INNISFAIL - With most citizens locked down inside this long winter due to COVID restrictions, council and administration were presented with an idea that could might turn the town into a future and far more active winter wonderland.
Perhaps not on the scale of the famed Carnaval de Quebec or Ottawa’s Winterlude but activities that present more opportunities to want to go outside and celebrate the many joys of winter.
On Feb. 16 Coun. Don Harrison put it to council that staff during the upcoming summer could look at creating new ideas for the winter of 2021/22.
He said these fresh ideas could also be in line with the spirit of the 13 Ways plan around winter activities. Harrison said his proposal could be called a Winter Amenities and Recreation Strategy.
"We live in a winter wonderland. We are six or seven months under cold, snowy conditions. Why don't we take advantage of that?" said Harrison, whose pitched idea will be looked at by administration, with a hope that a future motion will get the idea on the council action report.
“When we talk about fresh air, exercise and mental health issues let’s get the kids and adults out into our community and enjoy what we have. We have Dodd’s Lake and if that can be turned into some kind of winter festival wouldn’t that be great?
“We spend six or seven months in a winter atmosphere here in Canada and in Innisfail, and it really came to light in the COVID thing when we had to close facilities and kids couldn’t get and out and skate and that."
He noted the challenges of citizens finding safe outdoor winter activities during the long provincial-directed COVID lockdown.
“There are opportunities here, and if we ever have another outbreak of COVID, and I certainly hope we don’t, yes, let’s be ready for the next one. Hopefully we have learnt from some of the lessons that COVID has taught us,” he said.
Harrison said residents have commented to him about ice surfaces that have been removed in recent years and the remaining ones being too far for many kids to get to.
He added it was a good idea the town did create two outdoor ice surfaces this winter but even more would be welcome.
“I think there is opportunity to put more of those ice surfaces throughout the community but that is all part of the strategy,” he said, adding there are now new and increasingly popular winter games, like crokicurl, that can be introduced to the community.
“Administration and operations will have to come back with what their ideas are, and particularly the cost, and how we are going to maintain these in the winter because they have to be snow brushed and flooded.”
Meghan Jenkins, the town’s director of community services, said Harrison’s proposal needed more developing but it could be a call for getting a more strategic approach to the town’s outdoor spaces in winter.
“It is something we will have to flesh out a bit more and figure out what that could look like,” Jenkins said. “We will probably have to circle around council, and if they want to give us formal direction to pursue developing that or give a little bit more of a concrete idea of their expectations.”
