By Aloma Jardine
With the ice storm of the century firmly under their belts, Ottawans are ready to celebrate winter.
But this year’s Winterlude offers people more than just an escape from everyday life.
The National Capital Commission will donate half the price of each ticket sold for its Feb. 7 Canadian Ice Breaker Show to the Red Cross Ice Storm Relief Fund.
Dominique Ste-Marie, a media relations officer for the NCC, says the commission decided to donate the money to show support for those affected by the ice storm.
“We’re trying to do something to help everybody out,” she says. “We have a lot more sponsors this year than last year, and so we can reduce the cost to compensate for the loss of revenues.”
The ice storm relief fund, which has already collected more than $5 million, is being used for emergency needs such as gas, food and medicine.
“We’re giving financial assistance to clients while they’re waiting for money from the government,” says Virginia Gaffney, co-ordinator of fund development and communications for the Red Cross.
Gaffney says the Red Cross has not worked out the criteria for distributing the money yet, but it will eventually be used to help people with losses not covered by government, insurance, or other organizations.
Gaffney says it may take up to two years before all the money is paid out.
In addition to the ticket sale money, the NCC will have donation boxes at the show for anyone wishing to contribute to the fund.
The ice storm was also part of the reason several Winterlude events were cancelled this year.
Ste-Marie says polo in the snow, the bed race, the triathlon and the relay on ice were dropped due to lack of interest.
She blamed the low numbers on the storm, and on the postal strike earlier this year.
Giant monopoly was also cancelled because organizers did not have enough time to finish planning the event.
In spite of the ice storm, the festival celebrating winter in the capital promises to be better than ever.
For the first time, Parliament Hill will be an official Winterlude site.
Twelve teams of professional snow sculptors will create pieces representing each of the provinces and territories.
Parliament Hill also hosts a fashion show Feb. 21, before the live broadcast of Electric Circus, a dance-video show put on by MuchMusic and Citytv.
The kickoff to Winterlude is on February 6 at the RMOC Festival Plaza at 7 p.m. The evening includes fireworks and the official opening show.
Winterlude will take place on the weekends of Feb. 6 to 22.