Newcomers enjoy first winter in Canada at PolarFest events in Moncton

Monctonians showed up in droves to skate, slide, and enjoy the mild winter weather during Moncton’s first PolarFest on Sunday.

“We were pretty worried the weeks leading up (to the event),” City of Moncton major events coordinator Vanessa Cormier said regarding the mild temperatures

“But our parks crew has worked so hard to make sure we have our skating trails up to date and even our sliding hill, so they were really able to bring some extra snow where we needed it,” she said on Sunday.

As Moncton is one of the fastest growing cities in the country, many newcomers were out enjoying their first Canadian winter.

Nine-year-old Praptika Meiyappan, newly arrived from India, was enjoying playing in the snow with her friends.

“It’s cool and it’s fun but sometimes I get irritated while putting my jacket and stuff on,” she said of Canadian winter.

Her friend Sukriti Alchuru has already noticed the difference between packing snow and powder snow.

“I only like the snowman snow. The fluffy snow is not that good,” she said. “I like making snowmen and snowballs and forts.”

Five-year-old Salvesh Alchuru agrees, saying making snowmen is his favourite part of a snowy winter, in contrast the rainy winters he’s experienced in India.

While nine-year-old Abdhika Ganapathi enjoys the snow, she wasn’t too pleased to hear this winter was particularly mild.

When asked how she would feel if next winter was colder, she frowned and said : ” Then I would be freezing out!”

Sukriti Alchuru agreed, saying that would make her “kind of sad.”