‘People are so excited:’ Frost Regina returns for its second year

In just under two months, the Queen City will be welcoming Frost Regina for its second year.

Events will be held from Feb. 3-12 at four Frost hubs: REAL District, Downtown Regina, the Warehouse District and Wascana Centre.

Derek Meyers, the MLA for Regina Walsh Acres, said a number of events that were loved last year will be back.

“We’re going to have the rink on Wascana back open once that ice gets thick enough. The dogsleds are going to be back (and) GLOW is going to be back,” he said.

“Frost is really about bringing our community together. I think after a couple of difficult years that we’ve all experienced, it’s important for us to get back to our roots.”

Mayor Sandra Masters said that last year, more than 68,000 people attended the festival.

“This is the place where winter comes to life,” she said.

Coun. Lori Bresciani, a co-chair of the Regina Winter Festival Committee, said each hub will offer something different.

“You can hear the crackling of the fire and the smell in the air. This is truly what Frost is about,” she said.

Bresciani also said this year, organizers will be embracing the events they did last year.

She added they will be increasing events that were popular so people do not have to wait as long.

“We’re also going to do stuff a little bit indoors too, so we’re going to balance off that,” Bresciani said.

She added the committee is looking at trying to engage the public by inviting students.

“Balancing the weather is a really key part but we’ve got lots of volunteers in place and people to kind of adapt to that,” Bresciani said.

She added this where it’s nice to have both indoor and outdoor events, so people can decide whether to be inside or outside.

Bresciani believes there will be more people attending Frost Regina this year.

“People are so excited. The feedback we got is that they just wanted more and they want to know when things are happening,” she said.

Bresciani said the city saw through the Grey Cup and Agribition that the community it excited to gather.

“I think the key to this festival is it’s all ages. We saw in our volunteer base (that) it was all ages. It was young, it was old — it was a whole variance of ages involved,” she said.

During a media conference Monday, it was announced that Federated Co-operatives Ltd., will be the title sponsor for the event.

Additionally, Frost Regina has created its own website so people can see a schedule of events for the 10 days of activities.

Passes will be available at all Sherwood Co-op locations from Friday until Feb. 2 and on Frost Regina’s website.

Here’s a full list of events for the festival:

• GLOW at The Viterra International Trade Centre;
• Confederation Park will have ice sculptures, ice slides, a snow maze and an ice dome bar;
• Frost on Ice in the Brandt Centre with Elvis Stojko and a full cast of professional figure skaters;
• Public skating on the rink at City Square Downtown Regina;
• An igloo competition;
• Snow sculptures;
• Dog sledding and sleigh rides;
• Public skating at the Rink on Wascana;
• Hockey Night on Wascana featuring the Outdoor Hockey League;
• Mid Winter Celtic Festival; and
• Nuit Blanche brings an art sculpture at the Warehouse District.