Over 150 people attended Scarborough Community Service’s first S’mores Social in January. Courtesy / Scarborough Community Services

Scarborough Community Services is hosting a S’mores Social on Feb. 25, with s’mores, hot cocoa, music and ice skating.

“It’s a pretty casual time,” said Nicole Hall, operations and facilities manager at Scarborough Community Services. “It’s ice skating, we bring down our speakers and have music playing … we have several fire pits that they can warm up by, as well as free hot cocoa and s’mores.”

The social held on Jan. 21 saw a strong turnout.

“It seems to have taken hold,” Hall said. “At our last one, we had over 150 people.”

Director of Community Services Todd Souza was impressed by the reception as well.

“To have that sort of number on our first one was a good turnout for us,” he said. “People are looking for things to do outside.”

There are a number of reasons to hold the socials across multiple dates. One became clear when the Feb. 11 social was canceled due to ice conditions.

“We never know whether we’re going to have ice,” Hall said. “Our planning staff is going to kind of sit back and try to come up with a Plan B so we can make sure to get in at least another s’mores and hot cocoa event.”

Having just one of multiple socials being canceled is an easier pill to swallow than going all-out on one event and being forced to scrap it. The community services department held a one-day WinterFest event in past years.

“You put so much effort into it,” Souza said. “If the weather didn’t work out, it was a lot of work for naught. We decided to go to this three, four evenings event.”

In fact, that was the case for WinterFest South Portland 2022, which was canceled due to the late-January blizzard.

Holding events over multiple days also makes them more accessible.

“What we found was that, with WinterFest, while it was a one-day event and there was lots of activities, there were a lot of families who could not attend,” she said. “If we give them two or three options in terms of dates, they usually can make at least one of them happen.”

The department hopes that the strong turnout for their first S’mores Social is a sign of things to come.

“It’s just a fun, laid back event,” Souza said. “Come out, skate, have a s’more, see your friends and family, and listen to some music.”

The event will be held from 4:30 to 7 p.m. at the Outdoor Skating Ponds at 20 Municipal Drive. For more, visit scarboroughmaine.org/departments/community-services.