Winnipeg's largest winter festival will be relying on fake snow this year, due to a lack of the real stuff so far this season.
Organizers of the Festival du Voyageur say they are forced to make most of the snow they'll need for the ice sculptures and snow structures that are trademarks of the event, which begins Feb. 17 in and runs for 10 days.
Emili Bellefleur, the festival's director of marketing and communications, said organizers are spending upwards of $20,000 to produce hundreds of truckloads of snow.
"We were considering the option of trucking in snow from regions that have received more precipitation, but we've decided to stick with the artificial snow," Bellefleur told CBC News on Thursday.
She added that trucked-in snow could potentially contain ice blocks or be otherwise unusable.
"There was just too many factors for us to take the risk," she said.
The fake snow is needed because of Winnipeg's unusually mild winter, which has surprised even the weather experts at Environment Canada.
The average daily high in December was –3.5 C, while the normal is –9.7 C. Snowfall for the month was 5.2 centimetres, while the normal amount is 19.8 centimetres.
Winnipeggers experienced more signs of winter in January — including more snow — but the average daily high that month was –6.0 C, compared to the normal of –12.7 C. The snowfall amount was 20.8 centimetres, compared to the normal of 23.1 centimetres.
Bellefleur said the festival began producing artificial snow about two weeks ago. The city is footing most of the costs, she added.
The Festival du Voyageur brings in more than 100,000 people every year to St. Boniface to celebrate Manitoba's fur-trading past and francophone culture, according to its website.
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