Winterlude | |
---|---|
Genre | Winter festival |
Begins | January 31, 2025 |
Ends | February 17, 2025 |
Frequency | Annually |
Venue | Confederation Park Jacques Cartier Park Rideau Canal Skateway |
Location(s) | Ottawa, Ontario Gatineau, Quebec |
Country | Canada |
Inaugurated | 1979 |
Previous event | February 2 - 19, 2024 |
Next event | January 31 - February 17, 2025 |
Organised by | Canadian Heritage |
Website | Winterlude |
Winterlude is an annual winter festival held in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec (collectively known as the National Capital Region).
Winterlude is run by the Department of Canadian Heritage 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, and that record still stands as of 2024. [1] BizBash has recognized Winterlude as one of the top 100 annual attractions in Canada and the United States [2]
The focal point of Winterlude is the Rideau Canal Skateway which at 7.8 kilometres (approximately 5 miles) is the largest skating rink in the world.
Another primary site is the Snowflake Kingdom, which is located in Jacques-Cartier Park in Gatineau. This site is turned into a massive "snow park" with ice slides and snow sculptures and also hosts numerous events and activities for children.
Confederation Park, better known as Crystal Garden, is the site for the ice sculpture competition, the ice lounge and musical concerts. Marion Dewar Plaza at City Hall (across from Confederation Park) is the site of the Rink of Dreams, an ice-skating rink that hosts skating shows, DJ dance parties and interactive art displays throughout the Festival. 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, Sparks Street, and a variety of other events throughout the city.
The festival features mascots called "Ice Hogs," fictional groundhog-like creatures. Legend has it they emerged during the last Ice Age from a magical ice vortex. Their presence brings a touch of magic to Winterlude, delighting both young and old who appreciate the winter season. [3]
Corridas Several racing events are held in conjunction with Winterlude. The Gatineau Loppet, inaugurated in 1979, is an internationally recognized cross-country ski race that takes place in Gatineau Park. The event also holds snowshoe and Fatbike races. [4] Since 1984, the Winterlude Triathlon has also been part of the festival. The format and location of the winter triathlon has changed frequently over the years. The race currently consists of a 8 km skate across the Rideau Canal, a 5 km run along Colonel By Drive, and a 6 km ski at Mooney's Bay Park. [5] Other race events include "bed racing" and "ice dragon boat" racing. [6] [7]
Winterlude spans three weekends, usually in February, and typically concludes on Family Day, which falls on a Monday. Between the first and second weekends, and the second and third weekends, there are very few events scheduled from Monday to Thursday. This results in a less crowded skating rink and pristine ice conditions, with only around a thousand skaters sharing it compared to larger numbers on weekends. Skate changing shacks and food catering kiosks along the skateway remain open during the weekdays.
The weather in Ottawa is notoriously unpredictable, and Winterlude often is hampered by warm temperatures. Mild weather is the bane of the Canal, as proper ice conditions require -10 °C/14 °F for proper freezing. The length of the skating season (which often extends past Winterlude) is therefore unpredictable. However, most events are usually not affected other than premature melting of ice and snow sculptures. The average length to which the canal is open for skating is 50 days, but varies greatly. In the 2001–2002 season there was a (then) record low 34 days of skating. The very next season, 2002–2003, the canal was open for a near-record high 72 days. The longest skating season was 1971–1972, lasting 95 days. The shortest was 2015–2016, lasting just 18 days. [8]
The Rideau Canal is a 202 kilometre long canal that links the Ottawa River, at Ottawa, with the Great Cataraqui River, and then at Lake Ontario at Kingston, Ontario, Canada. Its 46 locks raise boats from the Ottawa River 83 metres upstream along the Rideau River to the Rideau Lakes, and from there drop 50 metres downstream along the Cataraqui River to Kingston.
TD Place Arena, originally the Ottawa Civic Centre, is an indoor arena located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The arena can seat 5,500 people, and with the upper bowl open it can hold 8,585 people. Opened in December 1967, it is used primarily for sports, including curling, figure skating, ice hockey, and lacrosse. The arena has hosted Canadian and world championships in figure skating, curling, and ice hockey, including the first women's world ice hockey championship in 1990. It is also used for concerts and conventions such as Ottawa SuperEX.
Dow's Lake in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada is a small man-made lake on the Rideau Canal, situated two kilometres north of Hog's Back Falls in the middle of Ottawa. It is at the south end of Preston Street, just south of Carling Avenue, and just to the west of Bronson Avenue. At the south end of the lake is Carleton University, and to the west is the Dominion Arboretum, at the edge of the Central Experimental Farm.
