For its second time, the Frost Festival is set to take over four of Regina’s major hubs for the next ten days.
The REAL District, Wascana, the downtown core, and the Warehouse District will all be featuring a variety of shows, activities, and events for Frost 2023.
“It’s a big event for our city and as truly a winter city as we’ve experienced this week I want to recognize the four hubs who came together to find a way to celebrate the darkest days of winter,” says Tim Reed, CEO of REAL District and Co-chair of the Frost Festival.
“It is going to be a spectacular city-wide event… I think what our city has done is going to be extremely valuable and after this cold snap, it’s going to be a good time to celebrate.”
This year’s festival is running on the feedback and lessons from last year’s.
“After our first year of learning and bringing a new event to the city of this scale, there are always great learnings and takeaways from it and what works and what the public really likes. We got a lot of feedback from people who worked the event, citizens, and tourists, plus all of our volunteers as well,” says Charlene Oancia, People Services Manager for REAL for engagement and volunteers.
She explained that the committee has taken the feedback to make various alterations and enhancements to this year’s Frost Festival.
“Last year was a year of challenges because it was our inaugural year. I think last year we learned what doing events in the winter is really all about and I think we learned from that and this year we’re more precise with our programming, we understand when the market wants to come visit. We also understand that people want different experiences,” says Reed.
“What you’ll see this year is hubs that are very focused on different demographics and I think ultimately there will be something for everybody at each hub but most importantly I think it’ll be more focused than it was last year and I think it’ll be a better show.”
Last year, the festival says roughly 80,000 attendees and more people are expected to come this year.
For the first weekend of the festival, it’ll kick off on Friday, February 3, with a free pancake breakfast at the RCMP Heritage Centre on Dewdney Avenue at 5 p.m.
It’ll then be followed by an outdoor pick-up hockey game against the mounties at the heritage center. Anyone is welcome to join and play a game of hockey, free of charge.
A variety of events will also be kicking off in all four major hubs on Friday.
The REAL District will have the Glow Garden, the SGI Chalet in the Harvard 620 Lounge, the Frost on Ice Skate Shows featuring Elvis Stojko (three-time world champion, two-time Olympic silver medalist, and seven-time Canadian champion) and Paris Olympians Michael Mariano and Kirsten Moore-Towers, as well as many family activities inside Mosaic Stadium and the Brandt Centre.
Outside of the REAL District, people will get to walk through Confederation Park where they will enjoy ice sculptures of dragons, a Dodge Ram Truck they can sit in, ice slides, a snow maze, the Mostos stage with performances by the FlowWarrior, Zamboni rides, and much more.
In the downtown area, people can enjoy public skates, crokicurl, the Frost Art Walk, the Winter Film Shorts Festival, snow sculptures, and the downtown nightlife.
The Warehouse District will feature the Frost Fest Mini Market, The Yards, the Ice Bar at Rebellion, the Culture Club, and much more.
In Wascana, there will be public skates, Indigenous games, Hide Training, the Family Fun Zone, and Horse and Wagon rides.
The Festival will end on Sunday, February 12, with a spectacular fireworks show in Confederation Park in the REAL District.
For more information, ticket sales, and a full list of the events throughout the ten days, click here.
Here’s a sneak peek of what’ll be going on in the REAL District.
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- Jack – the Frost Festival mascot
