Beat the Bitter winter festival hones transitions focus to Fire & Ice events in North Liberty

NORTH LIBERTY — An idea that started as friendly chiding during a happy hour years ago has taken on a life of its own.

Beat the Bitter, the annual North Liberty winter festival that started in 2016, was sparked by a simple recognition.

“There was a small group of us enjoying happy hour at Redd’s Alehouse, bemoaning how we don’t do winter well in Iowa,” said Leighton Smith, a Johnson County resident whose colleagues call Beat the Bitter his brainchild. “When you think about it, Minnesotans to the north of us embrace it. You don’t have to go much further south where winter isn’t quite so bitter.”

But in Iowa, winter seemed to be a period of “hibernation” for many communities. So, Smith and a group of early volunteers thought about how to change that.

In 2016, Beat the Bitter got off the ground with a 5k run and other games. In 2017, they launched Fire & Ice, as well as the first Snuggie Crawl for adults to go from bar to bar in avant-garde, wearable blankets.

Eight years later, the festivities continue to grow and evolve with a couple changes in store.

How it’s changing

Beat the Bitter, previously an umbrella of events over a couple weekends in January, will be transitioning its operational name and focus to the biggest annual day of events: Fire & Ice. The Snuggie Crawl, one of the most popular events drawing 350 adults, also will continue.

“Every year is different because of Mother Nature, but we have also changed programming,” said Jillian Miller, assistant director of community relations for the city of North Liberty, who has been with Beat the Bitter since the beginning. “Fire and Ice is the most consistent thing, along with the Snuggie Crawl, since 2017. They’ve become a bit of a winter staple.”

Beat the Bitter, a free six-hour event in Penn Meadows Park on Jan. 25, is filled with family-friendly fun. Returning this year are crowd-favorite shows with fire jugglers and fire breathers every 20 minutes, ice skating, ice sculptures, curling, a bonfire, games and a fireworks finale.

Ice sculptures are lit at 5 p.m., bonfires come with marshmallows to roast and photo opportunities abound with a grounded hot air balloon and princess meet-and-greets.

New this year is a Snowzilla Slide, where children and adults with childlike wonder can climb up and descend down a 35-foot tall, 90-foot long slide.

And this year, the ice skating rink will be weather proof amid Iowa’s fickle winter temperatures. The 2,000-square-foot synthetic rink comes with free ice skate rentals for toddlers, youth and adults up to shoe size 12.

“People know the name now. They know they can see fireworks as good as the Fourth of July, know they can get kids to burn energy and run into classmates or neighbors,” Miller said.

An evolving season

What started as a 5k run with a few games and a ticketed, tropical-themed party has turned into not just an annual event, but a community bond that has grown with North Liberty’s rapidly booming population.

The idea started with inspiration from the Winter Olympics and the University of Okoboji Winter Games held annually in northwestern Iowa’s Dickinson County.

“It’s grown to something better than I never imagined, something that continues to be an annual thing folks look forward to,” said Smith, who now returns as an attendee with his child every year. “Community is certainly about physical buildings and spaces, but it’s about shared experiences. So often, that comes from events.”

Adult-oriented programming in the early years has since become more family friendly, delivering something for everyone.

As Beat the Bitter and Fire & Ice grew, North Liberty did, too. As one of the fastest growing cities in Iowa, Miller said it has seen 3.5 percent population growth year over year.

From 2016 to 2024, the city has grown from estimates of about 18,000 to 21,000. Meanwhile, the annual festival has gone from seeing under 1,000 people in 2017 to over 3,000 in attendance last year.

“Giving people something to look forward to during these bleak winter days allows us to have thousands in the park,” Miller said. “This is going to bring the community together to visit and run into each other without financial barriers.”

Smith credits the event’s long-term success with early buy-in from the City of North Liberty, which has helped organize the event in an official capacity since its formative years.

An event that started in what used to be called a bedroom community has become a destination for Iowans in the Corridor and beyond.

“It’s not the Olympic style we thought it would be, but I think it’s better,” said Laci Lower, who served as an early community organizer for Beat the Bitter.

Comments: Features reporter Elijah Decious can be reached at (319) 398-8340 or [email protected].