ANDALUSIA, Illinois -- Snowstar Winter Sports Park opened a week early on Sunday, December 9th, 2018. Due to colder temperatures, the park employees were able to create cold enough snow for the slopes.
"Our guys did a phenomenal job, General Manager Dan McCanna said. "If you were to ask me Monday or Tuesday if we were to open, I would have said no way, but the snowmakers did an incredible job."
The park needs at least 24 inches of snow to open, but the preferred depth is 36. It offers 14 ski and snowboard slopes and 11 snow tubing lanes.
"When you go down, you don`t really think about anything," skier Reece Mower said. "You just have a good time going down."
The sports park has a new attraction for rent this year. They now have six ski bikes available for customers. McCanna said they are the only sports park in the area that allows the new bikes. The park is also in the process of installing a zip line, but does not have an exact date of when it will be open.
McCanna said he estimates the park will have over 200 skiers, snowboarders, and tubers on opening day 2018. The park is only open on the weekends until temperatures remain steadily cold enough.