Spring-like temps end ice show, river trail at The Forks

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This article was published 07/03/2016 (3719 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

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The dinosaurs that attracted thousands of people to The Forks for the past six weeks are extinct.

So, too, are the penguins, snakes and replica of the Manitoba legislature — all of which were made of ice — thanks to above-average temperatures that brought the Great Ice Show to a close on Saturday.

The nearby river trail lasted another day before being officially closed until for the season.

The final attendance numbers for the Great Ice Show aren’t in yet but Paul Kostas, owner of Humphry Inn & Suites and one of the main investors in the spectacle, said he and his partners are happy with the results.

“Hopefully, we’ll repeat it next year. I’d like to thank Winnipeggers for showing up in good numbers,” he said.

When the Great Ice Show opened at the end of January, Kostas said it would need upwards of 50,000 visitors to turn a profit.

The nine Chinese workers who maintained the site for the last six weeks boarded a plane home Saturday morning. They and 30 others descended on the site on Boxing Day and worked tirelessly for the following month to build a small village and menagerie of more than 100 different pieces. Kostas said he learned a great deal from importing this event from Harbin, China.

“Winnipeg can definitely host something like this. The winter, however, can be a double-edged sword. When it’s too cold, people don’t like to (go outside) and when it’s too warm, it creates issues with the sculptures,” he said.

The mild winter and late freeze-up meant the river trail got a late start. It opened up one kilometre of trail in late January, and then expanded to three kilometres in the first week of February and to six kilometres a few days later.

Chelsea Thomson, manager of marketing and communications at The Forks, said despite it being the shortest river trail season in the last decade, it was still a success.

“We still saw record numbers of people several weekends in a row. We believe we saw close to the same amount of people as last year but in two week’s less time,” she said.

It will still likely be many weeks until the river is ice-free, but Thomson said this week’s forecast of double-digit temperatures and sunny skies made the decision to close down a no-brainer.

“It’s really difficult to maintain ice above the surface. (Closing down now) gives us a safe amount of time and remove the warming huts and benches,” she said.

 

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca