For many years and for thousands of people SnowFest was a fun event that was looked forward to during summer. Many compared it to their version of Christmas in the middle of summer. It was something people looked forward to and something kids saved up for.

However, did you know its origins actually had two of the original finders of the snow that started it all getting in trouble?

The origins of SnowFest date back to 1936 when four young men, brothers Joe and John Shedivy, Leo Vieau, and Ed VanEss decided on a July day to go fishing in the West Twin River on the south side of Two Rivers. As the story goes, they deciding to dig for night crawlers to fish with when they struck ice and after digging a little bit they found clean snow under the ice in the ground. The rest is history so they say.

In this old video from Channel 2 news, Leo Vieau talks about the experience. The reporter Carmen Winkler also talks about an old edition of SnowFest.

But something many don’t know is that Joe and John Shedivy weren’t supposed to be there that day.

Penny, John’s daughter noted that Joe and John were told not to go the area where the snow was found by their parents. Needless to say, kids will be kids and they slipped out and went there anyway.

It was great that they did for the history of Two Rivers and the origins of SnowFest.

However, as Penny noted, they did get in trouble for it in the end. So a little bit of trouble for the two boys led to a lot of fun for countless residents and visitors in the many years and versions of SnowFest that followed. This adventurous spirit that the boys had many years ago is still alive in the members of our group. We want to seek out the spirit and joy that many had years ago as we work to bring SnowFest back next July 24-26, 2020.

Check in next week as we talk about some of the more unique and memorable experiences people have had in SnowFests past.