Let’s face it. It’s cold outside and in the last several weeks, the weather has been bone chilling cold. Let’s also face the fact that Winnipeg is a winter city and we have to accept and sometimes even embrace our beautiful winter weather.
There are so many winter activities, both indoor and outdoor that are available to seasoned Canadians and newly landed immigrants. One of Canada’s national pastimes is hockey and with so many outdoor rinks, there are endless opportunities to learn how to skate, play hockey, ringette or ice dance.
There are new facililies at Assiniboine Park. The newly constructed duck pond at Assiniboine Park is now twice the original size, with an expanded warming hut including a fire place to keep you warm. Fire pits are also found along the duck pond to keep you warm as you watch friends skate around the ice. Next to the duck pond is a new family-style tobaggan run.
Here are some fun facts about the new duck pond. Filling the duck pond took four days at approx. 758 litres of water every sixty seconds. That’s more than 1,280 large slurpees per minute. The original duck pond held 2,700,000 litres, the expanded duck pond holds 6,625,000 litres. That’s more than the volume of two and a half Olympic sized swimming pools or the equivalent of more than 1.7 million gallons of ice cream. That’s alot of ice cream!
Down at the Forks National Historic Site, you’ll be able to skate along the 5km Assiniboine Credit Union River Trail, enjoy the warming huts and many activities such as Inukshuk builing, burling and fish tossing.
In Inukshuk building, you can express your creativity and mark your trail with colourful building blocks. Burling is a a fun and colourful bowling/curling sport combination with a twist! Or you can toss fish and feed the unique penguins and polar bears of the Assiniboine River.
If you don’t have skates, not a problem! Skates can be rented at the Forks Market. For more information about all the fun activities in Winnipeg, visit the following websites:
Saison Voyageur
www.saisonvoyageur.ca
Assiniboine Credit Union River Trail
www.rivertrail.ca
Just remember, action, adventure, discovery and rendez-vous await! Discover Winnipeg Winters all over again or for the first time! Just remember to bundle up!
