It has only taken a couple of years for the waterfront to become a go-to location for families searching for winter adventures.
Between the outdoor skating rink and the newly constructed snow hill in the festival area, Prince Arthur’s Landing is using Winter Fundays every Sunday to attract people to the area to check out the available activities. “This is the second of our annual Winter Fundays and the knowledge of it is definitely climbing,” said recreation and culture programmer Meghan Shanks. “Every week we seem to be having more. That’s exactly what we’re looking for.”
This was the first weekend for the snow hill, which was constructed by the city’s parks department last week. It just provides another family friendly activity for all ages to enjoy.
Alice Rusnak makes a point of devoting at least a portion of her weekend to activities at the waterfront. She comes along with her husband and daughter to participate in the different activities. “We came out with grandma and grandpa and the dog. We started out sliding and then went skating for a while and hot chocolate and now we’re sliding again to make a whole day out of it,” Rusnak said. “We only live about 10 minutes away so it’s great to come down. We loved the ice sculptures last year and all the different things.”
Shanks said the city is emphasizing the area to families and has focused on creating activities that are friendly to young children. She said the younger ages were taken into account when constructing the hill and not having it built to excessive heights.
This weekend was easily the busiest of the Sunday winter activities so far this year, with balmy temperatures likely to thank.
The weather served as a stark contrast to last weekend. The high temperature reached just above the freezing point, while last weekend’s skate with the Choklit Moose was in wind chill below - 30C. “The skating rink is full and we’re constantly busy (on the hill),” Shanks said. “I think the weather has a big part in that for sure.”
Next weekend’s Winter Funday will consist of snowshoeing. The activities run from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m. every Sunday until March 9.
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