Newport Dunes has first snow

Deepa Bharath

Grains of sand blended in with white snow crystals that gleamed under

bright holiday lights.

It was the first snow at the Newport Dunes Waterfront Resort,

which has celebrated the holiday season by lighting trees on the

water for the last 10 years.

But never has the resort had 20 tons of snow dumped next to the

bay. And the children of Newport Beach, who are probably tired of

dreaming of a White Christmas, rejoiced Friday night.

Snowballs flew around, sometimes hitting unsuspecting bystanders

who simply responded with a shrug and a smile and took a quick sip

from a cup of hot cocoa.

Swoosh!

Brenna Currey came sliding down a patch of ice.

“This is fun,” the 7-year-old exclaimed as her friend pulled her

away saying, “C’mon Brenna! Let’s build a snowman.”

“Mom, can I eat it?” Brenna asked.

“No you can’t,” replied her mother, Kristin Currey.

“This is nice,” Currey said. “This is our first time here, and

we’ve never really seen snow in these parts. It’s great for the kids,

and it gets you in that holiday spirit.”

Brian Thomas was stacking up snowballs for his 5-year-old

triplets, Gage, Cole and Charlee.

“Last year, we went to the Corona del Mar event,” he said. “But

this is great. It’s a lot of fun.”

It was not just the kids who were having fun. Linda Powers and her

son Bill Koop were having a little snowball fight on the side by

themselves.

Koop laughed as he tried to get ice out of his pocket.

“It could get a lot worse, you know,” his mother said with a

laugh.

Mark Smith, a visitor from Maryland, is no stranger to snow.

“But this is so much better,” he said. “You have snow by the beach

which is kind of unusual.”

Every year, the resort tries to do something new to entertain

guests and visitors, said Alyssa Mauro, activities director.

“We have a lot of firsts this year,” she said. “We have the snow,

the entertainment, the chowder and concessions. It gets better every

year.”

The event aims to get local people in the holiday spirit, Mauro

said.

“People driving by can see us from Coast Highway,” she said. “We

hope they look in our direction and get some of that holiday cheer.”

* DEEPA BHARATH covers public safety and courts. She may be

reached at (949) 574-4226 or by e-mail at [email protected].