would encourage them to grab their umbrellas, and see Santa, go to the carousel and hit some restaurants and enjoy other things going on in downtown Hartford.”
