By Matthew Oleynik
What could be the shortest skating season ever on the world’s longest ice rink has been wreaking havoc on some Ottawa businesses, forcing them to play catch-up.
The 7.8-km strip of ice known as the Rideau Canal is an essential part of Ottawa’s winter tourism.
Before this winter — the warmest in Ottawa’s recorded history — the latest it had ever opened was Jan. 18 in 1971.
This year, the canal remained closed until Feb. 2, when about four kilometres of ice were opened for skating.
“It hurts,” said Grant Hooker, founder of Beavertails, Inc. “We do 40 per cent of our yearly business on the canal.”
The unseasonably mild start to winter has greatly hindered his business, he said.
Beavertails, Inc., famous for the fried sugar pastries it sells from concession huts, has been a canal fixture for 22 years. Its other business comes from off-canal food stands and franchising.
“We’ve been in this situation before,” said Hooker. “All we can do is what we’ve done in the past: ask for Mother Nature to lend a hand.”
Local hotels are also the victims of drops in tourism.
“Warm spells usually cause tons of cancellations,” said Hume Rogers, general manager of Capital Hill Hotel and Suites.
“It may not affect booking in the early days, but I wouldn’t be surprised to see a whack of cancellations.”
Don Blakslee, former president of Ottawa Hoteliers, Inc., and general manager of the Lord Elgin Hotel, said customers commonly book rooms in case the weather turns cold, only to call and cancel at the last minute.
“Booking a room is just a precaution for a lot of people,” he said. “They book early, but if they can’t skate, they won’t come.”
This means a booked-up hotel may turn away reservations only to have empty rooms when the cancellations start.
Stubbornly warm weather throughout December and January has seriously lightened the cash registers of some local businesses.
Last year’s Winterlude was responsible for $83.5 million of spending in Ottawa as well as the equivalent of 1,600 full-time jobs, according to the National Capital Commission, which runs the festival.
Those numbers are probably already far out of reach. The canal opened Dec. 29 last winter and stayed open 69 days, beating the average of 45 to 50 days and attracting an estimated 1.3 million visits from skaters, up from an average one million.
Businesses will be lucky to see a 30-day skating season this year.
The NCC tried to offset some of the damage by opening other attractions.
It opened a café on the banks of Patterson Creek made entirely of ice and surrounded by ice sculptures, allowing hardcore Winterluders to get a coffee and pastry.
Whether the festival will attract the 650,000 visitors normally drawn to Ottawa by the event remains to be seen. However, Daniel Larabie of the NCC expected the long wait would make Winterluders all the more eager.
“We’re hoping. We’re optimistic,” he said. “We may not get the kind of visits we’ve had in other years, but this winter’s not a write-off for businesses yet.”
Hooker agreed.
“There are a lot of people who have been waiting with skates in hand,” he said. “So I’m optimistic about our chances for a rebound.”