Jack Frost Winterfest cancelled in Charlottetown

Charlottetown's Jack Frost festival has been cancelled for a second time due to COVID-19.

Heidi Zinn, executive director of Discover Charlottetown, said the Chief Public Health Office advised organizers this wouldn't be a good year to host the festival.

"When the decision had to be made, we didn't know the exact rollout, when the vaccine schedule would happen for kids under 12," Zinn said.

"With this vulnerable population and inviting people here from off-Island, it was deemed it was best for us to wait another year to bring Jack Frost back in its previous format."

In its place, organizers are proposing to run an Ice City Festival like they did last year.

Ice City would run from Feb. 4 to March 6 and encompass a series of smaller-scale events around the city, such as ice-carving, wagon-rides, skating and busker and shellfish festivals.

The event is currently in the planning stage.

Zinn said she's disappointed by the decision, but understands why it had to be made.

"You work so hard to make things happen and then they end up changing, you know, 25 times. And sometimes they go ahead and sometimes they get cancelled," she said.

"I know that's the reality we're living in and we're super grateful for all the work that everyone's doing to keep us safe."