River trail wraps up as pandemic refuge

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This article was published 02/03/2021 (1684 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

MOMS in skates pushed strollers down the ice, friends skated in pairs and a few passed a puck to each other on the final day of a winter Winnipeg tradition.

Bundled up in the harsh weather on Monday, Winnipeggers took to The Forks river trail, on the Red and Assiniboine rivers, one last time before it closed for the season, two months after it opened on Jan. 1.

“We haven’t skated here this year,” said Nancy Friesen, 60, “When I was reading online that this was the last day, I thought we better get here to skate.”

Friesen and her husband, who drove to the city from Niverville to skate on the rivers, did the whole trail. As her husband did one more lap, she sat on a bench waiting for him.

“I’m a nurse, retired, but I’m immunizing right now,” she said, “So we’re just trying to keep active.”

This winter, they got in their exercise and enjoyed the outdoors by skiing and skating, even when temperatures were frigid.

Sitting nearby, 28-year-old Veronica Lau and her friend were tying up their skates before hopping on the ice.

“It’s just to get something to do. I mean you can’t really do much right now aside from going outside,” she said.

The old high school friends had not seen each other for a long time and said The Forks gave them the opportunity to catch up, since most other activities have been shut down due to COVID-19.

“If it starts to get cold again, and there’s nothing else to do, then I’d be pretty upset that we can’t even go skating,” she said.

Lau said she loved riding a fat-tire bike on The Forks trails which were created for the first time this year.

“I do a lot of cycling, so I’ve done these cycling trails here and there, which I love,” she said.

As of today, the river trail at The Forks will be closed to give staff time to remove warming huts and benches before the ice becomes unsafe.

“We test the ice thickness throughout the entire winter. That’s what allows us to go on and what also starts to give us an indication that it’s time to come off,” said Clare MacKay, spokeswoman for The Forks.

Barriers will be put up at entrances to the trails and signs will warn people not to go on the ice.

“That’s kind of personal responsibility, too,” said MacKay, “People need to understand that the rivers are moving bodies of water and that their safety should be something they consider before they go out onto any of the rivers.”

MacKay said while they didn’t see an increase in the number of skaters on the ice as a result of the pandemic, they did see an increase in first time skaters who had never been to The Forks in the winter.

“Different communities came along and added components, you know not part of the official trail, but there were art pieces and frozen balloons with colour in them and all sorts of other things that added to the experience.”

Last year, the trail couldn’t open because of fluctuating water levels that made the ice dangerous.

fpcity@freepress.mb.ca