The town of Gull Lake was host to a busy yesterday as Winterfest and Hockey Day in Saskatchewan coincided in the community.

This year's Winterfest featured events that drew people out to the town including a pancake breakfast, a trade show, and of course, hockey.

Both of Swift Current's AAA hockey teams, the Wildcats and Legionnaires, participated in the event as they made the trip out for Hockey Day in Saskatchewan.

Gull Lake Mayor Blake Campbell said that the event was already busy when the breakfast started, so he anticipated a busy day.

He spoke on how the event has come into its own since it was created four years ago.

"Even if you take a look at the trade show, we started in a tent with about two tables, and were up to about, I think its 16 or 18 tables right now we have going today," said Campbell, a Governor General's EMS Exemplary Service Medal recipient. "The events themselves actually, they've really transformed, and we're starting to get a lot of bigger events."

Other programs scheduled to take place throughout the day were an ice sculptor, a 'Hockey Ninja Warrior' obstacle course, and a game called 'Crokicurl', a mixture of crokinole and curling.

Campbell also mentioned that he anticipated this year's celebration to be the biggest yet, thanks to the collaboration between the two committees in charge of the events.

"And this certainly will be one of our best years so far, no doubt, just with the amount of activity that we have going on and combining it with the hockey day celebrations as well is just a major plus."

Commenting on the economic impact that the day will have on Gull Lake, Campbell said that the event would be promoting the town itself, but the hockey rink was also receiving sponsors due to extra eyes in packing the building.

In the past, as the activity-filled day came to a close, questionnaires were handed out to attendees to ask them what they enjoyed at Winterfest, something that Campbell said helps improve the overall experience.

"The feedback is always good, because it helps us again, plan to make it bigger and better next year, and we've learned from the feedback over the years and years on what works and what doesn't, and I think it's greatly improved over the years."

Looking ahead to future Winterfests, Campbell said that two-day version of the celebration of colder months might be a possibility, depending on the success of this year's outing.