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By Shane Clausing
Family Day

Muskoseepi Park to host Family Day festivities

Feb 1, 2021 | 2:08 PM

The City of Grande Prairie is making sure residents won’t miss out on their traditional stretch of Family Day activities this February.

While the COVID-19 pandemic has brought many challenges with it, the city and its partners are determined to have an event that everyone can enjoy.

This year, the festivities presented by New Horizon CO-OP, will take place throughout Muskoseepi Park and will feature activities such as tobogganing, snowshoeing, skating, a luge track and free snowman kits.

The activities take place on February 6-7 and February 13-15.

According to Hailey Kramps with the City, the normal tobogganing hill will be getting a bit of a facelift for the event.

“We noticed Borstad Hill and Thrill Hill was very packed down and we haven’t gotten a lot of snow. We reached out to Nitehawk to see what kind of things we could do together to increase the look of those hills and make it safer and usable for everybody. We decided that Borstad Hill for Family Day would be the perfect opportunity to bring their snowmaker out and get that hill groomed and ready for use.”

Kramps tells EverythingGP that five years ago, the city used to have a partnership with Nitehawk where it would help make the Borstad Hill more suitable for sledding.

She added the snowmaking machines will only be available for the Family Day weekend activities but didn’t rule out bringing the machines out next year when the sledding season picks up.

In addition to the sledding, Borstad Hill will also have a luge track. During this, people can learn how to participate in the sport of luge while learning from experienced instructors.

“They will facilitate a first-time luge experience. They’ll go over the basics of how to use it, but it would be for you and your family to get the first taste of that luging. If you wanted to experience more, you could then always go out to Nitehawk and experience it in full fledge.”

In order to participate in the activities, residents must reserve tickets for free on the City of Grande Prairie’s website. This includes the tobogganing hill.

Each ticket will have a timeslot to ensure that COVID-19 protocols are being followed and adhered to.

“Each of our staff will have a tablet and if you’ve pre-registered they’ll be able to see if you’ve registered or not. If you haven’t registered and there’s room, they’ll get you registered right then and there, but if not and it is full, we will turn people away.”

If the weather is nice, Kramps expects the park to be a popular place for the next two weeks.

The City is also teaming up with the Grande Prairie Regional Tourism Association to host a family-themed scavenger hunt. The interactive game runs from February 5 to February 15 through a downloadable app. Full details on how to download the app, complete tasks and win prizes are available on the event page on cityofgp.com/events.

by Shane Clausing