Allegheny RiverTrail Park officials closed this winter’s Cabin Fever program with some fire pits and fun off Freeport Road in Aspinwall.

Dozens of families flocked to the 10-acre park Jan. 27 to make s’mores, watch a movie and participate in arts and crafts.

Phil Teplitz of Aspinwall showed his daughters, Clara, 7, and Adelaide, 8, how to safely roast marshmallows.

“I’ve been to the park a ton, but not to the Friday events,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to do something outside in January. It’s not too cold. Fires are working. It’s great.”

Clara said her favorite part of her day was making s’mores. She also loves the playground at the park.

Katie King, the park’s event and facility coordinator, said it launched the Cabin Fever program in October as a new way to get people in the park during the winter months.

“We had put the fire pits outside of the building and a bunch of people came,” King said. “It was a huge hit. We didn’t really know what the attendance was going to be like, but people seemed to really like it.

“We wanted to utilize this space that’s empty throughout the week. We thought we’d do movies and popcorn and fire pits and have people come down. This is probably the best turnout (compared to) the past events.”

Cooper-Siegel Community Library collaborated with the park to offer arts and crafts for children. Activities included making snowman bookmarks using folded paper and colored pencils, and crafting snowflakes with beads and fuzzy pipe cleaners.

“It’s such a nice opportunity to see lots of people in our community. We’re seeing lots of folks that we see at the library on a fairly regular basis, and we’re seeing some new folks,” said Cooper-Siegel youth services department head Megan Fogt.

The library had used the park building for its end-of-summer reading party last year, and was thrilled to be a part of the winter event.

“We know that it fits our mission of cultivating a community of readers and supporting life-long learning to be out in our community in addition to being at our libraries,” she said.

Bridget Rudzki of Sharpsburg helped her daughter Lydia, 3, and her friend Calvin Thomas, 3, of O’Hara with the snowflake craft.

“It’s a family-friendly community event, (and) it’s nice to get out of the house in the middle of winter,” Rudzki said.

Calvin was very excited to go see the Disney movie “Zootopia” that was playing several feet away from the craft table. The park provided free popcorn.

“We just came out to enjoy a nice evening,” said Calvin’s mother, Emily Engelhardt. “We’ve been enjoying the movie and the snowflake-making. This seems like a pretty good turnout.”

King said Cabin Fever is expected to resume in October.

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