Embracing winter in true Winnipeg style

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This article was published 30/12/2018 (2560 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sky was slate grey, cloudy but not heavy. The temperature plunged to -15 C, chilled by a breeze that was crisp but never quite bitter. Cold enough that toes froze and fingers tingled, but not so cold that the air itself hurt the lungs.

In other words, it was the quintessential Winnipeg winter day — and, true to form, Winnipeggers embraced it.

The great Manitoba outdoors blossomed with life on Saturday, the snow-spangled weekend intermission between one glittering holiday and another. Ski hills were bustling with revellers. Dogs in booties bounded down snowy trails.

At The Forks, families and groups of friends flocked to skate the river trail, the first portion of which opened on Friday. All day, the atrium buzzed with people toting skates and hockey sticks, ready to take a spin over freshly-groomed ice.

The skate-change area hummed with voices, languages from across the world mingling in the din. Parents helped wide-eyed kids lace into their skates; while his owner took a break, a small black dog named Yoda howled a song.

Under the canopy outside the main building, Isaac and Becky Milne helped their children, 10-year-old Jaylyn and four-year-old Matt, take their first strides. For Christmas, the kids’ grandmother had gifted their first pair of skates.

So when the family heard The Forks trails were open, it seemed the perfect place to learn how to use them.

“It’s beautiful weather finally, and a good way to spend the holidays and relax,” Isaac said.

Beautiful weather, he said. Those who arrived underdressed for the weather might have chosen different words: “frigid,” maybe. Or “get me out of here.” But given the many adventures the temperature enables, “beautiful” fits.

Consider this: 2018 marks the second year in a row that the Red River Mutual Trail has been blessed by sharp cold. In 2016, the trail didn’t open until late January, after unseasonably warm days spurred worries it might not open at all.

But last year, the first part of the trail opened a couple of days before Christmas, the first time it had beaten the holiday since 2013. This year, it was ready only a few days later, right on time for joyful New Year’s Day outings.

The trail’s opening doesn’t only mark the return of a seasonal Winnipeg tradition. It also marks the ongoing revitalization of a city that, each year, seems to embrace its burgeoning reputation as a winter wonderland.

Just look at what’s on tap around The Forks alone, in the coming weeks.

Next month, the seventh edition of the RAW:almond pop-up restaurant will rise on the Assiniboine River. Chefs from across the globe now jostle to participate in the concept; tickets for all 25 days quickly sold out at nearly $200 apiece.

By late January, the wildly creative warming huts will be in place, ready to delight curious skaters and spur countless Instagram likes. They’ll be unveiled with a performance by a Norwegian artist who makes instruments from river ice.

There is more, so much more. Horse-drawn wagon rides. A Festival du Voyageur ice bar pavilion. An outdoor curling competition, a perennial favourite of the city’s hardier sweepers. Winnipeg doesn’t hibernate; it comes alive in winter.

This weekend is just the beginning. In the coming weeks, weather permitting, more kilometres of groomed ice will be connected to the Red River Mutual Trail, until it stretches from The Forks to its usual destination at Osborne Village.

With that, the city’s most challenging feature becomes its most brilliant asset. This is our time, Winnipeg. Go out and embrace it.

melissa.martin@freepress.mb.ca