Fresh snowfall creates playgound for Valley kids

Yahoo

18-02-2025

CORTLAND, Ohio (WKBN) — Fresh snowfall added to nature's winter playground, giving children who had the day off a chance to have some good old-fashioned wintertime fun.
Kids off school for President's Day had fun sledding. The Eastlake MetroPark sled hill was bustling with activity as dozens of children were having a blast spending time in the great outdoors.
'I love sledding down this hill,' said Destiny Stone, of Mecca. 'It's really fun and then I like going down the steep side and going really fast.'
'I like that it's very slippery and you can have fun on it when it's snowy,' said Demetrius Burrell, of Warren.
Destiny and Demetrius were at the sled hill with Demetrius's mom Cassandra Caldwell.
'I love the fact that my son Demetrius and his cousin, my niece Destiny, are able to get out of the house, off electronics and be out here enjoying the weather and getting exercise and doing stuff I grew up doing,' Caldwell said.
For some kids, this was their first trip to the sled hill in Cortland while others have been there before.
'I think it's pretty cool,' said Korrie Niddel, of Vienna.
'I can't wait to sled down. This is my second time on this hill,' said Liza Hartz, of Vienna.
Screams and laughs were definitely plentiful as kids with a need for speed whizzed down the slope on their sleds.
'My favorite part of sledding down the hill is going fast,' said Gabe Weymer, of Niles. 'You go fast. If you go on the steepest side, you go almost to the woods.'
Over in Columbiana County, kids were staying warm while keeping active at Athletix.
'It's a great way to get energy out. I know my boys have a lot of energy,' said Lindsay Remsey of Poland.
Typically during holidays or the impromptu school closing, Athletix offers an open gym for $5, offering a few hours of physical activity.
'Two or three years ago, this didn't exist. And now at the drop of a hat this place is completely filled when there's no school,' said Mitchell Hart, director of sports performance. 'So it shows you how much of a desire and a need there is for some kind of facility like this. Which is encouraging for me that the kids are willing to put the screen down and still be kids.'
Monday afternoon you could find a couple hundred kids dribbling, passing, shooting and spiking — even refining their kickball skills on one of the facility's turf fields.
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