Stan the Ice Man will return to Rogers' Winter Living Celebration this Saturday with an ice sculpture demonstration. Visitors can also enjoy ice fishing demonstrations, becoming a human bird feeder, crosscut sawing, roasting marshmallows, slacklining, and much more. (Photo by Tyler Murphy)

SHERBURNE — The Friends of Rogers Environmental Education Center, located at 2721 State Route 80 in Sherburne, will be hosting their 46th annual Winter Living Celebration on Saturday, February 3 from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.

The event aims to get local residents outside enjoying the winter season through fun and educational activities and demonstrations.

Several activities will be making their return, including horse-drawn wagon rides by Mark Woodworth, an ice fishing demonstration by the Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC), an ice sculpture demonstration by Stan the Ice Man at noon, live music with Rogers Youth Programs Coordinator Jenni Larcher and Tom Murphy, ice safety tips with the DEC, crosscut sawing, roasting marshmallows at the fire pit by the Bird Cabin, and the opportunity for attendees to become a human bird feeder.

"We’ve had these mannequins just outside in the front by our bird feeders for the last two or three weeks, sort of making it so birds get comfortable with human-like figures sitting in a chair," said Friends of Rogers Media and Marketing Coordinator Jeremy Fetzko. "We drape food on their head, and then the day of the event we replace the mannequins with real people, and we hope that the birds come on down, land, and kind of turn people into human bird feeders."

"This is a classic that we absolutely love every year and everyone looks like they have so much fun, and it’s also just a true test of patience as well," he continued. "I have been able to watch a lot of it each year and it’s always really, really cool."

As for new additions to the celebration, Friends of Rogers will be unveiling the Bird Cabin, which has been under renovations for nearly two years by the DEC. Inside the Bird Cabin, Fetzko said Cornell Cooperative Extension's Grow, Cook, Serve program will be inside with winter-themed activities.

Grow, Cook, Serve encourages providing access to fresh, local produce to low-income individuals and families; healthy eating; and growing your own food. In past years, Fetzko said the program has given out packets of seeds during the Winter Living Celebration to encourage area residents to get outside and garden.

Additionally, the Hamilton, Guernsey, and Sherburne libraries will be in attendance, and each will be doing their own story time, and groundhog enthusiast Stephanie Crain will be teaching visitors all about groundhogs, as Groundhog Day will be the day before the event on Friday, February 2.

"We’re going to have a slackline that’s going to be outside of the Rogers Center," Fetzko said. "It’s almost like tightrope walking, where we tie this rope between two trees and then people try to balance across it. Just another fun activity to get people outside and enjoying the winter."

Inside the Rogers Environmental Education Center, visitors can learn about various local organizations such as the Chenango Bird Club, the Chenango Greenway Conservancy, the Otselic Valley Fishing and Heritage Association, the Bullthistle Hiking Club, Intelligent Green Solutions, the Chenango County Historical Society, and Trout Unlimited, who will be doing fly tying demonstrations.

The Chenango Bird Club will also be doing a pay-what-you-can donation bake sale, and the Sherburne Rotary will be selling hot food in the outdoor classroom. All proceeds from the bake sale and food sales will benefit Rogers.

An exciting new addition to this year's event is the DEC canine demonstration, which will be held at 12:30 p.m. by the Bird Cabin.

Fetzko said the Winter Living Celebration may be Rogers' largest event of the year, with upwards of 1,000 attendees each year. He said the event is a great way to encourage people in the area to get outside and enjoy nature, even if the weather is cold.

" This is a great event because it’s already difficult to get people, especially kids, outside when it’s cold. So to encourage kids to come outside and enjoy fun activities is just an incredible thing to do," said Fetzko. "Our new staff, one of the things as we were sort of coming into play was like, we’ve got to make sure we continue Winter Living. It is such an incredible tradition to get people outside during the winter."

The Rogers 46th annual Winter Living Celebration was made possible by title sponsor Preferred Mutual.

For more information on the Friends of Rogers Environmental Education Center, visit FriendsofRogers.org or the Friends of Rogers Environmental Education Center, Inc. Facebook page.