Ottawa a ‘winter wonderland’ with Winterlude and a fully-open canal

After two years of not being able to fully open, the skateway on Ottawa's Rideau Canal is again the centre of celebrations for Ottawa's Winterlude festival.

David Wilson and Jackie Eckholm dreamed of attending Winterlude and skating on the Rideau Canal after their last visit to Ottawa nine years ago.

When the Chicago couple saw on the news in January that the city’s iconic Rideau Canal Skateway had been opened to the public, they immediately booked their trip to Canada’s capital.

Eckholm said she and Wilson — who were walking down Sparks Street on Friday morning looking at the ice sculptures set up for Ottawa’s annual winter festival — have loved spending time in a “winter wonderland.”

She said they skated, had drinks at the Château Laurier, rode the O-Train and checked out the Royal Canadian Mint.

“We landed Wednesday night, woke up for the big storm and that was awesome because Midwestern winters are wimpy these last few years,” said Eckholm, who loves Canada and joked that she secretly hopes Canada annexes the U.S.

Wimpy would have been the word to describe the last two winters in Ottawa too, when temperatures never plunged low enough, for long enough, for winter activities to abound.

The canal skating rink didn’t open at all in 2023, a historic first, and in 2024 was only opened for a handful of days, with poor skating conditions.

The ice sculptures were not insulated under tarps to keep them from melting, and most did not make it through the entire Winterlude festival.