This month, the classic Fredericton festival, The FROSTtival was supposed to take place. Unfortunately, like many events in the past few years, The FROSTtival was cancelled due to the uptick of Covid-19 cases in the province. The people of Fredericton have felt the loss of the festivities these past few weeks but will be happy to know they can still participate in fun winter activities – safely.
This year those in Fredericton will be able to participate in Winterlude! Winterlude is an annual winter festival normally held in Ottawa, Ontario, but now, Canadians from every province can participate in a virtual ice sculpture contest! In past years, those who attended the festival in Ontario could take part in many exciting winter activities such as skating on the Rideau Canal Skate way, playing in a gorgeous snow-playground called Snowflake Kingdom and exploring the beautiful ice sculptures created during the Winterlude competition. This year, most of the in-person games at Winterlude were cancelled, but they are still hosting the ice sculpting competition virtually.
The Winterlude described the rules and voting instructions on their website, “Due to evolving public health measures, and because the well-being of all remains our highest priority, Canadian Heritage has taken a safer approach for Winterlude 2022. As such, in-person activities at the Snowflake Kingdom and in Ottawa, will not take place. For the 44th edition of Winterlude, Canadians from coast to coast will get to enjoy world-class works of art and vote online for their top 3 favourite sculptures as part of Winterlude’s ever-popular National Ice-Carving Championship.”
Canadians can go to the Winterlude website to cast a vote in support of their province! Make sure to cast your votes for the New Brunswick sculptors, Joel Palmer and Richard Chiasson, who have created a beautiful ice sculpture called “The Push” located in downtown Fredericton. “The Push” was made on February 5th but voting on the Winterlude website is still open until the 21st of the month!
If you are missing the FROSTtival festivities this winter season, make sure to check out the amazing ice sculpture contest the national festival, Winterlude, has to offer!