Cold Weather and Community

As I write this column, I can actually hear the wind howl. The trees outside are bent and are whipping back and forth; making the warmer temperatures of -20 and the sunshine deceiving and cruel.

I confess that, in spite of Nordic blood, I am not a fan of winter.

But, the cold weather that makes us want to stay inside can do one of two things to each of us: it can force us into self- imposed confinement or it can be the kick in the butt many of us need to find solutions to the depression of short days, long nights and frigid temperatures.

Historically, Saskatchewan winters have been the impetus for many social groups and events. As a farm based province; spring, summer and fall are seasons spent working. It has been winter when people have time to be social.

Increasingly, this ideal is dissipating. Families and seniors go away for the winter for periods of time ranging from a week to the entirety of winter and children have busy schedules with sports and lessons outside of school, let alone the lure of the video games.

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As a society, we are getting away from old fashioned visiting and heading outside, despite the temperature, for fun.

At the risk of sounding like Grandpa Simpson, I will say that when I was a kid, my brother and I were outside most of our free time. We built forts. We went sliding; often happily using cardboard to zoom down the snow build up along treelines. We went skating, outside, on dugouts and ponds that we had to shovel off first and I know that I am not the only one that remembers the sense of achievement from pond hockey, the toes so cold they felt like they had tripled in size, being so hot you couldn’t stand it but freezing at the same time, eyelashes frozen to scarves and the extra appreciation of hot chocolate.

There is much less of this now, and kids are increasingly bubble wrapped in protection – which takes away a degree of the fun. If you told a kid to go skating on a pond but first the snow needed to be shovelled off, they would walk right past you and flop down in front of the TV thinking you were kidding.

In fact, there is discussion of cities looking to ban sledding on public hills. Really? Really?  I never remember kids getting really hurt sledding – but I do acknowledge that there is an art and an instinctive set of rules for sledding that seems to have been forgotten. Things like:  walking up the side of the hill where people are not sliding down and NOT laying on the hill where people could hit you, are important rules of conduct to keep people safe.

This trend towards staying indoors and at home continues.

BUT if you look through the Community Group News on paNOW.com and our Events Calendar, you will find all sorts of great things going on indoors and out.

There are concerts being held throughout the city and surrounding areas weekly. There are snowmobile rallies, community winter festivals, skating on indoor and outdoor rinks. There are ski hills. In Kinistino, where I live, there is a pile of snow that is often used by the local kids.

In Prince Albert we have unique outdoor event: dog sled racing. There is a weekend of racing at Crutwell January 10 and 11. The dogs will be out for the public again for PA Winter Festival and for the Canadian Challenge. That is exciting and something to take the kids out to see.

You can go for horse driven sleigh rides. There are old time dances, bridge clubs, a variety of art clubs, outdoor activity clubs represented on paNOW.com.

And, there is the old fashioned idea of inviting friends over for an evening of cards or board games.

So, I won’t let the cold blasts of winter force me to stay inside. I am determined to take advantage of all the greatness winter has in store. It is the longest season after all.

Keep checking paNOW.com Community section for many things to do and maybe I will see you out somewhere. If you have an event or an activity the community should know about, send me the information to kcay@panow.com and I will let the world know.