"The ice is great."
Ken Staples, the founding organizer of the annual Winter Festival of Speed that will take over the frozen surface of Lac La Biche lake this weekend, says recent warm weather — well above average — hasn't put a dent into the weekend's ice surface.
For the last week, since crews began carving ice racing tracks, an on-ice airstrip, parking for a thousand vehicles and room for a number of icy-fun activities, Staples and a core group of volunteers have been watching the weather. Not too hot, not too cold, so just right, said Staples on Thursday night, just 36 hours before the admission gates open on the 41st running of Lac La Biche's main winter-time festival.
The process through the week leading up to the opening green flag of racing and winter fun has been a busy one. The area was marked off, snowcat equipmnet was then used to clear snow from the ‘town square’ near the shore where concession booths, the trade fair, and makers market will be located during next weekend’s events. Part of last Saturday afternoon was also spent laying out, clearing, and measuring the runway to ensure that it is a safe length, and also clearing roads on the lake.
Preparation work at the site will turn into maintenance work through the weekend. In recent races across Alberta, ice racing cars have been seen to chew through as much as a foot of ice during two-days of racing. The ice layer on Lac La Biche going into the weekend is almost three feet thick.
The weather forecast for the weekend is continuing mild temperatures with no snow expected. For up to date forecasts, see the weather pages on this www.lakelandtoday.ca website.