There’s a lot about winter to dislike - the bitter winds and cold, the lack of green and plants, the long dark nights. Which is why it’s more inspiring when a city finds a way to not just endure winter but enjoy it.
Over the years, Winnipeg has - piece by piece - found ways to really make our famous winters come alive and bring people together. It’s a lot easier to get outside and actually see what the season offers visually when there’s so much going on.
This week, unusually mild temperatures brought fog and mist, and the next morning the whole city was coated in beautiful hoarfrost. Seeing a frosted city was just too good to resist, and judging by local social media that day my choice was a popular one. Hopefully I found a few scenes not already documented on the #Winnipeg hashtag.
The warmth, and the hunger to get outside and active after a very stifled pandemic year, have made our rivers and parks much busier places.
The Saint Boniface Cathedral is seen across the Red River nestled in a forest of hoarfrost.
Skaters take to the ice on the Assiniboine River at The Forks in Winnipeg.
The gates of Saint Boniface Cemetery, gilded with frost, frame the historic Cathedral.
Skaters catch the sun at Assiniboine Park, with the Pavilion seen in the background left and a tobogganing run at right.
There’s a lot of competition for the title of “Winter Wonderland” this year, but one family in Wolseley has carved out a real front-runner on the Assiniboine River. It joins a grassroots-created network of skating and skiing trails and rinks in the area.
The ‘Roaring Game’ of curling has found a home on the Assiniboine between the neighbourhoods of Wolseley and River Heights.
A sundial sculpture, entitled “The Passage of Time” by artist Marcel Gosselin, is seen at The Forks in Winnipeg.