Hot and sticky at The Forks; splash pad to stay shut

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This article was published 01/06/2023 (328 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A sweltering heat wave and thousands of people expected at Pride festivities at The Forks this weekend will be met with no way to cool down as Parks Canada is sticking to a July 1 opening for the park’s splash pad.

Fort Parka, as the pad is called, will remain closed for another month, despite city-run splash pads having been open for weeks.

Markus Harwood-Jones, a former Winnipegger who lives in Ontario, is staying at Inn at The Forks to celebrate Pride with his family in his hometown. He can’t believe the splash pad will be closed.

“We’re going to be facing a lot of crowds, and you always hear stories about people overheating in those kinds of temperatures, not being able to access enough water or cooling down properly,” he said. “(I felt) that combination of concerned over public safety, disappointment as a tourist and as somebody who’s from Winnipeg.”

Fort Parka is an outlier in Winnipeg. All but one of the city’s spray pads are open to the public, but the Fort Parka splash pad is not owned by the city or The Forks — rather, it is owned by Parks Canada.

Parks Canada spokesperson Carly Walsh said the splash pad is being prepped to open July 1, in time for Canada Day, but did not answer questions as to why the date couldn’t be moved up.

“We are committed to providing visitors with high-quality and meaningful experiences and look forward to welcoming everyone as summer programming ramps up,” she said in an email, two days after the Free Press asked about the issue.

Its website says: “The Fort Parka playground and splash pad are closed for the season. We look forward to seeing you in 2023!”

Harwood-Jones is not impressed.

“We are looking at 30-plus degrees. I have a tiny little ginger baby who needs a place to cool off from the sun, and we were very much excited about the idea that we booked The Forks to stay exactly where the Pride festival would be and where there will be children’s programming… It was really disappointing to find out this central part of that infrastructure was closed, and that there was no way to seemingly request it be open,” Harwood-Jones said.

Harwood-Jones said he’d hoped Parks Canada would have considered the high turnout at Pride activities in June when deciding when to open its splash pad.

“Sometimes it feels like families and parents get forgotten a little bit in terms of Pride organizing, and that’s not an issue just for Winnipeg, that is across the board.”

City-owned outdoor pools remain closed until June 20 and wading pools open July 1, the typical start date regardless of weather. City spokesperson Adam Campbell said people have multiple options to cool off until then.

“Residents are invited to cool off and access clean drinking water in our leisure centres and libraries during regular operating hours, particularly during extreme heat events. As well, drinking water stations are being set up in several communities,” he said in an email. “In addition to spray pads, our indoor pools are also a great way to cool down during the warm summer months.”

The city has become creative at helping people beat the heat. For example, in 2021, a cooling tent was set up in Central Park.

A motion presented to city council Tuesday would direct funding to create 24-hour shelter space and change the alert system that warns residents about extreme hot or cold weather.

malak.abas@freepress.mb.ca