There are some people in the Queen City who would prefer to stay inside to keep warm when the thermometer drops in winter.
But the City of Regina is wanting to encourage citizens to embrace the winter months through what they call a winter city strategy.
City council is interested in adopting the strategy to help bring attention to activities and events which take place in Regina during the cold months.
The idea of a possible winter strategy was brought forward by city councillors Lori Bresciani, John Findura and Andrew Stevens, and was discussed at their last regular meeting.
Council passed a motion to have administration begin research on the advantages and costs of creating the strategy which would help encourage citizens to engage in programming rather than stay indoors.
Mayor Michael Fougere believes it’s a great idea for the city.
“I’m looking forward to having a discussion about what that might look like, how we could partner with the capital commission and see what other cities do to in celebrating a winter city,” said the mayor.
Councillor Bresciani was inspired by the idea after attending a winter cities conference in Saskatoon. At the gathering, guests discussed different ways of promoting winter tourism in their respective cities and how they motivate their citizens to be take part in events around the community.
Fougere said this would be a neat opportunity for citizens who are interested in staying involved with what’s happening around the city during the winter considering it’s cold for many months in Regina.
“We are a winter city and we spend too much time in the winter here,” he stated. “It’s a good strategy, and we will come back with a report that will talk about how we can get the whole community energized.”
Ashley Stone of Tourism Regina presented a delegation to council at their meeting saying the organization is interested in partnering up on this initiative to help give both citizens and visitors an authentic winter experience in the Queen City.
Council passed a motion instructing administration to begin compiling a report for a future winter city plan.
