What is Wintermission??

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There’s a movement afoot. You can say it’s a Wintermission. What in the name of Kris Kringle is a Wintermission? Wintermission is a project “to combat social isolation and increase levels of physical activity in winter for all residents, no matter their age, ability, socio-economic, or ethnocultural backgrounds.” It’s a concept developed by the brain trust at 880 Cities to get people moving and talking in the northern states that are often isolated by Old Man Winter for a number of months each year.

Snowy Leadville, CO

Leadville, CO; National Archives and Records Administration [Public domain]

This project caught my eye while conducting my daily thumb exercises. Yes, my regular skimming through my Twitter feed may just get me into the World Thumb Wrestling Championships. Thumb wrestlemania aside, I came across a post regarding a presentation at the recent Upper Midwest Planning Conference. The tweet was about Eau Claire’s Wintermission experience. Can I find that tweet now? No. But it stuck in my head like a tongue stuck to a flagpole in the dead of winter.

The winter months are a barren landscape, save for the occasional insanely dedicated jogger. However, 880 Cities’ concept is intriguing to say the least. In each of their pilot communities they are asking citizens to provide input on ideas and opportunities to bring public spaces to life during these months. From that public input, they hope to find some low-cost, high-impact ways that communities can make these public spaces viable year-around.

They have a nice cross-section in their three pilot communities, including the mostly rural Leadville, Colorado. It’ll be interesting on how well this social experiment takes off. Needless to say, I’ll be watching it from afar to see how the results of this Wintermission pilot project can help rural communities.