By Derek Cornet

Winter Wonderland

La Ronge beach becoming attractive winter destination

Feb 7, 2019 | 5:01 PM

The beach in La Ronge’s Patterson Park is a popular summer destination, but in recent years Parks and Recreation staff have been working hard to make it a fun place to visit during the winter months too.

That’s according to Manager Tonia Logan who said every year the department works to make the space a little bit better than the year before. She has dreams of someday making the park comparable to the Enchanted Forest in Saskatoon, but said much of her vision will take some time. A lot of work has taken place in the last four years, however, and Logan stated residents seem happy about it.

“There’s been a lot of positive feedback from the community about what we have done,” she said. “Every year we just try to improve on everything. Every year we bought more lights or tried different lights. We use the old stuff and we’ve been building on it.”

The 2017-2018 winter was the first time town staff embedded lights into the ice surface of the downtown rink, which is located directly on top of Lac La Ronge. Logan noted they didn’t work as well as staff hoped, so this winter a 300-foot rope of lights were placed in the ice instead, which has created a much brighter effect. The lights are only about an inch into the ice surface and are powered by an extension cord for the tennis courts.

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A view of Patterson Park at night. (submitted photo/Tonia Logan)

Logan noted more Christmas lights are added to the space every year, adding there hasn’t been any occurrence of vandalism at all this winter. She stated many of the ideas for the park come from social media like Pinterest, then lead-hand Dave Cunningham tries to make it work for the area.

“We’re going to try improve the lights in Patterson Park in the next few years and part of that will roll into the winter,” Logan said.

Some time this month, the department will also have a crokicurl court installed next to the ice surface. It will be 50-feet-across and shaped like an octagon. In recent weeks, staff have been busy making curling rocks from recycled wood, puck board and small pieces of metal for a handle. Logan stated the rocks could be temporary as they’ll find a better solution next year if they don’t work as planned.

“We’ll post a set of rules on our website, so people have an idea of how to play,” she said. “Nothing is set in stone. You can make up your own rules if you want to. We just ask the public leave the rocks there when they are done and put them back in the area they’re supposed to go.”

derek.cornet@jpbg.ca

Twitter: @saskjourno