Winnipeg, Manitoba Celebrates the Winter with All Manner of Festivities

Flying in February 2014 is a tough business, not for the faint of heart. I set out to Bradley hoping to catch an 11:25 am flight to Minneapolis, then another flight to Winnipeg Manitoba.

But as the appointed hour grew near they began making announcements about a strange vibration in the plane and so on, and our flight was cancelled. I eventually got here to Manitoba via Toronto, and found out that hundreds of flights were cancelled in MSP because of a severe ice storm.

But it’s all relevant because I’m here to celebrate winter at the city’s 45th annual Festival du Voyageur, a celebration of winter and Canada’s long French heritage. On Saturday I’ll join the fun at Voyageur park with all manner of snowy activities with a snow bar, snow slides and a world-class snow sculpture contest. Ten teams from ten countries will be competing, so there should be some pretty amazing snow sculptures.

But what I am the most excited about is skating at The Forks. It’s a 3 kilometer river that flows through the city where people go skating. More about this later.

Another event at the Voyageur festival is the 32nd annual Beard Growing Contest. Can you say photo op??