After a busy weekend of skating and walking on Williams Lake, city council is looking at how it might be able to make the on-ice recreation available every winter.
Coun. Joan Flaspohler brought forward a recommendation for the city to look into making the cleared pathways on the lake an annual affair.
“The buzz and the amount of people down there was amazing,” she said, of the activity on the ice.
“It’s just such a win-win for us in supporting the health of everyone and drawing people to our area,” said Flaspohler at the regular council meeting on Feb. 18, 2025.
Flaspohler was inspired by the self-sustaining model she saw when she visited Lake Windermere's Whiteway pathway which connects Windermere and Invermere, B.C.
The more than 30 km-long pathway system has groomed routes people can use for skating, fat biking, walking and cross-country skiing.
Flaspohler celebrated the work of Jerry Nutter and her fellow councillor, Coun. Scott Nelson, in making the pathways currently on Williams Lake, which provided an opportunity for people to get out on the ice to walk or skate leading up to and during the Family Day weekend.
Nelson and Nutter cleared paths connecting to the city's plowed area near Scout Island beach, creating an over five kilometre route stretching from North Lakeside Drive to Scout Island and around to Dutch Point boat launch.
"It's just a huge opportunity to see the lake from a different perspective," said Nelson, who lives on the lake and suggested trails along the lake as a year-round recreational opportunity as well.
"And the best part about it, it's free," he said.
Mayor Surinderpal Rathor said he 100 per cent supports the idea, but wanted to hear back from staff on the potential implications of the initiative from their perspective.
"Nothing is free these days," said Rathor, noting liability and fielding complaints and maintenance concerns as something to have to consider.
Flaspohler said the Whiteway pathway has been operating for about 15 years and could help provide them with answers on how it can be done and how the city might act as a catalyst for the community.
“I just see the potential of Williams Lake to have the same recreational opportunities and I just don't want to miss on that,” she said.
All of council voted in favour of the recommendation to look at how the city might support annual skating pathways on the lake.
