Kildonan Park restaurant owner relieved to be reopening after storm

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This article was published 01/11/2019 (2503 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A restaurant is reopening in Kildonan Park this weekend, which is welcome news to the owner, who warned the business might have to shut its doors for good after the City of Winnipeg closed public parks indefinitely in the wake of last month’s premature winter storm.

Prairie’s Edge restaurant will return to its permanent home in the park and resume regular service hours beginning Wednesday at 9 a.m.

“As the city’s crews were committed to resolving safety concerns elsewhere in the city, we were granted permission to hire our own approved arborist to clean up part of the park, around the restaurant specifically, so that we could reopen,” Doug Stephen, president and CEO of WOW Hospitality, said in a press release.

Stephen said the city also brought in crews from outside of Winnipeg to clear a safe path directly to the restaurant Thursday. The park itself remains closed to the public.

The restaurant’s staff won’t have to worry about their employment thanks to the reopening, Stephen added.

Prairie’s Edge had relocated to the Esplanade Riel pedestrian bridge as a pop-up with a limited menu and limited hours during the two weeks it was away from its regular location. Sunday will be its final day on the bridge.

After an intense weather system dumped 34 centimetres of wet, heavy snow on the Manitoba capital Oct. 10-11, the city closed Kildonan Park, Crescent Drive Park, St. Vital Park and King’s Park so crews could clear and remove downed trees and broken branches. The city has since added Munson Park to the list of closures.

The city asks that residents avoid all parks and trail areas with large trees due to safety hazards of hanging branches and loose debris.

The closures are expected to remain in effect for several weeks, according to the city’s website.

City forester Martha Barwinsky has said she expects it will take an entire year to clear all of the debris from public areas in the storm fallout. About 10 per cent of Winnipeg’s public trees were affected by the storm.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @macintoshmaggie