WEAthEr hAmpErs GAtinEAu FEstivAl
Organizers of Mosaïvernales are trying to put their opening two weekends in perspective and crossing their fingers that Mother Nature will be kinder the next three weeks. The display of more than two dozen illuminated snow sculptures in Gatineau’s Jacques-Cartier Park — essentially the wintertime version of the MosaïCanada150 display, which drew 1.3 million visitors last year — experienced high temperatures when it opened on the last weekend in January, melting parts of the sculptures and forcing the attraction to close for four days before reopening to a wind chill that neared -30 C. Only about 5,000 people attended Mosaïvernales over those two weekends, putting at risk organizers’ hopes of attracting 200,000 visitors by the time it closes on March 4. “We just have to put those two weekends behind us,” spokeswoman Geneviève Ménard said, adding that this past weekend saw better weather and larger crowds.