Nathan Abbott, of Falling Waters, helps his five-year-old son, Tim Abbott, decorate a snowman, as his seven-year-old daughter, Ann Abbott works on her own snowman in Alma Bea on Saturday afternoon. Tabitha Johnston

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Children filled tables in the back of Alma Bea on Saturday afternoon, as they decorated styrofoam snowmen with markers, pipe cleaners, miniature scarves and pompoms.

The free crafts were then free to be taken home with them, as a reminder of their fun time in the snow this winter, according to Alma Bea staff member Laura Cebulski. Cebulski, who lives in Shepherdstown, was one of the people leading the snowman decorating workshop, which was held in conjunction with Frostyfest over the weekend.

“We’ve had a lot of people stop by today, as well as a few yesterday. We’ve been making snowmen or, in my case, a snow dog,” Cebulski said, as she cut a piece of cloth to turn into a scarf for her dog, on Saturday afternoon. “The kids have been having a lot of fun, being able to be creative and just doing whatever their heart desires. It’s been a lot of fun being here!”

This was the first year that Alma Bea had held an event during Frostyfest. The Appalachian cuisine-themed restaurant had previously participated in the annual festival to a lesser extent, by offering food and drink specials. But this year that changed, according to Cebulski, after the idea for a children’s event came to Alma Bea owner Mary Ellen Diaz’s mind.

“Our owner, Mary Ellen, had the idea of making snowmen this year, inspired by all of the snow that we’ve had on the ground,” Cebulski said, mentioning the restaurant’s staff then worked together to make that idea come to life. “We thought, ‘This is Frostyfest, so why not let the kids be able to make their own snowman, exactly how they’d like?’

“This feels very on-theme,” Cebulski said. “Many kids have already made a snowman outside this winter, and now they are getting to make a second snowman that will last them through the rest of the winter!”

For Falling Waters residents Nathan and Noel Abbott, the workshop was a fun way to make a lasting memory of the weekend with their two children, seven-year-old Ann and five-year-old Tim.

“I’m going to make it into a rabbit snowman!” Ann said with excitement.

She then began figuring out how to do just that, by bending pipe cleaners into the shape of rabbit ears and sticking them into the head of the preformed snowman.

“They used to do stuff like this over in Japan, but we just got back over here, as of last year. It’s nice to be able to get out and do this kind of stuff again,” Nathan said, noting both children were born in Japan, during the seven years he was stationed there with the U.S. Navy. “In Japan, they usually block off entire weeks to celebrate festivals, all across the country.”

Noel said she has been looking forward to the festival for a number of weeks. Prior to its arrival, she had already figured out which parts of it her family would most enjoy participating in and planned out an itinerary based on that. Although other children’s events were held during this year’s festival, she knew that the snowman decorating workshop was the one that her kids would both enjoy doing, along with making some stops for free hot cocoa on the countywide Hot Cocoa Crawl and for gently used books at the Friends of Shepherdstown Library Winter Weekend Booksale.

“We like doing free stuff together! This was a great way to spend time together,” Noel said, mentioning she was already sure they would be attending Frostyfest again next year.

Noel said she hoped the festival’s organizer, the Jefferson County Convention & Visitors Bureau, would add a passport to next year’s Hot Cocoa Crawl, to add one more element of fun to the event.