The Forks skating trail, rink close after most successful season ever

It's the official end of skating season at the Forks.

Spokesperson Clare MacKay confirmed the Red River Mutual Skating Trail, the Arctic Glacier skating trails and the small rink under the canopy can no longer be used.

"It looks like we are done for the winter," said MacKay.

"We got to 10 km this year, which is longer than we have ever been. We were fortunate enough to get onboth the Red and the Assiniboinethis year and we went for 72 days, so we beat our own record by several days."

New counting equipment installed last year means they're able to see how many people havecome up and down into the port to use the trail,said MacKay.

"It's only the port, there are lots of access points, but there were weekends this year where we were seeing 50,000 people. Our estimates are showing that during January and February we saw about 600,000 visits."

"It's been a wonderful winter."

While the trails are still on the ice, The Forks recommends people stay off them.

"When it gets to the point where we are no longer able to maintain them, it means that we're heading into the part [of the season] where it becomes somewhat dangerous to be on those trails,"MacKaysaid.

While the skating is done, there are still plenty of winter-oriented things to do, including the Ice Castles andlight sculptures at Arctic Glacier Park. Of course, the Common and Food Hall are both still open.

And you can still get an up-close look at the warming huts.

"We're bringing the warming huts up, probably tomorrow we're going to leave them in the canopy area around The Forks Market for a little bit. So anyone who hasn't been able to make the full length of the trail" can see them all, she said.