ICE SKATING ON THE RIVER

SKATING ON THE RIVER

"Come skate with me, 'til day is through...

Life will be grand, hand in hand with you..." The Skaters' Waltz

There is a big river (Rive L'Assumption) that winds all through the city of Joliette. We cross over it often as we travel about town. When winter set it, with a Canadian vengence, the river froze solid. Soon we noticed that someone (we found out it is maintained by Joliette City) was grooming the river much like a skating rink is groomed. Soon there was a large arena with marked skating lanes extending out at each end. The lanes, we discovered, extend for almost six miles.

We could see some buildings, and some stairs leading down to the river, so one afternoon we went exploring. We found this building on the edge of the river. Inside was a large area for indoor picnicing, and a place to rent skates and hockey equipment.



In the parking lot, there were several school buses. We found the stairs and walked down to the edge of the river. There were a lot of people enjoying the ice. Many were school-aged children. Some had skates, some did not, but it didn't seem to matter. The children were down on the ice, often wrestling and just visiting, as often as they were up on their feet.



Many were playing on the banks of the river, climbing trees, etc. All, except us, were totally oblivious to the c-o-l-d !! And it was freezing cold!



Some of the children were playing hockey.

There were many adults there also. It was interesting to see an elderly woman, all alone, out there skating. Many were not skating, but were simply walking on the ice. Several were walking their dogs. No-one seemed the least bit concerned about slipping and falling. It's our guess they spend so much time on ice, they know how to negotiate on it. Unlike us foreigners, who spent more time falling on the ice than we want to talk about! And that wasn't on the river--that was in our driveway!

There was a small refreshment stand. Mostly, people seemed to be purchasing hot coffee or chocolate.

We enjoyed watching everyone, young and old alike, enjoying their ice river. We only stayed for a while, because it was really, really cold. Or at least WE thought it was.





A couple of weekends later, as we drove across the bridge and looked down at the river, this is what we saw!

There were people EVERYWHERE! They we having some sort of a festival, and the whole area was packed with people.






There were sweethearts, hand in hand.......



There were families.............

......many with small children, and an amazing array of little sleds, scooters, and whatever, to help the kiddies stay upright on the ice.



There were people there of every age and description. They even brought along their family pets. Look closely, the beautiful dog is wearing winter socks.



There were emergency vehicles......


And a cute little truck with a blade on the front and a big whirling brush on the back that kept the skating lanes well-groomed.



There were entertainers..............

.........and clowns. Look closely in the middle of the crowd. To the right is a clown in green and purple.

Next to him, on the left, is a v-e-r-y tall fellow in gold pants. He was skating on stilts!

This picture shows some of the skaters on the skating lanes.

This is the very large crowd that gathered around a platform to watch a show.

It was really fun to see this huge crowd of people, some skating, some walking, some sitting on benches watching, but ALL having a wonderful time together. We watched until we were two frozen popcycles, and wondered a time or two if ice skating could be classified as a missionary activity. We decided maybe not, since we didn't want to get sent home because we broke our brittle bones!

We knew it was finally Spring when we crossed the river one day, and it had started to thaw and all the buildings, benches, and stairs had been removed. Now there is only a lonely little fishing dock once in a while along the river, and fishermen aren't near as much fun to watch as skaters!