Winterlude

Ice sculptures in Confederation Park are illuminated nightly

Winterlude (Bal de neige in French) is an annual festival in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec that celebrates winter.

Winterlude is run by Canada's National Capital Commission and was started in 1979. The event is one of Ottawa's most important tourist draws, attracting hundreds of thousands of visitors each year. In 2007, it set a new attendance record of an estimated 1.6 million visits to one of the four Winterlude sites.^[1]

Activities

Winterlude dancer, Jacques-Cartier Park, February 2011

Winterlude is a very large festival of outdoor activities including public skating and skating displays, ice sculpture competitions, 60 miles (100K) of Rideau Canal skating thru the gothic city, musical concerts, children's play areas, largest ice playground, an 'ice lounge', and numerous off-site events.

Winterlude is most famous for the Rideau Canal, which is cleared for ice skating displays and musical concerts.

Other primary sites include the Snowflake Kingdom, which is located in Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau. This site is turned into a massive snow park with slides and structures, and many events and activities for children. It is the home away from home of the friendly IceHog family, the Winterlude Mascots.

Confederation Park, better known as Crystal Garden, is the site for the ice sculpture competition, the ice lounge and musical concerts. Dow's Lake also has a large skating area and hosts various activities.

Related activities include special exhibits at numerous Ottawa museums, special events in the Byward Market, and a 'loppet' type race is held in Gatineau Park.

Duration

The event lasts for three weekends, usually the first three weekends in February. Very few events take place from Monday to Thursday in between weekends 1 and 2, and weekends 2 and 3. This means that the skating rink is much less crowded and that the ice stays in a near pristine condition for much of the day, with only a thousand or so skaters sharing it instead of the greater numbers during the weekend. The skate changing shacks and food catering kiosks scattered along the length of the skateway, at the same level as the ice, are open day long during the week.

Weather

The weather in Ottawa is notoriously unpredictable, and Winterlude often is hampered by mild weather. Mild weather is the bane of the Canal, as proper ice conditions require -10 degrees Celsius for proper freezing. The length of the skating season, (which extends longer than the Winterlude weekends) is therefore unpredictable. However, most events are usually not affected other than premature melting of ice and snow sculptures. The length to which the canal is open for skating varies greatly, in the 2001-2002 season there was a record low 34 days open. The very next season, 2002–2003, the canal was open for a near high-record of 72 days.^[2]

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  Ice sculpture museum carved out of snow at the annual Winterlude

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  Sculptures in Confederation Park are illuminated nightly

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  H2Orchestra performing at Winterlude 2010 for an audience of approximately 10,000, outside the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec

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  Skating at Dows Lake

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  Winterlude performance art on stilts. Jacques-Cartier Park, February 2011.

References

1. ^ CFRA News
2. ^ Canal Season

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Winterlude

• Official Winterlude festival Website
• Ice Sculpture Ice Block Supplier

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