THUNDER BAY — The City of Thunder Bay held its third day of Winter FunDays despite the region’s cold snap on Sunday.
Snowshoeing was originally expected to run with the Neighbourhood Recreation Program and Junior Inclusion Services.
However, the City cancelled the outdoor programming for the safety and comfort of volunteers, staff and attendees.
The City’s community program developer, Brayden Cassidy, joined the Community Arts and Heritage Education Project (CAHEP) at the Baggage Building Arts Centre. He said that living in Thunder Bay, the cold weather sometimes poses obstacles to work around, which the City has to deal with.
“Today, we were planning to have snowshoeing at Chapples Golf Course. However, due to the cold weather warning, it was decided to cancel the outdoor aspect of the Winter FunDays and instead just celebrate the indoor aspect,” said Cassidy.
With the cold weather and people not wanting to leave the house, he said, the City understands that there will likely be less attendance and would be happy to have those who made it out join them for some indoor fun.
“If you’re feeling cooped up at home and you’re looking for something fun to do, but you want to stay warm, Winter FunDays is going on at the Baggage Building Arts Centre,” said Cassidy.
However, for those looking forward to snowshoeing and disappointed about missing it, Cassidy added it will return at the Kinsmen Youth Centre on March 2.
Hannah Decker was in Thunder Bay for the day and came out with her friend. She said she was not too upset about the snowshoeing cancellation since it was pretty cold.
“It’s been going really well. I like being in Thunder Bay because there’s lots to do," said Decker.
"There’s a lot of things going on around here, so that’s something I like about it.”
Even with a lower turnout compared to the past very busy two weeks, CAHEP also made the most of its partnership with the City for its poetry art workshop, which allowed residents to mix collage-based material with other multimedia-based arts to create a new piece of art out of magazines, books and personalized art.
Chris Merkley, the CAHEP co-director, said that sometimes CAHEP likes to bring more of a literary side to Winter FunDays and lean heavier towards visual art.
“This is a way to kind of bring in a different aspect and a different part of your brain,” said Merkley.
He explained the event was important not only to offer residents the opportunity to continue to be creative, but also because creativity and art are a way of thinking, problem-solving and 'looking at the world.'
“I think it’s good for people of all ages to do it and I think it’s a great thing for families to do together. It’s a way to cross generations and you see, we have a lot of grandparents bringing their grandkids and parents with their kids and just playing and having fun and everybody distinctly doing their own thing,” said Merkley.
Dannie Tao initially came out with his wife and daughter for an appointment with his friends, but he stayed since they were very interested in handmade crafts and because of the bad weather outside. He said it was very good for his family, especially his daughter, who ‘likes these activities very much.’
“We thought about (the snowshoeing cancellation), but we still want to be here. We stayed at home for one day yesterday and we wanted to go outside. It’s better for us. We can talk. We can do some activities with others,” said Tao.
Tao added the event’s environment and atmosphere were his favourite part of the day.
“There’s a lot of kids in here and a super cute baby here. We can talk with him and seeing his face laughing will give us a good feeling about this (event). Yeah, it’s perfect,” said Tao.
Winter FunDays will run around the city with new free outdoor and indoor programming weekly until mid-March.
Residents seeking more information on locations and programs are encouraged to visit the City’s website.
