Based off the whimsical, sweet-filled world of the board game Candyland, organizers with the Family Nurturing Center and Medford Rogue Rotary Club are teaming up to bring Winter in Candyland back for the second time for families in the Rogue Valley.

“Medford Rogue Rotary had wanted to do some sort of free community event. … I always dreamed of creating a life-sized Candyland village,” said Joy Marshall, fun development coordinator for the Family Nurturing Center and a member of Medford Rogue Rotary. “We put our creative juices together and figured out something we could do.”

Winter in Candyland was first held in February 2024 and drew approximately 3,000 attendees, leading organizers to bring it back this year.

“With 3,000 people and that success and people saying they had a lot of fun, we figured we wanted to continue the event,” Marshall said.

Winter in Candyland is scheduled from noon to 4 p.m. Saturday and Sunday, Feb. 1-2, at the Jackson County Expo’s Padgham Pavilion, located at 1 Peninger Road in Central Point.

Admission to the event is free with donations being accepted, and all funds raised will support the creation of a natural playground for preschoolers at the Family Nurturing Center on North Oakdale Avenue in Medford.

For more information, visit bit.ly/4h17Cxw.

This year’s Winter in Candyland will include a variety of sections including Lollipop Lane and Cupcake Commons, as well as some new, sweet sights to see.

“We added several new lands, and basically the idea is to bringing families together and show them how to play together and have fun,” Marshall said. “We added Ice Cream Island, Chocolate Mountain and Licorice Lagoon. It’s going to be amazing.”

Each segment includes a game or activity for families to play together.

The Licorice Lagoon section will include multiple sensory activities to stand on and touch.

“Ice Cream Island is the other new one this year, and it is a 6-foot-tall island where the game is a ball toss; you throw the ball up and it goes into a popsicle pool and then goes into a hole and circles around and you won’t know where the ball comes out until it reaches the island,” Marshall said.

The planning and creation process for each Winter in Candyland segment involves organizers working together for about a year designing the layout and making each of the features for every section.

“This is also an event that requires an enormous amount of volunteers; we have currently over 200 volunteers from the community coming together for us to make this a spectacular event for families,” Marshall said.

Marshall and other planners anticipate even more attendees this year compared to last year.

“I’m realistically looking at 5,000 people coming through,” she said.

The first 500 families to get through all the sections of the event on each day with receive a gift bag that includes the physical Candyland board game, as well as cocoa mix and popcorn.

The intent of the event is to give families a space to play and bond with each other and continue to play games together as a part of childhood development and strengthening bonds.

“We live in such a world now where everybody goes different directions, and we’re hoping people turn off their devices and learn to play more with their children,” Marshall said. “If parents play the game with toddlers at least 20 minutes every week, it teaches sharing, colors, counting and is a wonderful education tool.”

Based on how this year’s Winter in Candyland event goes, organizers intend to create an additional event in Josephine County as well.

“Our service market is both Jackson County and Josephine County … and in 2026, we’re planning on doing an event in Grass Pass,” Marshall said.

The Family Nurturing Center is a local nonprofit and family support agency.

Medford Rogue Rotary Club is the largest Rotary club in Southern Oregon and is dedicated to making an impact through community service, donations and other means.

To learn more about the Family Nurturing Center, visit familynurturingcenter.org.

For more information on the Rotary club, visit medfordrogue.org.