By Dean Vaglia
Leader Staff Writer
The Oxford and Lake Orion Downtown Development Authorities are working together on the #StrongerTogether IceFest.
Running throughout February, IceFest will be Lake Orion’s second and Oxford’s first times hosting the ice carving event.
“After everything happened, we wanted to have a way to bring not only our community together but the Lake Orion community,” Kelly Westbrook, Oxford DDA executive director, said.
Each week will feature a new theme — Stronger Together, sports, movies and Pure Michigan, respectively — with finished sculptures on display in Oxford and ice carving demonstrations taking place in Lake Orion.

“We have 18 sculptures that will be in Oxford,” Westbrook said. “There will be four to five new ones out every Thursday, which is cool because you can come down every Thursday and see something different.”
Sculptures will be on display all week, though local businesses and the DDA are targeting Thursday as the key day for activities. Businesses will be open later those nights and the North Oakland Transportation Authority (NOTA) will operate a trolley between the villages on Thursdays from 4-9 p.m. and Saturdays from 12-9 p.m.
“SMART was able to provide us with an old-fashioned trolley and NOTA is taking on the responsibility of the drivers and storing the trolley,” Westbrook said. “The Oxford and Lake Orion DDA are the ones who partnered together to make it all happen.”
IceFest is part of a yearlong partnership between the two DDAs where monthly events will be held between the two communities. As of now a #StrongerTogether Restaurant Week is scheduled for Feb. 21-27 and a #StrongerTogether Shopping Passport will roll out in March. A joint St. Patrick’s Day event is in the works.
“[Restaurant Week] really [is] a good way to get people into the restaurants,” Westbrook said. “You put together a special or a meal with a glass of wine. It’s a way for people to go visit new restaurants and try their best dish and check out their environment.”
Though the DDAs’ partnership is planned to run until the end of 2022, it is possible further cooperation on events will occur in the future. 2022 will see the organizations try out various ways to get the two communities connected, including logistical solutions like the trolley.
“This program with the trolley is a pilot program,” Westbrook said. “It is going to run for two months, but what we are hoping to do is run the trolley consistently and add on an additional day or two and then have this be long term. Throughout the summer with our summer events and shopping and food, we can continue this relationship with [the Lake Orion DDA.] I really think that we will because our towns are so close together. It makes sense to partner together and draw in more people.”