Roughly 150 people of all ages participated in Sunday's National Skate Day at the Clinton Arena.
One of the special guests was a 14-year-old student from Brazil, Guilherme de Silva Lima. He is an international student attending classes at F. E Madill Secondary School in Wingham this semester and is experiencing snow and skating for the first time.
Guilherme da Silva Lima, Brazilian exchange student at F.E. Madill in Wingham. Photo by Bob Montgomery.
He says he really likes snow but is not sure how he'll describe it to his friends when he gets back home
“It's cool. I don't have snow in Brazil, so I really enjoy it here. It's white... it's cold... and it's fun. I've never seen so cool. I don't know much about snow. I just know that it's cool.”
de Silva Lima says he also enjoyed watching his first hockey game last weekend.
Organizer Angela Smith says it was also the wind down of Canada's 150th birthday and although they did run out of toques, there was no shortage of fun
“I was not prepared for a hundred maybe toque-wise but we have lots of the food and the snacks and the treats so we're prepared for as many as arrive," she says.
Central Huron Mayor and Huron County Warden Jim Ginn was among the skaters. He admits it had been a few years since he had skated, but it comes back after a few laps. He says he was happy to see so many people come out.
“We're really trying to make an effort to involve all different ages, so doing things for seniors, doing things for kids, doing things for teenagers and the likes of that, so lots of variation in age out here, but lots of little kids, so that's good to see," the mayor says.