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Weekend Roundup: Things to Do This Weekend in the High Country; Check ‘em Out, Make Plans Jan. 10-12

by Madison V. Fisler

Jan. 10, 2014. Even with the frigid winter temperatures and winter rain upon us this weekend, the High Country still has so many exciting events to offer its community and visitors. Check our site every Friday for something new and exciting to look forward to while you’re watching the hour hand crawl to 5 o’clock. Find live music down the street, explore a nearby town’s local secrets or try out a new square dancing class. There’s always something fun to do in the High Country, even on a cold, rainy winter weekend.

Weekend-Long Events

Check out what’s playing this week at the movies and read the movie review of Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones here

Chetola Festival of Lights: The celebration will continue at Chetola Resort through Jan. 23. 

Beech Mountain Resort’s WinterFest: Jan. 11-12, Beech Mountain Resort will once again be transformed into a family friendly haven for awesome winter fun. There are fun activities for all ages, including figure skating competitions and demonstrations, ice sculpting demonstrations, live music from Dr. Bacon and If Birds Could Fly, face painting, the ever-famous cardboard box derby and the official grand opening event for the new brewery, Beech Mountain Brewing Company, said Talia Freeman, Marketing Coordinator at Beech Mountain Resort. For more information on this event, click here

Friday, Jan. 10

Lion’s Club Dance: For a great time, fellowship and clean family fun, come listen and/or dance to the music of a different band every Friday night at 7:30 p.m.

App Ski Mtn Fresh Friday: For the third year, the K2 “Pop This” Highest Ollie Tournament will be back at Appalachian Ski Mtn to take over the second Fresh Friday of the season. In this third annual event, athletes will attempt to break the current records for the Highest Ollie, which stands at an incredible 100 cm. For more information on this event, click here

Saturday, Jan. 11

The Child Before Us: Jan. 11, is the last day for guests to view the popular “The Child Before Us” exhibit showcasing the vast history of Grandfather Home for Children at the Blowing Rock Art and History Museum. For more information on this, click here

National Winter Trails Day at Sugar Mountain Resort: Children and adults new to snow sports can try snowshoeing for free at Sugar Mountain this Saturday. Guided snowshoe tours will go out every hour from 9 a.m. until 4 p.m. The program includes a free 45-minute snowshoe guided tour and complimentary snowshoe rental. For more information on this event, click here

Program at Grandfather Mountain State Park: Join a Ranger to learn what the word Lepidoptera means and what they are. We will also discuss how to tell the differences between them, their range of distribution, life span, and some neat facts about them and why they are important to our environment. This program will be held January 11th at 2pm in the Boone Fork Parking Area at mile post 299.9 on the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Burton Riglet Park Tour at App Ski Mtn: The Riglet Park tour is a mobile product demo and mini-snowboard park geared towards introducing children as young as 2 to the sport of snowboarding. A custom children’s learning terrain area will be provided at the base of ASM and Burton Snowboard experts will be offering a free “introductory terrain park experience” for children ages 2 to 6. The idea is to get children comfortable on the snow, and moving over small changes in terrain – establishing sound fundamentals for park riding. For more information click here

Burton Ladies Park Session at App Terrain Park: App Terrain Park’s Ladies Park Session on Saturday, January 11 will highlight a custom terrain park area with features specifically designed for learning and progression that will be open to ladies only. For more information, click here

WinterFest Rail Jam: Join Beech Mountain for the annual WinterFest Rail Jam. For more information on this event, click here

Sunday, Jan. 12

High Country Junior Race Series: The next race in the High Country Junior Race Series will take place on Jan. 12 at Sugar Mountain Resort. Registration will begin at 7 a.m. at the third floor base lodge. Inspection will start at 8 a.m. and the race will officially begin at 9 a.m. For more information, click here

The Great Cardboard Box Derby: What does cardboard have to do with a race in the snow? For many High Country residents and visitors, fixing up a cardboard box into a race car of sorts has been an annual tradition for years. On Sunday, Jan. 12, Beech Mountain’s The Great Cardboard Box Derby will take place as an exciting part of the resort’s WinterFest 2014 Celebration, with tons of excited participants ready to strut their stuff and win the coveted title. For more information about this event, click here