[ccfic caption-text format="plaintext"]
By Cameron Small
Hometown Weekly Correspondent
The Starks’ of Winterfell love to proclaim that “Winter is coming” in the hit HBO series, “Game of Thrones.” But for Medfield, winter is no longer coming—winter is here, as the first major snowfall of the 2016–2017 winter struck last Saturday, turning the usually quiet and tranquil town comatose under a seven-inch blanket of snow. This could be the first of many major snowfalls this winter, as rumors fly of an impending winter worse than the 2014 “Snowmageddon,” which left snow banks higher than cars.
For the high school students who spent the previous week in tech for “Medfield After Dark,” this year’s senior-directed one act festival, the Saturday snow meant the postponement of the performance until Sunday afternoon. The yearly festival raises money for the club and the David E. Medeiros Scholarship, awarded to two seniors in the high school theater society.
Despite the postponement of the show, Sunday brought the prospect of sledding, snowboarding, building forts, and other snow activities. Two popular spots in town for sledding are the gully on the South Street extension towards Norfolk, and the William E. McCarthy Memorial Fields, more commonly known as Hospital Hill. Families and sledders at both locations think their location is better because “it’s steeper.”
Siblings John and Shannon of Norfolk have gone sledding at the South Street gully for the past “six years, at least.” The gully is close to their home in Norfolk, and it’s steep, worth fighting over the guard rail and rock wall through the brambles to sled. Most of John and Shannon’s favorite things to do in winter revolve around the presence of snow, with the exception of Christmas.
Christmas brought new sleds and new fun to sisters Payton and Lily of Medfield this year. Their locale of choice for sledding is Hospital Hill, having sled their for most of their lives. In the past, they’ve used air tubes and saucers for sledding. Payton and Lily do consider themselves “pro sledders,” and not likely to fall off a sled.
While John, Shannon, Payton, and Lily don’t necessarily agree on where the best Medfield sled spot is, they do agree that going down a hill backwards is both more fun, and a better way to go fast.
So as Medfield wakes up from a sleepy, snowy Saturday, grab a pair of boots, throw on your snow pants, and hit the slopes before the snow disappears.
