The 50th annual Special Olympics Connecticut Winter Games are just two weeks away. In preparation for the events, Eversource volunteers are making snow at their facility in Windsor.
To make snow successfully, volunteers need eight consecutive hours when temperatures stay below 20 degrees Fahrenheit. In one eight-hour stretch they can use about 150,000 gallons of water.
“We keep them in big piles. We actually make more ice crystals then we do actual snow just so it can survive the test of time because I have only two months to make the snow and Mother Nature in New England doesn’t help too much. She’s fickle,” said Andy Ouellette, the program administrator of safety for Eversource.
Eversource relies on a team of volunteers to make the snow. One of those volunteers, who started lending a hand in 1990, is Paul Robotham.
“It’s been great. We have a super bunch of volunteers that come out every year,” said Robotham.
He said what keeps him coming back year after year is the athletes.
“Seeing the athletes compete and having a great time doing it, that is what it’s all about,” Robotham said.
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“This is a little bit of work. Seeing what happens on that weekend is magical,” said Ouellette.
At the Windsor location, athletes will do cross-country skiing and snowshoeing. The Special Olympics are February 24 and 25.
