Fireworks lit up the sky over Red Deer’s Bower Ponds on Friday for the first time since 2019 to kick off the Red Deer Winter Carnival.
The two-day event that ended at 6:30 p.m. on Saturday has become an annual event for the ACFA Red Deer (local French-Canadian association) to celebrate winter and the Francophone culture.
Regional director Jean-Samuel Lampron said Saturday that people need to get outside in the winter and that’s exactly what they did on Friday night.
“The ponds were full of people. There was food. We had lights on the ice up so people could skate during the night. People were dancing all evening,” Lampron said.
And on Saturday morning as soon as the festival re-opened there was a lineup at the maple-sugar taffy tent.
“Maple taffy on snow is really popular.”
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Red Deer Winter Carnival starts Friday at Bower Ponds
Last year the group held a small, virtual event and previously held the carnival at Festival Hall, including in 2020 just before COVID-19 turned the world upside down.
“We were one of the last activities that happened in Red Deer. It was like one week before COVID shut everything down.”
He said having it at Bower Ponds provided a lot of space outdoor for family-friendly activities during COVID.
Just about two weeks ago warm temperatures had melted almost all of the snow at the park and the pond was closed to skaters, which was a big concern for organizers.
Thankfully everything froze again when it dipped down to -30 C again, and it snowed for three days, before climbing back up to a pleasant winter temperature.
“We’ve got the perfect weather,” Lampron said.
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Francophone fun will continue on March 8 with the bilingual show Spectacle Mois De La Francophonie 2022 at Ecole La Prairie at 6 p.m. Tickets are available at Eventbrite or the ACFA Red Deer office.
Lampron said this year the Red Deer Native Friendship Centre and others joined the carnival, and next year organizers hope more cultural groups will take part in the carnival to make it a bigger multi-cultural event that will continue to grow.
szielinski@reddeeradvocate.com
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