City gearing up for Winterfest

PRINCE GEORGE – Tonnes and tonnes of ice was unloaded at City Hall, in preparation for Winterfest this coming weekend. Most of it will be used for the ever-popular ice slide but ice sculptor, Peter Vogelaar will hold a piece for his own purposes, to sculpt for Winterfest on Saturday.

And there’s a bit of history behind this ice, with organizers originally bringing in the ice from out of town but, low and behold, one year, the shipment got caught up in – of all things – a winter storm. Enter, Ness Lake.

“Peter said, ‘Do you have any lakes nearby?’ That’s what he said,” explains Colleen Van Mook, executive Director for Downtown Prince George. “They were like, Yeah, Ness Lake. And lo and behold, we went out there and they do the polar bear swim. They had some area cleaned off and they’re like, We can harvest ice. I didn’t know there was such a thing. So that’s when it all started. And it’s such a great community effort and we’ve enjoyed working with Ness Bible Camp and bringing the ice.”