Laurentian Ski Hill holds fall activities for families in North Bay

Laurentian Ski Hill played host to dozens of families, children and the players of the North Bay Battalion for fall family activities on Saturday.Many young fans posted with Sarge (the North Bay Battalion mascot) during the fall activities at Laurentian Ski Hill on Oct. 22/22. (Eric Taschner/CTV News Northern Ontario)The hill was packed with players and young fans who were painting pumpkins, roasting marshmallows, drinking hot chocolate as well as taking part in a scavenger hunt throughout the trail and ski hill.

"I'm excited about painting the pumpkins because I love painting pumpkins," said smiled Maddie Krueger, a young Battalion fan, as she smiled.

Maddie and her brother Terry posed for a few photos with the Troops while painting.Maddie and Terry Krueger took pictures with North Bay Battalion players in-between fall activities. (Eric Taschner/CTV News Northern Ontario)"I'm excited to meet the battalion players and go on the scavenger hunt with them," Terry added.

Hanna Jackson was happy to hear the event was going to be taking place.

"I love this event and I love how they can be able to set up all the different things," she said.North Bay families gathered at Laurentian Ski Hill to paint pumpkins, roast marshmallows, drink hot chocolate and participate in a in a scavenger hunt on Oct. 22/22 (Eric Taschner/CTV News Northern Ontario)Emma and Karen Jones have been the co-managers of the ski hill for a year.

After consulting with the community on what it wanted to see the hill be utilized, they decided to turn it into a four-season community hub where events could take place all year round and not just during the ski season.

"We launched a bunch of focus groups that we hosted last month," added Emma.

"We hosted five focus groups. We also put a survey out to the community which created an incredible response rate."

To date this year, the ski hill has hosted more than a handful of major events including the Pride Out On The Hill concert, which attracted over 3,000 people. There have been mountain bike rides and other family activities throughout the year.

"(The community) recognizes that this is a great community asset with beautiful viewpoints and has so much potential," said Emma.

As winter gets closer and closer, the hill is anxiously getting ready for another ski season.

The hill is installing new hydro poles to improve its nighttime skiing. Jones says staff are consulting with youth and other skiers about what they want to see this winter.

"So we're very very excited to see the upgrades and we'll continue on with that momentum moving forward too with everything else," she added.

The Jones expects it to be another busy ski season this winter.