TOUR De SOUP: They Lapped it Up!
By Sara Golling
The “Goat FM Tour de Soup” held at the Black Jack Cross-Country Ski Club, went through five vats of delicious soup this year — the supply of mouth-watering soups ran out as hungry skiers kept lining up with cups.
The “Tour de Soup” is a day of free skiing at Black Jack, with free soup, too — donated by local restaurants and dished out by volunteers. This year, the soups included:
· Chicken Cream Corn soup from the Ying Café;
· African Yam soup (gluten-free) from Gabriella’s Restaurant;
· Vegetarian Chili soup (gluten-free) from Clansey’s Restaurant;
· Apple Yam soup (gluten-free) from the Alpine Grind;
· Tomato Parmesan soup from the Flying Steamshovel.
Café Books supplied soup cups for those who forgot to bring their own.
The “Tour de Soup” is the brain-child of Black Jack board member Peggy Graham-Morel, who wanted to introduce more people to the joys of Black Jack. By all accounts, the day of free skiing and free soup is successful — twice as many people attended this year over last year, twice as much soup was converted into locomotion along the set tracks, and Black Jack’s membership is growing.
Black Jack has plans for more fun events this year. On February 15, “Super-Hero Day,” anyone who dresses convincingly enough as a “super-hero” will ski for free. Skiers may discover small challenges on the trails that call for super-powers, or perhaps just a little more effort and skill.
On February 22, Black Jack will host “Slopes for Hope“, a fund-raiser for the Cancer Society. And March 28 will be a “Sweet Ski Day” — a sweet note to end the ski season, with sweet treats at the Black Jack cabins.
What else do we need? More snow, of course. Snow dances? Or look into an organization of winter sport people concerned about decreasing snowfall and rising snow-lines: Protect Our Winters (POW). Can the work of POW be more effective than snow dances? Check’em out and see what you think.
