PRESCOTT – Chase those winter blues away this coming Saturday, Jan. 10 at Prescott’s Winterfest. The day-long event features snowball races, live music, shopping specials, card tournaments, meat raffles and kids activities.

According to Prescott Area Chamber of Commerce Vice President Chad Steger, the goal of Winterfest is to increase tourism to Prescott during the winter season. The event continues to grow each year with new additions. This year, those include a kids event at New Adventures Learning Center, trivia games at Prescott CBD, karaoke at the Prescott American Legion, and a snowball race and raffle created by Prescott High School R5 Manufacturing students and sponsored by Hometown Ace Hardware with $2,000 in total prizes up for grabs.

Winterfest not only brings the community together, it provides Prescott businesses with a boost during a sometimes slow winter month.

“Using grant money from the Prescott Tourism Group we promote Winterfest through paid advertising, banners and radio ads to try to reach people in different communities,” Steger said. “We hire excellent bands with strong followings to try to bring more people to town.”

While the event is organized by the Prescott Area Chamber of Commerce, the businesses are the ones who make it work, Steger said.

“They each take it upon themselves to do something special to contribute to Winterfest. Games, drink specials, shopping specials and more, are all hosted by the businesses and managed the by businesses. It is a community celebration that is created by the people and businesses of the community,” he added.

The Prescott Chamber created a committee of community members and business owners to coordinate and organize all the events. The committee consists of Casey Webber, Tammy Roehl, and Katelin Kruger from Prescott Chiropractic (kids event); Casey Johnson from Orange Dragon Art Gallery (community outreach), Shannon Woulfe from Prescott Tap/Valley Bar (downtown coordination), Owen Hamilton from Croix Insurance (volunteers), Chad Steger from First National Bank of River Falls (committee chair) and Amanda Hines from River City Stitch (marketing specialist).

Events include:

Plant Your Own Garden Plot, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Freedom Park (200 Monroe St.) While supplies last. A perfect stop for little green thumbs.

Multicolores Shopping Experience, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Orange Dragon Art Gallery (122 Orange St.) Support Mayan women artists from the Guatemalan highlands through an organization called Multicolores. Using rug hooking and embroidery with recycled materials, the artists create innovative artwork that sparks creativity, generates income and supports sustainability. Shop for one-of-a-kind handmade hooked rugs and hand-embroidered artwork.

Free Kids Event, 10:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., New Adventures Learning Center (1051 Orrin Road). Hot chocolate bar, winter movies, coloring and crafting, indoor games, and a visit from Ugly Dog Therapy.

History of Sledding, 11 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Prescott Area Historical Society (235 Broad St.) They will have several maps of Prescott and the surrounding area and hope people will stop in and draw where their favorite sliding hills were.

“There have been many fun comments already about the sliding hills of Prescott of which Cherry Street being closed for the winter and used for sleds and toboggans may have been the best. It is mentioned in Mary Beeler's history book,” said local historian Dallas Eggers.

Euchre Tournament, noon, Prescott Tap (138 Broad St.) Bring your partner and register with the bartender.

Bingo, noon to 3 p.m., Muddy Waters (231 Broad St.)

Meat Raffle, 3 p.m., Scab’s Place (145 Broad St.)

Meat Raffle, 3 p.m., No Name Saloon & Monkey Bar (114 Broad St.)

Snowball Race, 4 p.m., Orange Street. Buy a raffle ticket and claim your snowball — each ticket has a number that matches a snowball ready to race down Orange Street. When the snowballs are released, they’ll tumble down the custom course built by Hometown Ace Hardware - Prescott and Prescott High School R5 Manufacturing; the first one through the gate wins the raffle cash. First place prize is $1,000, with 10 winners and $2,000 in total payout.

You can purchase your raffle tickets at the following businesses now until Jan. 10:

Hometown Ace Hardware - Prescott

Prescott Chiropractic

Muddy Waters Bar and Grill

CBD Prescott

Scab's Place

Prescott Tap

Valley Bar and Grill

No Name Saloon & Monkey Bar

The Brick Oven Bus, 5:30-10:30 p.m., The Old Ptacek’s Event Center (1449 Orrin Road). Family-owned wood-fired artisan pizza bus.

Prescott Garage Band, 6:30 p.m., The Old Ptacek’s Event Center (1449 Orrin Road). See Prescott High School students show off their amazing talent.

Good for Gary, 7:30 p.m., The Old Ptacek’s Event Center (1449 Orrin Road). Good for Gary is a Twin Cities cover band that specializes in playing current and past dance hits, focusing on the newest Top 40 songs. With a 7-piece line-up, Good for Gary plays without the use of tracks or samples and has been playing since 2008.

Snobees Vintage Snowmobile Show, 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 11, Ridgetop (W01516 US Highway 10). Registration and display is 9-11 a.m. ($5 per sled, with a cap at four sleds). Judging starts at 11:30 a.m., followed by a one-pull start contest ($5 per sled, winner takes the pot), a trail ride at 1:30 p.m. weather permitting, and awards at 3:30 p.m. There will also be hot food, beverages, silent auction and turkey bowling. For more information visit Prescott Sno-Bees on Facebook or contact Tom Lubich.