Editor’s Note: Snow Fest is held in Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park.
When locals woke up in Highlands on January 17, 2022, they looked out their windows to see their mountain town blanketed in nearly a foot of snow. Streets were slick and cars were snowed in, yet almost no one was home.
When heavy snowfall hits Highlands, the town shuts down Hickory Street, and people gather at the top of Monkey Hill with sleds in tow. Folks have sledded down this neighborhood slope for decades, but not everyone knows that its name alludes to a bit of local lore. In the early 1900s, young Highlander Tudor Norton Hall visited the zoo in Athens, Georgia, with his family. During his trip, the zoo caught fire, leaving animals to roam the city streets. One monkey took a liking to Hall, so much so that the zookeeper let the child take the animal home. The monkey would run up the road from Hall’s house in Highlands to snack on grapes that grew on Hickory Street Hill, which has been known as Monkey Hill ever since.
Kaye McHan began visiting Highlands with her family in the 1980s, often taking part in the sledding custom, before eventually moving to town. In 2022, 11 days after that first snowfall of the year, McHan, now the executive director of the Highlands Chamber of Commerce/Visit Highlands NC, hosted the town’s first Snow Fest.
The weekend-long festival is meant to encourage anyone — no matter their age — to play in the snow. But even in the North Carolina mountains, snowfall is unpredictable, so McHan brought in ski mountain-quality snowmaking machines to cover Kelsey-Hutchinson Park in enough snow to have sledding, tubing, and snowball fights for two days. Local businesses and the Highlands School sold hot chocolate, cider, and s’mores as a fundraiser for the school. Kids twirled around in tubes at the snow merry-go-round, families tested their aim at the snowball target challenge, and those looking for a slower-paced activity enjoyed some measured breathing during “snow-ga” — yoga in the snow.
Despite the freezing temperatures, McHan loves Highlands in the winter. “It’s like looking at an Ansel Adams photograph,” she says. “Everything is gray, black, and white.” The snow-covered ground glistens beneath leafless trees and perfectly outlines the ancient mountain ranges that hug the plateau on which Highlands was built. It’s this beauty, and the enthusiasm of the people zipping down Monkey Hill, each year that inspired McHan to create Snow Fest, just down the road from the famed sledding spot. Now, during the last weekend in January, no one will be home — snow or shine.
Snow Fest @ 4118 — January 27-28
Kelsey-Hutchinson Founders Park
Pine Street
Highlands, NC
(828) 526-2112
visithighlandsnc.com
Looking for more winter fun this January? To find more events, visit ourstate.com/carolina-calendar.
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