Warren County Winterfest has been hit by a double-whammy to rival all double-whammies.

The event was first canceled for multiple years as a result of an extensive rehabilitation project to the dam at Chapman State Park.

Then the COVID-19 pandemic canceled winterfest in 2021.

Now, the committee that organizes the event recognizes the need for a re-imagining.

“We just got beat up with a ball bat,” long-time organizer Ed Atwood said during a Winterfest committee meeting Wednesday morning. “(We) got to basically start over.”

And they’re looking to bring on a new partner to oversee the event — the Warren County Chamber of Business & Industry.

“We are certainly open to considering this,” John Papalia, the Chamber’s director of chamber operations and tourism, said.

He told the group he “didn’t want to say 100 percent right now” that the WCCBI would take on the event.

“We do need to come up with what we want to happen,” he said, and how to make Winterfest “run smoothly and successfully.”

Papalia expressed optimism about the future of the event.

“(It’s) unfortunate we have to lay the foundation again,” he said. “Everything has changed a little bit here or there. I think there’s an opportunity. People are looking to get back out and do things.”

“We can put a good Winterfest together,” Atwood said. “This last winter would have been perfect.” He spoke about the importance of partnership with the WCCBI to “get the thing off the ground again.”

Papalia said the committee should put some time into determining “where are our key areas of focus” and how the event can be built around that focus.

A couple of significant changes were discussed as possibilities for the 2022 event.

One would shift the date from January into the first weekend in February — that would dodge hunting season and the NFL conference championship Sunday.

Another would put significant energy into developing events that could proceed even if there isn’t snow, though the February date was suggested to help with the snow issue.

“I think the move is more or less about snow,” Papalia said. “(We) can’t control the weather. (We) can put good events in place to make it successful regardless.”