The skating trail on the Assiniboine River at The Forks officially opened Friday. With the official ribbon cutting by Zamboni, the first leg of the Red River Mutual Trail opened at The Forks.
The trail runs from the Norwood Bridge to the Osborne Street Bridge.
Last week, The Forks said the ice wasn't thick enough to skate on and some parts of the river still had open water. The recent cold provided the right conditions to allow it to open this week.
In 2008, the 8.5 kilometre-long river trail broke the Guinness world record for longest naturally-frozen skating trail in the world.
“We own the record, so yeah, if someone beats us, we’ll be very motivated to go further, but right now, we’re gonna really concentrate on making a good long trail, but a really high-quality trail with lots of really interesting features on it, is what we’re really concentrating on,” said chief operating officer Paul Jordan.
The Forks has a lot of things planned for the trail and its Arctic Glacier Winter Park. Visitors can look forward to live music, a library, and a pop-up restaurant. During Festival du Voyageur, it will feature an outdoor patio called Rendez Vous on Ice.
