Winter Carnival rolls with the punches
Mother Nature threw Winter Carnival a curveball this year with something unexpected - snow. And lots of it.
Warm winters have been the bane of organizing the two-week calendar of events for years now, with outdoor favourites like ice fishing no longer on offer because of too many weather-related cancellations.
Over the past couple years, the Kanesatake Health Center (KHC) has prioritized indoor activities that can still run if things get a little melty.
But this time around, two major snowstorms bringing upwards of 70 CM of snow to southern Quebec meant that even some indoor activities had to be rescheduled.
“We haven’t had a winter like this in a long time,” said Jadyn Lauder, child and youth program coordinator at KHC. For the events that still went ahead, the team has also been busy clearing driveways and walkways.
However, a break between the two blizzards meant that a day of winter fun at the KHC farm on Saturday went ahead as planned, with a horse-draw sleigh ride, snowsnake, tubing, and even pond skating on offer, replete with hot chocolate and other treats.
“The sleigh ride couldn’t have gone better,” Lauder said.
It was the KHC’s first Winter Carnival with the new farm, which it acquired last spring, and the sprawling land allowed for several winter-themed festivities to co-exist.
“We have so much space and so much potential to do awesome things,” Lauder said.
The traditional paint night, which was supposed to be held last Thursday, has been postponed until February 28, and the live country concert and lunch for elders that was slated for Sunday has been rescheduled for March 1, a week after Winter Carnival was supposed to wrap up.
Still, the calendar so far boasts plenty of events that went off without a hitch. Besides the copious sporting events, such as the popular dodgeball tournament on Wednesday - which went glow-in-the-dark for the first time - there have been fun-filled features like a Valentine’s Day dance for the elementary school students last Friday.
“It was more or less forcing them to dance sometimes, but they had a blast,” said Lauder.
The toddler fun bounce night for kids under six years old was another hit, giving the community’s youngest a chance to get in the mix without getting jostled around by bigger kids.
“It was an absolute blast,” Lauder said, with 40 or more young children making it out with their families to enjoy the three fun bounces the KHC had rented plus a couple of the health centre’s own smaller ones.
“The kids were absolutely exhausted,” said Lauder. “Their faces were red, they were sweaty. They didn’t want to leave.”
Sign up for email updates from The Eastern Door
The photo contests - with themes of Valentine’s Day baking, snow and ice castles, and traditional crafts - are still open for submissions.
Meanwhile, tonight (Friday) is indoor movie night at Ratihén:te High School, where Ice Age will be screened. Tomorrow (Saturday) the broomball tournament is scheduled at the sports complex in Two Mountains.
At the time of writing, the KHC is still hoping to get enough team registrations to move ahead with that event. Otherwise, it will be converted to a free skate.
Marcus Bankuti, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
