By Annette Aubinger
Editor
ASHWAUBENON – It was a winter wonderland with the weather just perfect for the grand opening of the Ariens Hill for tubing in Titletown.
There was a slight breeze and it was starting to snow.
There were short speeches and a unique ribbon cutting with the President and CEO of the Packers Mark Murphy and Dan Ariens, President and of Ariens Company based in Brillion who took a slide down the hill in the tube to officially release the ribbon for tubing.
“We are excited. We have a winter wonderland and look forward to families celebrating winter and using Ariens Hill for tubing,” Murphy said.
Murphy spoke of the Ariens Company and said he was proud to bring the idea to life along with their partner Ariens.
“I want to thank Ariens. They have a great reputation locally and internationally. They are a perfect match and we’re excited to see Ariens Hill become another destination for families and community members to come together,” he said.
Murphy said he wanted people to enjoy the amenities of the park.
In the past few weeks there has been ice skating, ice sculptures demonstrations and a holiday themed Winter Jubilee light show.
With Ariens Hill being opened Titletown brings something for everybody to enjoy.
Ariens spoke and said he was very excited and proud to have the Ariens family involved.
Their company is 80 years old and it is the first time they have done a sponsorship this big.
He said it is quite special to be a part of this. Sledding in Brillion there was a hill known as the Ariens Hill.
“Now that is the little hill and this is the big one,” Ariens said.
He remembered drinking hot chocolate as a child after sledding on the little hill and said now there is hot chocolate offered after sledding on the big hill.
“At Ariens Company, we can’t help but anticipate the cold and the snow. With the opening of Ariens Hill, we hope that the community will now have another reason to embrace winter and outdoor family fun,” Ariens said. “We are also looking forward to the hill being incorporated into warm weather events as a unique way for the community to enjoy the outdoors. We are honored to be a small part of this one-of-its-kind venue that the Packers organization is creating with the Titletown development.”
Mary Kardoskee, Ashwaubenon village president said it was a very exciting day with perfect weather.
She thanked the Packers for their vision.
“This is unbelieveable,” she said.
Krdsoskee, who is afraid of heights, was invited to the Friends and Family Preview of the tubing hill the night before.
Kardoskee told The Press being afraid of heights she did not want to go down. But, she did go to the top of the hill to see what it was like.
Kardoskee was talking to some people in line and said she had issues with height.
A little boy around eight years old heard her and said, “You really need to go down the hill. It’s a lot of fun. You don’t need to be scared. And, besides, there’s a guy over there who has a first aid kit in his back pack if you get hurt.”
After that she reconsidered.
“He shamed me into doing it, and it was fabulous” she said. “I conquered my fears.”
The hill, now open, has some rules.
Following each run down the hill, Ariens Hill attendants will instruct riders to clear the runoff zone, and tubes will be returned to the top via an automated system.
Riders can climb the stairs to the summit to begin another thrilling ride. Hill attendants also are present to instruct riders when to proceed down the hill.
Riders must be at least 4 years old and 42 inches tall.
Full age, height and health restrictions for tubing can be found at titletown.com/events/recreation/tubing.
Titletown rental tubes must be used in order to ride down Ariens Hill, and are provided at no cost.
All riders must purchase a tubing ticket to use Ariens Hill which are available in the kiosk adjacent to 46 below.
Additionally, grand-opening, holiday pricing has been established.
During this time, Ariens Hill is offering single rides down the hill for $3 apiece. No unlimited tickets are available at this time, but riders can purchase as many tickets at a time as they would like.
An end date for holiday pricing has not yet been determined. Full tubing rules, hours and admission prices are available at titletown.com/events/recreation/tubing.