By Valery Navarrete
The Beavertails are ready to be eaten and the snow and ice waiting to be sculpted. After many weeks of uncertainty due to unusually mild weather, Winterlude is on, say festival organizers.
The smell of Beavertails and wood smoke filled the air at the sneak preview of the 2002 Winterlude lineup last week at Confederation Park. Organizers announced several new events, including a Mardi Gras style celebration on Sparks Street to be held Friday and Saturday, Feb. 8 and 9.
Sparks Street Mall Mardi Gras will begin Friday night with a parade of lights. Saturday’s activities will include a pancake breakfast, a children’s parade at noon and a full costume masquerade ball and street concert in the evening.
Sharon MacKenna, manager of the Sparks Street Mall Authority, said she is hoping the warm weather may mean a bigger turn out for the event. “Winterlude is on, so other events are still running, organizers have just had to change the focus (from the canal),” said MacKenna.
Unusually warm winter temperatures have kept the Rideau Canal closed for skating so far this year. The estimated opening date of Jan. 19, which would have already been the latest start date in the canal’s 30-year history, came and went without the necessary 25 cm of ice needed to open the skateway.
The canal is usually at the centre of Winterlude festivities; however, the National Capital Commission, which organizes the festival, says Winterlude is in good shape no matter what the temperatures.
“Regardless of the weather Mother Nature provides us, Winterlude is ready,” said NCC chairman Marcel Beaudry at the sneak preview, adding that organizers have successfully seen Winterlude through weather ranging from rain to the ice storm conditions of 1998.
Ottawa Mayor Bob Chiarelli highlighted the return of City Snowscapes, the amateur snow sculpture contest held on Dow’s Lake in previous years. “A tremendous number of community members wanted it back,” said Chiarelli. Because Dow’s Lake is not yet frozen, this year’s competition will take place on the banks of the lake.
This is one of several changes organizers are making to accommodate the weather, but there are still high hopes that the canal will be ready for Winterlude. “We remain hopeful and we’ll see,” said Martine Bélanger, media representative for the NCC.
Other flagship activities include the return of the Canada Snow Sculpture Competition, moved this year from Parliament Hill to the front lawn of Ottawa City Hall, and the new Crystal Garden Fire and Ice Show to be held in Confederation Park Feb. 8 to 10. The show will feature speed carver Laurent Gordon and fire breather Ronnie Le Grand.