Manitobans relish long weekend, warm weather

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This article was published 23/05/2016 (3487 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

When it comes to Victoria Day weekend in Manitoba, the weather is wildly unpredictable. But the attitude towards the first post-winter long weekend of the summer is familiar and constant: at last.

Winnipeggers were flooding outdoors over the May long, from The Forks to the Assiniboine Zoo to Birds Hill and beyond. A few hardy souls even took their first dip.

After all, when you spend much of the winter in hibernation – or at least cooped up to avoid the elements – even the modest beaches of Birds Hill Park can feel like the California coast on a Monday when temperatures reached 26 C. 

“Perfect weather. No bugs. Sun is great. Wind was awesome,” offered Velia Amador. “It’s a long time since I can remember weather like this on a May long weekend.”

Following a Saturday and Sunday with temperatures topping out in the mid-20s, however, a thunderstorm – complete with lightning display – rumbled over the city and surrounding area very early Monday morning.

Amador and friend Cecilia Amarilla spent the weekend camping at Birds Hill. Not only were they not fazed by the lightning storm, they considered it free entertainment.

“It was awesome,” Amador said. “The whole sky was lit up from about midnight to four (a.m.).”

Birds Hill was virtually empty before noon on Monday, under threatening skies. But a steady stream of beach-goers began to funnel down as the clouds departed.

Eric Stutzman and Lyris Short-Goetzke, along with son Calum, were building an “island” into the water. Daughter Myelle was using a tiny bucket to form “oatmeal,” “ice cream” and dig “a hole for a dog to poop in.”

“It’s fantastic,” Short-Goetzke said. “We try to get outside as much as possible in the summer.”

Meanwhile, a group of young couples from Landmark were among the first to venture onto the beach, even as rain was sprinkling Monday morning. But they were packing egg and chicken salad sandwiches and the determination that a few raindrops were not going to spoil the day.

“For us, it’s nice to get out for a long weekend,” said Cody Peters. “We’re busy with church on Sunday so this gives us a chance to come out here and relax. That’s what long weekends are for.”

Besides, it could have been worse. This time last year Arlene Reid and Carol Picton — along with their fellow campers of families with autistic children (P.A.C.E.) were surviving a long weekend of driving rain and, yes, snow.

“When we drove home the roads were covered in ice,” Carol recalled. “When parents come here I tell them to pack hats, mittens, rain coats. You have to prepare for all four seasons. You never know what you’re going to get.”

But on Monday afternoon, the sky was a panorama of blue, and one of the parents, Tim Tomchuk, was frying up a last batch of scrambled eggs before the group left.

It was an outing that Reid and Picton had been planning since January, when the thoughts of many Manitobans start to wander towards May long. Said Reid: “We were getting cabin fever.”

turner@freepress.mb.ca

Twitter: @randyturner15