The third annual Winterfest Online occurred January 7-15, 2006, coordinated by the “Winterfest Candlemakers” and attended by fans of Beauty and the Beast. Each day, new music videos, wallpaper, games, and other site content appeared on their live site, and an impromptu chat occurred nightly as fandom came together to celebrate the show, the new year, and “keeping the dream alive.”

The Painted Tunnel were a popular destination for virtual guests, as they tried their hand at drawing digitally, and allowing others to view their progress. It featured a Macromedia Flash artpad, upon which one could “paint” with all sorts of virtual art supplies. Some did landscapes. Many did self-portraits. After an individual completed their work, they shared the URL of their piece to the Painted Tunnels page, where others could click on the link, and watch the individual piece be recreated, one brushstroke at a time. I took it upon myself to save these animations, as the original works would expire, so that others could see these paintings, well after the event was over. Permission was asked of all artists before I made the archive page available.

The Treasure Hunt is a highly popular event that occurs throughout the Winterfest celebration. Many website owners participate in this hunt, by hosting individual puzzles, quizzes, trivia, and other logic-based pages on their own sites, linked together in a complex chain that fans must traverse in order to reach the treasure, consisting of original, never-before-seen fanfic, artwork, music, and more, all donated by fans to the Candlemaker committee. I donated a puzzle to the Hunt.

The most popular live event of the week, an audio talent show, occurred over Yahoo Messenger on January 15, 2006. Participants and audience alike congregated in a single chatroom, enabled their speakers and microphones, and, one by one, the brave performed their songs, poetry readings, and portions of fanfic. Many performances featured languages other than English, as this is a truly global fandom, and event. I gained permission from all performers before offering this archive page.