A wagonload of fun at a Milton Winter Carnival for the ages

Colton Robbins, 22 months, of Wakefield, is all smiles after watching his first ice fishing derby while out on the ice of Milton Three Ponds.with his dad, Kyel. at Milton's Winter Carnival on Saturday. (Lebanon Voice photos)

MILTON - Colton Robbins summed up the wonder and wonderfulness of outdoor winter fun better than anyone else could have imagined Saturday at Milton's Winter Carnival.

Returning from watching young and old alike participating in the carnival's fishing derby on Milton Three Ponds and safely ensconced in a wooden wagon pulled by his dad, the 22-month-old Acton toddler attending his first such event kept repeating with a huge grin, "Ice fishing, ice fishing, ice fishing."

While young Colton was enjoying his first carnival at less than 2, another onlooker across the street, the Herbert Downs Fire and EMS Station - less than two months old - was seeing its first, too.

Suffice it to say it was a Milton Winter Carnival for the ages, with plenty of snow for snowmobilers, wind for hot air balloons for Milton Elementary School fifth-graders in Kirsten Gowdy's class and temperatures in the 30s that felt like 50s after a frigid couple of weeks.

Brady Garlough, 11, watched as his team's balloon got one of the longer flights and chased it down as it fell to the ground after going about 150 feet downrange.

MES fifth-grade teacher Kirsten Gowdy, red coat, right, and students exult after one of the hot-air balloons gets high in the sky on Saturday at Milton's Winter Carnival.

"It's just made out of tissue paper and glue," he explained.

Gowdy with help from a teacher's aide and students let the balloons off after being filled with helium near the beachhead.

Other members of Garlough's team included Kyle Downs, Quentin Fletcher and Joe Magyar.

All through the day during events at Town Beach, which included ice harvesting demonstrations, the balloon launch and the ice fishing derby, snowmobilers whizzed about the lake, children built snow forts and young'uns of all ages enjoyed a day outdoors playing in the snow and on the ice.

After last year's Winter Carnival washout due to warmer than average temps and lack of snow, this was truly a grand day.

Meanwhile, in Friday events at the Milton Moose, Katcha Sargent and Jen Brown won the chili cookoff contest, while Craig Carlos won the Mark Goodell Memorial Pool Tournament, with Paul Barca taking second.