This festival hasn’t been held for a few years now, I don’t believe, but it does have a bit of traction from before that as an effort on behalf of local arts organizations and other community groups to bring a degree of acceptance and celebration to the season that we spend a good chunk of our lives existing in in Regina.

Other communities have winter festivals (most famously, Quebec’s Winter Carnival) so Regina isn’t alone in trying to make the best of a challenging situation. This year’s Ice & Fire Festival runs Feb. 13-17. The festival is generally a family-friendly event, and the list of community partners includes : New Dance Horizons, le Conseil culturel fransaskois, Dunlop Art Gallery, MacKenzie Art Gallery, Regina Downtown BID, Saskatchewan Sports Hall of Fame, Sâkêwêwak Artists’ Collective and the Skate Canada Saskatchewan Centre of Excellence.

One highlight promises to be several indoor and outdoor skating performances by the Montreal skating troupe Le Patin Libre. There’s a whole pile of other performances, exhibitions, concerts and community gatherings associated with the festival which culminates with a day-long celebration on Family Day. You can find a complete breakdown here.