‘One of my favourite attractions’: Warming huts return to Forks river trail

A building blitz is underway at The Forks as the six new warming huts along the Nestaweya River Trail begin to take shape.

This year’s entries for “Warming Huts v.2023: An Arts + Architecture Competition on Ice” are currently under construction. The competition received 122 submissions from 33 countries around the world, but only six teams are allowed to compete.

“I know I’m not alone when I say the warming huts have become one of my favourite attractions,” said Jon Trenholm, President of the Manitoba Association of Architects at the opening ceremonies Friday.

Kyree Perrault and her classmates at St. John's High School are the artists behind Azhe’o, which is Ojibway for "to paddle backwards."

She said she came up with the theme for their warming hut after her teacher explained the design would include eight large canoe paddles. "There's seven grandfather teachings. So we put the teachings on seven of them and then the eighth one we did the sun and moon on it."

Each paddle has a QR code on it, which people can scan with their phones to learn more about the seven teachings.

Perrault said it has been a great experience, “I’ve always wanted to showcase my art … and this is a pretty big project for me, I’ve never done anything like this.”

The huts will be available for public use until the river ice becomes too thin to walk on in the spring. And while some of the huts will be disassembled, others will be left to be swept away in the spring thaw.

"When the spring happens apparently the rest of the river is going to melt and Nix, which is the word in Latin for snow, will float down the red river and hopefully all the way to Lockport," said artist Wanda Koop of her warming hut entry.

A free outdoor concert to celebrate the completion of the warming huts is planned for Saturday night at 7:30 p.m.