After a week of frigid winter temperatures in the Southeast, many outdoor ice rinks are ready to go for the Christmas break.

Lisa Baldwin is the Manager for Recreation and Community Services for the Rural Municipality of Hanover. She says outdoor rinks are entirely weather dependent and the weather has been cooperating to make them possible.

"Blumenort is ready to go, Kleefeld is ready to go, Mitchell, their outdoor rink is ready, and in Grunthal the Hanover Ag has one on their grounds and they are actually working on it this weekend and hoping to have that ready before Christmas for sure. Most of our rinks are ready for use."

Russ Dyck the Head of Parks and Recreation for the City of Steinbach says both the pleasure skating rink at the library and the outdoor ice near the arena are now open to the public. He says the outdoor rinks in Steinbach are very popular.

"Our goal is always to have them ready for the Christmas break, for the kids. We are probably a few days ahead of schedule in terms of what we did last year and a few previous years, but the goal is always to have them ready so that the kids can use that during the holiday season."

Baldwin notes outdoor skating rinks are a great, accessible form of activity and recreation.

"The weather is a little bit cold. That tends to keep people a little bit scared away but kids often are very resilient and dressed for the weather and it is all good."