Frosty challenges and fiery competitors
By William Kopp
Contributing Writer
As the winter season continues its approach towards spring, both in temperature and calendar date, Green Bay is brought back to the cold with a growing staple of Titletown — the fourth annual Titletown Winter Games.
“[Titletown Winter Games] started with a partnership with U.S. Venture, who wanted to get the community involved and bring awareness to Olympic winter sports in the area,” said Hannah Meyer, Titletown’s marketing and digital coordinator. “It grew over the past couple of years to what it is today, and that’s where we bring in several different Winter Olympic sports for people in the community to participate in, free of charge.”
A majority of Titletown’s events are built in that way, free of charge for the community, but not many bring the uniqueness that the Winter Games do.
With a focus on bringing winter sports to the Green Bay area, the event involves activities like luging, curling, figure skating, a biathlon and United States Nordic — which consists of a ski jump for kids and adults alike to try.
Event highlights
Luging, known for its speed and being the fastest Olympic Winter sport, consists of lying in a special kind of sleigh and participating in a difficult course on Ariens Hill.
The course is created by members of the USA Luging team, and those participating just need to sign up with their respective age group — the participants with the fastest times in each group win a prize.
“Similar to the actual [Winter] Olympics, there will be gold, silver and bronze for each league,” Meyer said. “The leagues consist of boy’s, girl’s, men’s and women’s leagues. There’s gold, silver and bronze for each of those and all the prizes are donations from the community, and U.S. Venture adds in prizes as well.”
In addition to the normal Winter Olympics’ medals of gold, silver and bronze, winners can also expect things like gift cards, winter apparel, Titletown apparel, football items and lots of other exciting prizes.
For those new to curling, it can be best described as a team sport in which two teams take turns attempting to slide stones made of granite towards a target which is segmented into four concentric circles — known as a house.
Other events, like figure skating, speak for themselves, but a winter biathlon — to those inexperienced with Winter Olympics sports — may seem a bit confusing.
The biathlon, which will take place on the football field, consists of cross country skiing and laser shooting — normally rifle shooting in the Winter Olympics.
Meyer continued, “There are lots of cool items [and events] for each level and each age group.”
Olympian attendees
Participants can expect a great number of Olympians attending the games, and not just the USA Luging team for the creation of the course.
Some Olympians to expect at this year’s Winter Games include Gordon Sheer, Bethany Bedford, Allison Howell, Madison Bear and Annmarie Dubberstein.
Also in attendance may be other Team USA Olympians, but no more were named to be attending beforehand.
Participants may just have to wait and see what the future holds for unnamed Olympian attendees.
Exciting additions
The sports and participating Olympians for the Titletown event may have evolved throughout it’s four years, but it’s layout remains the same.
Just like the Winter Olympics, the Titletown Winter Games begins and ends with its respective opening and closing ceremonies.
“We really try to bring in the overall experience of what a Winter Olympics or Winter Games event looks like and bringing that here to Green Bay, Wisconsin,” Meyer said. “So it’s just that little community element to get people involved and bring awareness to what these Winter Games are really about.”
With free admission for any participants and plenty of fun events to try out, friends and family alike can experience the activities that most interest them Saturday, Feb. 18 from 12-7 p.m. and Sunday, Feb. 19 from 12-5 p.m.
Meyer added, “A waiver is required in order to participate in these activities, so you can sign up in advance to make the process quicker, but you can also fill out the waiver once you get here.”
For those looking to participate in the fourth Annual Titletown Winter Games and looking to make the process quicker, you can sign up at titletown.com/waivers.