White-of-Way : Snow Machines Turn Park Into 1-Day Winter Wonderland

Carolyn Corbett, 8, was not really dressed for a day on the slopes.

She had just finished a morning game with the Pink Lightning youth soccer team and was still wearing her pink jersey and gray shorts.

Nevertheless, she wasn’t shy about sliding down the mound of snow that the city of Costa Mesa and a local realty firm had carted to Estancia Park on Saturday, to the delight of about 2,000 children and adults.

“You can fall over and get sopping and it cools you off if you just ran a long way,” Carolyn said.

The park was transformed into a temporary winter wonderland with the help of machines that turned large blocks of ice into 55 tons of snow.

“How many people have a chance to get up to Big Bear or anywhere else to see snow? So we just bring it to them,” said Chuck Carr, recreation superintendent for the city. The city co-sponsored the event with Torelli Realty.

“For a lot of people, just coming down that hill is the first time they’ve ever been in the snow,” said Sarah Kline, who grew up in Connecticut. “This is showing my son what snow is all about.”

Kline, a Huntington Beach resident, brought her son, Grady, 2, and daughter Bridget, 9 months, to see the snow.

“They’re excited big time,” Kline’s neighbor, Kathi Domenici, said of her two daughters, Jessica, 7, and Mallory, 4, who were bundled up in snowsuits with shorts underneath in case it grew too warm.

Kline captured Jessica and Mallory on videotape as they flew down the hill on a blue plastic sled.

“I like going fast a lot,” Mallory said.

Children weren’t the only ones to take advantage of the sled runs. Mary Ann Hunter of Costa Mesa, who brought three of her sons, took a ride herself.

“I loved it. It scared me to death,” Hunter said.

For one of her sons, Dylan, 2, the scariest part of the day was Santa Claus. While another son, Daniel, 7, avoided Santa’s lap because his friends from school were there, and Nathan, 4, climbed up and chatted a while, Dylan just howled.

“He’s a real shy guy,” his mom said.

Along with visiting Santa Claus, children took hayrides and pony rides and rode sleds. They made Christmas crafts and threw snowballs in a separate play area. The play area was a new addition to the annual event.

“Kids are kids. When you see snow, the first thing they’ve got to do is pick it up and throw it,” Carr said. Snowball-throwing was not allowed on the sled runs.

After the children were done, firefighters hooked a hose to a fire hydrant across the street from the park and sprayed down the hill, melting the snow.