WESTBROOK – A victim of unlucky meteorological timing, Westbrook’s Winter West Festival was stymied by unseasonable temperatures and rain last weekend, forcing the cancellation of key events.

The festival just missed occurring during a string of frigid days and nights.

Organizers had hoped to capitalize on last year’s success of bringing area residents into Westbrook’s downtown, and celebrating local businesses and organizations. But with Saturday’s rain and fog, dog sled races, skating events, and a 5K run were all canceled. They have been rescheduled for Presidents Day weekend, Feb. 15-16, which is being dubbed “Winter West Part II.”

On Friday, the New England Dog Sled Club, which had organized the weekend’s races at Sunset Ridge Golf Club, scrubbed the event due to poor track conditions that were considered dangerous for both dogs and mushers.

Vince Buoniello, president of the club, said Tuesday that such cancellations are happening more frequently. While Buoniello wasn’t present in Westbrook last week, he said a former club president checked the track conditions on Friday.

“It was just too icy, and they couldn’t run safely on it,” he said.

“With all the rain, the snow freezes up and you just can’t have a safe trail,” he said. “I’ve been around the sport a long time and you never like it, but you get used to it. Every weekend is different.”

While Friday’s Family Skate Night in Riverbank Park was a hit, according to festival committee member Rob Mitchell, Saturday’s weather prevented further skating on the rink, which was created by Mitchell and a handful of volunteers following a donation from Glacial Multimedia.

Weather permitting, the group is hoping to maintain the ice in Riverbank Park to allow for further skating events to coincide with the rescheduled Winter West in February.

Also postponed until the Presidents Day weekend were the University of Southern Maine Men’s League Hockey Tournament off Lincoln Street, and horse and carriage rides.

All events weren’t lost, however.

Saccarappa Park again became an epicenter of snow sculptures, with first-, second- and third-place prizes given to the creators of sculptures called “Lobster in the Pot,” “Yoda,” and “Snow People Under the Umbrella,” respectively.

Also taking place were Friday and Saturday nights’ pub crawls, and a pancake breakfast and chili lunch to support Westbrook High School’s junior and senior classes.

Bill Baker, Westbrook’s assistant city administrator for business and community relations, said Wednesday that the events separated into two weekends may actually provide more business for downtown restaurants.

“Many of the local businesses on Main Street told us they had quite the uptick in business despite the weather,” he said. “The splitting of the events now gives us two winter weekends where we can bring people into the city.”

“We knew going in to the winter festival idea that we would be a slave to Mother Nature a little bit,” he said. “We’ll certainly be working to use all the outlets used for the original date to get the word out.”

Also taking place as scheduled were events in the Dana Warp Mill, including an arts and business open house, Drouin Dance Center’s Tea Party, and the city’s Inaugural Ball, held for the first time at the mill. That event attracted almost 200 people celebrating Mayor Colleen Hilton’s re-election.

Michelle Mecteaux, the city’s administrative aide, said Wednesday that funding for Westbrook’s annual inaugural ball comes directly from ticket sales, but that donations are also sometimes made for additional features such as decorations.

Joe Shafner uses a plastic tarp Saturday morning at Westbrook’s Winter West Festival to try to protect the snow sculpture at Saccarappa Park he made with his carving partner, Beth Phillips, called “Lobster in the Pot.” Both are from Boston. Their work won third place in the contest. Snow sculpting was one of the few winter festival events not canceled by the weather. The Westbrook High School class of 2015 had the benefit of a roof over their heads for their West Fest event, a pancake breakfast at the Stephen W. Manchester American Legion Post 62. While the students filled a variety of roles in the dining area, moms and dads kept the food flowing from the kitchen. Here, griddle master Mark Pelletier turns out a multitude of delicious brown disks every few minutes.