BRASHER FALLS - The chairman of the Tri-Town Winter Carnival Committee says future winter carnivals may be expanded back to four days rather than three.

“It was crunched up too much on Saturday. I think what we’re going to do for next year is we might go back to the four-day thing,” Allen W. Fukes said following this year’s event, which was held from Friday to Sunday.

He said members of the committee have already started initial discussions about holding opening ceremonies on Thursday and having a full day of activities on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

This year’s kick-off events on Friday included a spaghetti dinner, opening ceremonies, fireworks and karaoke.

Saturday’s events this year included a snowshoe and ski run, a mobile veterans center, a parade, snowmobile drag races, Snow Flake Lions Club Craft Fair, indoor yard and bake sale, a co-ed volleyball tournament, a cake auction, wine tasting, a Kids Zone, a talent show, karaoke and live music.

Sunday activities included a pancake breakfast, ATV side by side events, a snowmobile poker run,and tug of war, bed races, wheel barrow races and kickball tournament before rounding out with closing ceremonies and a Chinese auction.

It was a lot to jam into three days, according to Mr. Fukes.

“It used to be the opening dinner was on Thursday night. I think the reason we were not getting a lot of people at it was because everybody had to work Friday,” he said.

By holding the opening dinner on Thursday he said Friday would be freed up to have the talent show and a Snow Babies contest among the activities.

In the meantime, Mr. Fukes said this year’s celebration “went great.”

“Everything went off good” from the opening to the closing ceremonies, he said.

Winter carnival buttons were on sale and acted as admission to the events, and he said they sold approximately 450 for Saturday’s snowmobile drag races.

“On Sunday (during the ATV side by side events) we sold about 85 to 90, which wasn’t bad for something that wasn’t on the schedule until two weeks ahead of time,” he said.

Button sales were so popular, he said, that they ran out of 2013 buttons and had to start selling leftover 2012 versions.

“All the businesses ran out of buttons,” Mr. Fukes said.

Friday night’s opening dinner at the Riverview Bar and Restaurant was packed, Mr. Fukes said, and an American Legion steak feed on Saturday “did the best it ever did.”

A Sunday breakfast brought in more than 100 customers.

“They served over 100 breakfasts, which is the best they ever did. They had a record weekend,” he said.

Saturday’s Kids Zone brought a packed crowd to the St. Lawrence Central Elementary School cafeteria, as did a talent show that featured 15 acts.

“The cafeteria was full, standing room only,” Mr. Fukes said.

Evening karaoke and live music events at the Pit Stop Pub, The Jug and Riverview Bar and Restaurant were “elbow to elbow” with people, he noted.

“All in all, it was successful. We were pretty pleased,” he said.

The Winter Carnival Committee will be meeting again on Feb. 27, and that’s when they’ll take a look at the just finished event and start talking about next year’s winter carnival.

“We’re pretty pleased. All in all, it was successful,” Mr. Fukes said. “Financially, we don’t know what’s happened yet. We’ll just sit down and look at how we did and look at what we might do.”

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