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| Nestaweya River Trail | |
|---|---|
 The Nestaweya River Trail from theOsborne Bridge facingArmstrong's Point | |
 | |
| Length | 6 km (3.7 mi) |
| Location | Winnipeg, stretching between the Hugo Docks on theAssiniboine River and Churchill Drive on theRed River |
| Established | 2008 |
| Trailheads | Assiniboine River: Hugo Docks, Osborne Bridge, Donald St. Bridge, and the Forks Red River: The Forks, Queen Elizabeth Bridge, Churchill Drive |
| Use | |
| Surface | Ice |
| Maintained by | The Forks Foundation |
TheNestaweya River Trail is a Winnipeg tradition dating back to the winter of 2008-09, with variations of skating on the rivers dating back even further. The trail is built annually, as conditions allow, through the two rivers that connect the city. The trail’s activities include walking, running, biking, skating and cross country skiing. The trail also features warming huts made by local artist, pop up restaurants, curling, and other special events. Once fully open, the trail typically spans over six kilometres and remains accessible for over 50 days each winter.[1]
When the trail is at full length and the weather is not extremely cold or snowy, the river trail can see tens of thousands of skaters in a single weekend.[2] The Forks reports that for a typical longer season, the trail accommodates more than 200,000 people over the course of its roughly 50-day season. On the nicer days in February, the trail can see between 50,000 and 60,000 users in a single day.[3][4][5]
The Nestaweya River Trail first opened as aZamboni cleaned skating path in 1990, but evidence on Winnipeggers using the rivers as an ice skating trail date back to 1872. Charles Napier Bell, A military man under the command of SirGarnet Wolseley, fighting in theRed River Rebellion, is said to have introduced ice skating to the area. AfterLouis Riel fled Winnipeg, an 18-year old Bell took a trip to Ontario and returned with ice skates he used in the winter of 1872 and got a lot of attention from the locals. As his actions became more noticed, he was joined by other militiamen who had come from Ontario and were stationed at the Osborne barracks, near the currentManitoba Legislative Building. The troops cleared a space on the Assiniboine River, near the modern Osborne Bridge, and named it as Victoria Rink, in honour of the Queen. In January, 1873, local media had begun promoting the rink and declared ice skating to be the biggest new activity in town.[6]
In November, 1874, After the Red River Colony and the City of Winnipeg merged, new construction began on Winnipeg's Amphitheatre, a seasonal skating rink on the Red River maintained by the city. The rink was an initial success, until the warming huts collapsed in a winter storm halfway through its first season. The first reports ofice hockey being played on the river come from theWinnipeg Free Press in the winter of 1886-87. The story goes that Patrick Anderson Macdonald, who also founded theAssiniboine Curling Club and theWinnipeg Rowing Club, brought the first hockey sticks to Manitoba.[7]
As Winnipeg expanded and the prominence of indoor rinks and neighbourhood maintained flooded outdoor rinks developed, the activity of skating on the rivers themselves diminished until the 1990s, when the organizers of theFestival du Voyageur began to clean off parts of a bend in the Red, nearWhittier Park. Since then, the Trail opens with varied lengths and times of operations and is maintained by the non-profit organization that runsThe Forks. The length can range from a couple of kilometres to setting aGuinness Book of World Records length of 9.3 kilometers (6.1 miles) in 2008. The trail broke its own record and extended to 10 kilometres in 2017-18. The record for the longest year of operation was the winter of 2019-20, when the trail was open for 72 days.[8][9]
The Plaza at The Forks provides skate rentals and a place to have food and drinks inside along the trail. Additionally the plaza has two skating rinks, one under the main canopy and another in front of the CN Stage at theCanadian Museum of Human Rights. The two rinks are connected by an above ground skating trail and supplemented by other local vendors and musicians.[10]
Warming huts are a primary feature of the skating trail. Adding new structures has been an annual tradition at the since 2010. The installations serve as both a shelter from the cold and also serve as interactive art exhibits loaded with meaning. New huts are added annually via two competitions, one for local artists and one for international artists, and the students at theUniversity of Manitoba also add a new hut every year. Some of the warming huts unveiled in past winters get brought back on an annual basis. The winning huts and past favourites line the river trail along a path of approximately 650 spent Christmas trees[11][12]
Started in 2009, Warming Huts: An Art + Architecture Competition on Ice has been responsible for the warming huts that line the river trail. Winning entries will be placed along the Nestaweya River Trail. A jury selects the winning designs based on their "creativity in use of materials, providing shelter, poetics of assembly and form, integration with the landscape, and ease of construction."
Warming Huts is an open competition, supported by the Manitoba Association of Architects. Proposals for the competition are submitted online to be voted on by the jury. Nearing the end of January, competition winners selected by the jury are invited to travel to Winnipeg to begin construction on their warming hut. The weeklong event gives designers a chance to watch their vision come to life while allowing the public to watch them at work. The budget for the creation and construction of each project is $16,500 (CAN).[13][14]
An institution along the skating trail is a restaurant on the rivers located at The Forks. The tent is a fine dining institution in the evenings run by the owners of local restaurant Deer and Almond. The pop up, called "Raw:Almond" sold out every night of its inaugural 16-day run and has since become a seasonal local institution on years the weather allows for it, attracting chefs, diners and acclaim from food reviewers across the globe. During the day time, the tent also hosts other local sandwich shops and private events.[15]
TheRock the River Winter Festival is Canada’s largest outdoor curling bonspiel and a fundraiser for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. The event takes place annually since 2002 on theRed River along the Nestaweya River Trail.[16][17] The event can now field up to 80 teams of all skill levels and takes place on the first full weekend of February every year.
The name Nestaweya honours the original Cree name for the area now known as Winnipeg. Nestaweya means “three points,” reflecting how people historically accessed the site by river from three directions, Cree from the north on the Red River, Ojibway from the south on the Red River, and Lakota/Dakota/Nakota or Assiniboine from the west on the Assiniboine River. The name recognizes the deep history of the rivers as gathering places and travel routes long before The Forks became the modern tourist attraction it is today.[18][19]
The Foundation that runs the river trail is now involved in refurbishing Niizhoziibean, the southernmost point of The Forks. This project honours Winnipeg’s Indigenous heritage and will include a new path of entry to the river trail for Winnipeggers coming from the Norwood neighbourhood. Niizhoziibean, which means two rivers in Ojibway, is intended to inspire new pathways for reconciliation.[20]