Weather permitting, L.I.V.E. will open January 1
A winter village in Lockport that offers outdoor activities for all ages will be back on the ice in the new year.
Lockport Ice Village and Entertainment (L.I.V.E.), put on by the Lockport Community Development Group (LCDG) and Red River Cats, is returning to the St. Andrews Lock and Dam. Weather permitting, L.I.V.E. will open January 1, 2024, and will run until the end of March.
Plowed roadways on the ice and fishing bays make the area more accessible. People visiting the village can also take part in hockey on a three-on-three rink, crokicurl (a hybrid of crokinole and curling) and ice pickleball.
Safety checks, like measuring and monitoring the ice, take place multiple times each week, plus speed limits on the ice roadways help to ensure the safety of the village.
“Between the streetlights and street signs and all the activity that’s going on in there, it’s something different,” said Collin Stone, owner of Red River Cats, a guided fishing tour company in Lockport. “It’s a really neat experience to be able to drive on the roads and do it safely. You don’t even need a four-by-four truck. You’ll be able to [drive] in a car.”
Stone said if people haven’t tried out ice fishing before, it’s a good sport to get into since it can be quite affordable.
“The beauty of ice fishing is it’s one of those things that doesn’t cost you a pile of money to get going. You can buy a rod for $20 and get out there,” he said. “You don’t need a big boat and all these different other things. You can just get out there in a lawn chair and start fishing, so it really makes it viable for the average person to come out and try.”
For those who don’t want to buy their own fishing gear, Red River Cats offers rentals, and employees of the fishing tour company will be at L.I.V.E. to help out people new to ice fishing.
“We’re always excited to get new people into the sport,” he said. “We have a big passion at Red River Cats for fishing. It has always been what drives us. It gets us up in the morning. It’s an amazing thing to do. … We look forward to ice fishing and the first time we can get out there, and we look forward to the first time we can get back into the boat [in the summer]. It’s kind of funny how that goes back and forth.”
Red River Cats and the LCDG, a non-profit made up of local businesses dedicated to the sustainable development of the area, have been working together with the RMs of St. Andrews and St. Clements and businesses in the area to put on L.I.V.E.
“Without those business, we could never do this, and it’s the sponsorships of all the communities involved and the businesses coming together, including government, that has allowed us to make this possible and feasible. … It’s nice to see all kinds of people giving from their hearts to put on something so great,” Stone said. “It’s a great example of how private businesses and governments actually work together really well.”
L.I.V.E. has been well received by the community — Stone said every day at last year’s village, a visitor thanked the hosts for what they’re putting on.
“Often our winters get so harsh with so much snow that it actually makes ice travel not possible. It makes it very difficult to ice fish in the wintertime. So this started through Red River Cats to just create clear roads to give access to people to come down and ice fish all [season] and make it easy and safe. And that was what our goal was when it started off was to just give safe, easy access to fishermen to ice fish,” he said. “It morphed into the L.I.V.E. acronym … and that’s more than just fishing.”
To continue to grow and to best serve the community, L.I.V.E. has launched a GoFundMe fundraising page (visit gofund.me/9bf54618 to make a donation).
“We do this free for the community. There’s no question about that. But people see value in it, which is important,” Stone said. “There’s an opportunity this year to be able to just scan [the QR code] and click and donate and help support us for the people who are in a position to do so.”
People can volunteer at the village doing things like setting up some of the equipment and putting up signs. L.I.V.E. will post about volunteer opportunities on social media (@lockportlive on Facebook and Instagram) and its website (lockportlive.ca), plus will post updates on ice conditions and when the ice village is open.
