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In a Michigan winter, it’s easy for cabin fever to take hold and keep people inside, waiting out the cold.

Those looking to get out are about to have several options for out-of-doors winter fun, though, as Battle Creek’s Winter Festival 2011, Coldwater’s Ice Fest and the Quincy Tip-Up Festival are happening this weekend.

Saturday’s Winter Fest 2011 was organized by Professional and Personal Wellness as a way to get people outside and engaging in healthy activity in a time when hiding under a blanket on the couch is popular.

“We all put on those winter layers and without that winter activity, the walls start to close in on you,” Ron Osborne of Binder Park Golf Course – the event location – said.

Sleigh rides, sledding, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing will be offered.

The event is listed on the website for the Calhoun County Challenge, an initiative to get the citizens of the county to lose a collective 100,000 pounds.

“There’s going to be a 5k snowshoe race, which is maybe a little bit for the hardcore, I would say, physical fitness guys that are really into it,” Osborne said. “It’s not easy to run around on snowshoes.”

A more leisurely pace can be found in Coldwater Saturday as the Ice Fest returns for another year. The annual event is promoted by organizers as a unique art display.

“It’s kind of out of the normal,” Branch County Tourism Bureau Executive Director Debra Yee said. “It’s like hands-on art.”

That’s because ice sculptors from Marshall’s Icescapes will carve up blocks of ice into a Victorian couple, a rocket ship kids can sit on and a useable cornhole board; cornhole is a game in which a beanbag or other object is tossed through a hole in a board.

Together, the elements represent Coldwater’s past, present and future, which is the theme of this year’s Ice Fest as the city celebrates its 150th year.

Another Branch County event, the Quincy Tip-Up Festival, will occur Saturday and Sunday. The annual fishing contest usually draws thousands of people, according to organizer Bill Price.

A polar bear jump into the cold waters of the chain of lakes around Tip-Up Island, a poker tournament, snowmobile races and several other events will bring out more than fishing enthusiasts.

All of these events are united in one way: providing entertainment in a season of winter darkness, no big holidays and cold temperatures.

“I think it kind of breaks up the winter doldrums,” Coldwater Downtown Business Association Executive Director Lisa Printke said. “It gives people a reason to get outside and enjoy what winter weather in Michigan has to offer.”

Osborne said it was all a matter of perspective.

“Winter can drag on and be very boring or you can get out and be a part of it,” he said. “If you keep yourself busy and active, winter certainly goes by quicker and it’s a lot more fun.”

Andy Fitzpatrick can be reached at 966-0697 or afitzpatrick@gannett.com.