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Regina’s winter festival is set to make a return this winter.
This is to be the third consecutive year Frost Regina will be held at four hubs in the city — at the REAL District, downtown in Victoria Park, in Wascana Park, and in the Warehouse District.
The festival is to span 10 days — from Jan. 26 to Feb. 4 — and feature various different activities, such as a petting zoo, curling, a hockey circus show, a travelling circus, fireworks, a snow maze, ice slides, street hockey, Zamboni tube rides, yard games, and ice sculptures, to name just a few.
The schedule can be found here.
Judith Veresuk, the executive director of the Regina Downtown Business Improvement District, spoke about the return of the event during a media conference Tuesday.
“I feel it’s going to be bigger and better,” she said. “I’m in charge of programming the downtown hub, and I know we’ve invested heavily in additional programming that’s going to be new and different and interactive for the public.”
She said this year’s event will see some new partners as well as the return of old ones.
“We’ve partnered with new organizations as well as some of our older organizations, like the Special Olympics Regina and the Design Council of Saskatchewan,” she said. “Some of our new partners include the Comeback Society, the Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, and the Regina Open Door Society.
“We were really finding that reach getting out there. The community is wanting to be a part of the Frost Festival, and we found that more organizations have approached us this year than they have in the past.”
Last year’s event attracted more than 88,000 people, which was an increase of 8,000 from the inaugural event. The city is putting in more than $210,000 for this year’s event.
Given the Regina Exhibition Association Limited’s financial plight, Mayor Sandra Masters was asked if that could affect the Frost event.
“If the budget does not go through, I guess that’s always an option,” she replied. “I think at the end of the day, the city has pledged $210,000 to making (Frost) happen.
“I think it’s not just REAL. I think it’s the city and our utilities that all need to get our finances in order, so I think we’ll see at budget what happens …
“Initially, I know when Frost kicked off, there was investment in everything from the logo to some of the marketing and whatnot. Now that you’ve got a little bit of momentum, we think that you can kind of build on economies of scale from having done that, so no, I don’t think it’s going to affect it in 2024.”
The city’s budget deliberations are to begin Wednesday.
Masters said Frost Regina has seen some growth over the years, and she believes that growth will continue.
“I think what we saw over the first two years was kind of building the audience and people having fun,” she said. “I know that as we continue to grow as a city, a big contingent of how we grow is with new Canadians.
“If you’re out downtown or at the Warehouse or (Wascana) or at REAL, what you’ll see is a lot of families that are new Canadians and so it’s a way for them to come out to experience the joy of winter. Because we all know it comes with some hassles too and so to get to see them have free skating, free hot chocolate, to participate in art and snow sculptures and ice games, it really is a way to bring community together and connect them. So I think if we did 88,000 last year, maybe we’ll crack 100,000 this year.”
