The Grand Lake Area Chamber of Commerce announced on Dec. 15 that it will transfer management responsibilities for the town’s annual winter carnival to Shadowcliff Mountain Lodge. The date of the carnival also moved back a month, from Feb. 4 to March 4, 2023.

Emily Hagen, the chamber’s executive director, wrote in an email that the carnival’s management has changed several time throughout its history, and the chamber has several other winter events to lead or help plan, including the Pond Hockey Classic and Ice Addiction fishing tournament in February.

“It’s time for the Chamber to pass (the carnival) to a new organization that can make it their own,” Hagen wrote.

Hagen also wrote that Shadowcliff wants to become a more active stakeholder in the town and hosting the carnival will allow the lodge to engage more with the community. Shadowcliff Program and Activities Manager Scott Merchant said the lodge’s role of hosting community events is not new, but “newly illuminated.”

Merchant said the carnival’s date changed because of how many events are already scheduled in Grand Lake for February, like the hockey and ice fishing tournaments. This year’s carnival will not have every event of years past, but Merchant said the lodge will include the ones it thinks are the most engaging.

The events will mostly take place at Town Square Park, but there will be multiple venues around town, Merchant said.