The Fur Rendezvous Festival is an annual winter festival held in Anchorage, Alaska in late February. The self-styled "largest winter festival in North America", Fur Rendezvous is highly anticipated by many Anchorage-area residents as marking the beginning of the end of a long winter and the approach of spring. In 2012, Fur Rendezvous was selected as the number one winter carnival in the world by the National Geographic Traveler.
An ice rink is a frozen body of water and/or an artificial sheet of ice where people can ice skate or play winter sports. Ice rinks are also used for exhibitions, contests and ice shows. The growth and increasing popularity of ice skating during the 1800s marked a rise in the deliberate construction of ice rinks in numerous areas of the world.
Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material. Sculptures from ice can be abstract or realistic and can be functional or purely decorative. Ice sculptures are generally associated with special or extravagant events because of their limited lifetime.
Tour skating is recreational long distance ice skating on natural ice. It is particularly popular in the Netherlands and the Nordic countries. It is becoming more popular in areas of North America such as New England, Southcentral Alaska, and Nova Scotia.
Snow sculpture, snow carving or snow art is a sculpture form comparable to sand sculpture or ice sculpture in that most of it is now practiced outdoors often in full view of spectators, thus giving it kinship to performance art. The materials and the tools differ widely, but often include hand tools such as shovels, pickle forks, homemade tools, and saws. Snow sculptures are usually carved out of a single block of snow about 6–15 ft (1.8–4.6 m) on each side and weighing about 20–30 tons. The snow is densely packed into a form after having been produced by artificial means or collected from the ground after a snowfall.
The Aberdeen Pavilion is an exhibition hall in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Overlooking the Rideau Canal, it is located in Lansdowne Park, Ottawa's historic fairgrounds. For many years, the building was known as the "Cattle Castle", due to its use for the Central Canada Exhibition's agricultural exhibits and shows. It is the last surviving Canadian example of what was once a common form of Victorian exhibition hall, and was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1983.
'Winterfest' is the name of various winter festivals held in various parts of North America. Winterfest Christmas Trees are produced in Turkey
Confederation Park(French: Parc de la Confédération) is a public park and National Historic Site of Canada, located in the downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is bordered on the south by Laurier Avenue and Ottawa City Hall; on the east by the Rideau Canal and National Defence Headquarters; on the north by the Mackenzie King Bridge, the Rideau Centre and the National Arts Centre; and to the west by Elgin Street and the Lord Elgin Hotel.
Dey's Arena, also known as Dey Brothers Rink, Dey's Skating Rink and The Arena, were a series of ice rinks and arenas located in Ottawa, Ontario, that hold importance in the early development of the organized sport of ice hockey in Canada. It was the home arena of the Ottawa Hockey Club, variously known as the Generals, the Silver Seven and the Senators from the 1890s until 1923, although it is known that games were also played at the Rideau Skating Rink in the 1890s and the Aberdeen Pavilion in 1904. The rink and arenas were built by two generations of the Dey family, who were prominent in Ottawa at the time, with a thriving boat works business serving the lumber business. The Dey family also played hockey.
The Forks is a historic site, meeting place, and green space in downtown Winnipeg located at the confluence of the Red River and the Assiniboine River.
The Rideau Skating Rink was an indoor skating and curling facility located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Consisting of a curling rink and a skating rink, it was one of the first indoor rinks in Canada. The Rideau Rink was scheduled to open on January 10, 1889, but unseasonably mild weather postponed the grand opening to February 1. It opened on January 25, 1889 for select V.I.P.s although this was a misunderstanding and should not have denied entry to season ticket holders. It was located on Theodore Street, at Waller Street, at the present location of the Arts Hall of the University of Ottawa, near the Rideau Canal.
The Arena, also known as Dey's Arena was an arena for ice hockey located in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It was the home of the Ottawa Hockey Club from 1908 to 1923. It was the third in a series of ice hockey venues built by the Dey family of Ottawa. At the time of its building, it was Canada's largest arena.
The 2012 National Hockey League All-Star Game, took place on January 29, 2012, at Scotiabank Place in Ottawa. This edition of the All-Star Game featured the "fantasy draft" format first seen in the previous 2011 NHL All-Star Game. The participating players voted for team captains, selecting Daniel Alfredsson of the All-Star host Ottawa Senators and Zdeno Chara of the defending Stanley Cup champion, the Boston Bruins.
The Capital Pathway, also known informally as the Bike Path, is a 220-kilometre (140 mi) recreational pathway interlinking many parks, waterways and sites in Ottawa, Ontario and Gatineau, Quebec. Most of the pathway is paved, and allows an almost continuous route through the National Capital Region.
A winter festival, winter carnival, snow festival, or frost fair is an outdoor cold weather celebration that occurs in wintertime.