Grant Hooker of Ottawa’s BeaverTails says he has his “fingers and toes crossed” that the Rideau Canal Skateway will open this winter, but admits he is taking a cautious approach.
“We’re considering last year a real anomaly,” said Hooker, who, along with wife Pam, founded BeaverTails, a treat available on the skateway since 1981. “But we’re a bit slower in finalizing our unit setup and recruiting. We’re dragging our feet a little bit here because of the weather so far.”
For the first time in the skateway’s history, the weather was too warm and the ice too thin last year to open the canal to skaters. The skateway was closed during all three weeks of Winterlude, a blow to the popular festival that features the 7.8-kilometre stretch as one of its main attractions.
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The lack of skating left some vendors in the hole tens of thousands of dollars.
“It costs us anywhere from $70 to $90,000 to crane the Beaver Mobiles onto the canal and remove them in the spring for set up and tear down and to organize them for storage,” said Hooker. “Along with the executive time it takes to recruit and train staff so they’re ready to go. That money was lost last year and any money we might have earned after we’d paid those fixed costs was, of course, not in our pocketbook.”
For BeaverTails, a year of losses wasn’t too big a concern. Hooker said the company’s year-round operation in the ByWard Market and its appearances at other festivals and fairs keep the business afloat.
“We’re diversified and therefore we’re able to absorb losses such as last year’s,” he said. “The skateway is a seasonal business and they’re feast or famine each year. You rely on the feast years to cover the famine years.”
Last year posed significant challenges for other vendors, such as Zups ByWard, a local restaurant specializing in poutine. It had plans to set up a kiosk on the canal last year. In April, Zups announced on Instagram that its ByWard Market restaurant would close.
“We had an amazing seven-month ride,” the company said on Instagram. “If only the canal had opened and we had the opportunity to be able to provide the Zups ByWard experience this spring and fall until our one-year anniversary Aug. 1.”
Zups’ Wakefield location remains open.
Dunrobin Distilleries, a Stittsville-based company, usually sells alcohol out of a licensed cocktail kiosk on the canal during the skating season.
Co-owner Mark Watson told OBJ last year that missing the season on the skateway cost the company around $10,000.
“It’s disappointing, but what can you do?” Watson said at the time. “It’s Mother Nature … you win some, you lose some.”
For many businesses, Winterlude and the skateway are potent economic drivers, something Hooker has seen firsthand.
“In our first season in 1981, we set up arrangements with (our suppliers) to access their warehouses during Winterlude because they both went to Florida. Three years later, they said they couldn’t go to Florida anymore. February used to be the slowest month for restaurants, now it’s one of the busiest because of Winterlude,” he said.
“Winterlude single handedly turned February into a month of celebration, as opposed to a month of isolation.”
Hooker said he’s eager to see some of that celebration return this year.
“We’re nervous about every winter but, on the other hand, we’re not overly concerned. We’re in it for the long haul.”
Steve Ball, president of the Ottawa Gatineau Hotel Association, said it’s hard to predict how things will play out with the canal’s opening so uncertain.
“We’re still optimistic that we may have a nice surface to skate on this year,” he said. “Typically we have a very short booking window, meaning people don’t start to book up the weekends until a few days before. They determine that based on the weather and based on what activities will be available to them.”
The lack of canal skating last year had a “significant impact,” he said.
“It’s an anchor product. It was disappointing that it didn’t happen.”
Winterlude diversifying to be less reliant on weather
Climate has become an increasing worry for Winterlude organizers, as warmer temperatures pose challenges for key activities like the skateway.
In 2021, the NCC released a risk assessment of the effects of climate change on the skateway. The report predicted that warmer winters would shorten the skating season, allowing the canal to be open less than 40 days around 50 per cent of the time.
It also predicted that opening the skateway in December would be unlikely in the future.
To ensure the festival’s success, organizers are introducing more options.
“Our destination has been diversifying winter offerings over the course of the festival for the past several years so there will be many events throughout the festival, no matter the weather,” Ottawa Tourism said in a statement provided to OBJ.
Organizers are also optimistic that the festival will continue to attract large numbers of visitors, even if the skateway isn’t available.
“2023 Winterlude visitation numbers were quite comparable with 2019 and 2020 levels, suggesting that the warmer weather may bring more people out. Interestingly, in 2023 the lowest attended weekend of Winterlude was also the coldest, with extreme low temperatures,” the statement read.
