Ice, Fest, baby!

Around 200 community members came out to the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MCK) Ice Fest last week, a free, family-focused event held as part of the annual Kahnawake Youth Center (KYC) Winter Carnival.

“It was a huge success,” said Emily Karihwenhá:wi Kane, MCK’s community engagement specialist. “It was super engaging, and there were lots of happy smiling faces.”

The two-hour event took place at the Kahnawake Sports Complex, with Kahnawa’kehró:non of all ages taking to the ice for their skating fix.

It was also an opportunity for local organizations to engage directly with community members - a key priority for Kane, who started in her role at the end of December. The Ice Fest has been one of the first major events she’s organized in her new position.

“It felt like an accomplishment, and I love that everyone came together including the chiefs and the different organizations to volunteer their time,” she said. “With the price of everything nowadays, it’s nice to give back and have a free event.”

Booths were set up by organizations like Kahnawà:ke Shakotiia’takéhnhas Community Services (KSCS) and the Jordan’s Principle team from Onkwata’karitáhtshera, as well as PlanIt Consulting, which were in attendance to help community members register for the inflation benefit.

The MCK housing survey was also available for people to fill out while they took a break from skating, as well as the Kahnawake Environment Protection Office (KEPO), MCK’s Public Safety division with local search and rescue teams, and Iotenatatkweniens ne Onkwana:takon, Kahnawake’s Waste Management, on hand to share more about their operations.

In the past, Ice Fest has been an independent event, but Kane said she wanted to make it a part of KYC’s Winter Carnival to support their efforts and reach more community members.

“It’s just a way of MCK and the chiefs giving back and being more involved with the community,” she said.

Making everything free was a big component of the event, and MCK’s Sports and Recreation Unit provided cornbread and sausage as well as meat pie and dumplings for the community to feast on free of charge. Pizza, popcorn from Kahnawake Corn Poppers, and ice cream sandwiches from Walkers Ice Cream were also handed out for free, as well as a hot chocolate stand run by MCK chiefs.

“Nobody hesitated to eat some ice cream in the cold!” Kane said.

Families also left with free merchandise handouts from the team at the Sports and Recreation Unit, who were also gathering community feedback as part of the soft launch of their community engagement survey for their operational assessment - the survey will be officially launched in the coming weeks.

The night was topped off with a special appearance from the Kanien’kehá:ka Onkwawén:na Raotitióhkwa Language and Cultural Center (KOR)’s beloved characters Tóta and Ohkwá:ri, who took to the ice with Kahnawake’s skaters while they enjoyed music from DJ Sky.

“Everybody was fed, everybody had treats, everybody was happy,” Kane said.

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