Having a cool time at the Winter Carnival

This year’s edition of the Winter Carnival is in full swing, with old favourites and new offerings both drawing a good amount of community interest so far.

“Honestly, in my personal and professional opinion, I think it’s been amazing,” said Karlijn Kronenberg, one of the community and family events coordinators at the Kahnawake Youth Centre (KYC), who organizes the Carnival.

“We tried to uphold the important events such as broomball and pond hockey, but we also wanted to give the staff the opportunity to be more involved,” said Kronenberg.

KYC staff members were asked to come up with ideas for new activities, which is where the Winter Feud idea came from, Kronenberg said.

More than 100 people were in attendance at Kateri Hall for the game show, with the winning team walking away with $1,000. It will be part of the activities repertoire going forward, Kronenberg said, as will any of the other events that end up being hits this year.

“There’s definitely a part of the population that loves the traditional Winter Carnival activities, but then there’s also people who are just kind of waiting for something new,” said Kronenberg.

“It’s really important to always try to innovate and to be looking at what the community wants.”

One place they don’t need to necessarily innovate is broomball, with a waiting list for teams already forming the day signups opened once all six slots were filled. The event has a deep history, with the names of winning teams going back to the 1990s on it.

“It is absolutely awesome, because it’s a trophy that really shows how dedicated the KYC has been to having people come out and do a sport that’s important to the community.”

History was on display on the Sports Complex’s ice, too, as teams competed to become the latest team on that trophy - habitual participants like the Kahnawake Fire Brigade were joined by new or returning teams.

That includes the Four Winds team, which competed for the first time in years because, as ex-player Lionel Deer Jr. explained, they had “aged out.”

“Now it’s our kids that are taking over, playing for the Four Winds team. Basically, everybody is associated in one way or another with the factory,” he said while he and the team were in between games in the stands.

Teams resting between games were joined by fans of all ages to take in the action of the Kahnawake mainstay. It’s a mainstay for a reason: it’s fun on the ice and in the stands, the barrier to entry is very low, but high skill gets rewarded.

“It’s not necessarily broomball itself, but I love coming out to the community events that are like this, where everybody comes together. We see people we haven’t seen in years and so forth. You get to see them and have social conversations with everybody,” said Deer.

The tournament was won by the Kanesatake team in thrilling fashion, winning 1-0 against the Clean Sweeps.

“Just being out there on the ice with friends is always fun. We’re not there to win, but winning is fun,” said Selena Beauvais, one of the players on the championship-winning team.

Beauvais said that they have usually played in the winter carnivals in Kahnawake and Kanesatake, but she is hoping to revitalize interest in the sport in her home community by having players participate in Kahnawake.

The finals game was fast paced, with lots of running on the slippery surface back and forth as possession changed frequently.

The game’s only goal was scored on a one-timer by one of their youth players, Kanentoton Etienne.

“We have to defend the title, so we’re for sure going back,” said Beauvais.

“We’ll be there every year so long as it keeps happening.”

With the way the community responds to broomball, it certainly will.

Other returning events in this year’s carnival to look out for are the combined Night Market and Pond Hockey, the second edition of the 24-hour Beast Games event, and of course the Polar Plunge, which will close out festivities next Friday as it fundraises for the yet to be announced KYC trip in 2026.

There is something new for the Polar Plunge, too: $500 or more raised will give you a special commemorative Polar Plunge towel, the design of which is not yet public.

“They’re super cute, so I’m really excited about those,” said Kronenberg.

[email protected]