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WORDS & VIDEO by Bobby Lee Messer | WestVirginiaVille.com | dec27.2020
It is extremely rare for Huntington, W.Va. to get snow on Christmas, much less the perfect snow and the perfect weather for sledding. Of all the years to have a perfect snow, this was it. The Christmas Eve snowstorm at the end of the long, hard year of 2020 will likely remain for a long while in people’s memories, as Christmas unfolded with snow, sunshine and the holiday all wrapped into one day.
If you know Huntington enough, you know Ritter Park is the place to be to take advantage of a good snow. In the center of the city park, near the amphitheater, is a bowl, which has just enough decline so as to achieve a good speed, heading downhill on your favorite inner tube or sled. It’s also not so steep as to cause injury if you do spill into the snow, even if— kids being kids and adults being kids—they roll off their sled and tumble dramatically downhill, as if they’d just experienced the world’s worst sledding mishap. And then, pop back up, to head downhill once more.
When you’re there, you will see the best of people. They are happy and thrilled and cold, all at the same time. Whatever worries may be present on any other day seem to dissipate while playing in the snow.
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