The weather last Friday through Monday was not the greatest, but that didn't stop the Polar Patch from opening for business, and raising funds for Backpacks for Kids.

The Polar Patch is the winter version of Papa's Pumpkin Patch which opens in the fall.

There were snow caves and polar caves, the polar pond, slide mountain, old-fashioned sled rides, a warming house, a bonfire, smores, hot cider and cocoa and pizza. Twenty-five percent of all the funds raised over the weekend is being donated to Backpacks for Kids, a total of $500.

"Wehad heard about the program sometime ago," Dave Pearce, of the Polar Patch, said. "It is one of those wonderful little programs full of nothing but goodness. It is small and needed a boost, and had all the right kinds of motivation for us to be involved with it."

Backpacks for Kids is a program in Bismarck that provides backpacks filled with food to local children in need. Their backpacks are filled each Friday with canned dinners, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, fruit bars, granola bars and other food items.

Backpacks for kids works with 18 schools and gives backpacks to 147 students.

"During the week these kids get their breakfast and lunch at school, but during the weekend they don't get anything," Mandy Reinhart, of Community Action, said.

Due to the weather the turnout at the the Polar Patch was not as good as hoped. Five-hundred people came during the four-day event. Pearce had hoped for a turn-out of 1,000 to 1,500, and said that they could have easily handled 500 a day, without lines.

The busiest day was Saturday when 300 people attended.

"Any one of the 500 people here would say they had a blast with 'blast' in bold capital letters," Pearce said.

(Kay Kemmet is a student at Bismarck High School.)