'Thick enough to skate on': Saskatoon residents making the most of icy conditions

The warmer than usual winter weather has made for treacherous conditions on roads and sidewalks, but leave it to those in Saskatchewan to make the most of it.

Saying that the streets are like a skating rink is not just a cliché this week — Shelley Bridgman took it literally.

“So I got home from work and I just looked at our street, and thought, this is thick enough to skate on,” she told CTV News.

Bridgman used to be a figure skater so she felt she could handle the ice safely.

“I said to my daughters, ‘Should we try it out?’ and they said yes, and we went out and there was no issues at all. It was definitely thick enough to figure skate on,” she says.

Neighbours came out to watch the show, like Adrian Pearce who lives across the street.

“What surprised me was the thickness of the ice that she could actually do it without hurting herself or wrecking her skates,” Pearce said.

He admits he wasn’t surprised by the free skating show — has he seen this before?

“No never, no, no, I mean it’s crazy right?”

That’s what some passersby thought too.

“I had a few people stop by walking and stopping their trucks. ‘I can’t believe you’re doing this.’ So it definitely caused a ruckus in the neighbourhood,” Bridgman said.

Shelley Bridgman was captured on video figure skating on an ice-covered residential street. (Carla Shynkaruk / CTV News)

There were displays of skating in the streets on social media too.

A post from the town of Allan showed similar icy conditions creating a makeshift skating rink.

The City of Saskatoon told CTV News that in the neighbourhoods where crews do tackle residential streets they’ll focus on curves and inclines.

“All resources will be used, and the expectation is to have high priority locations and sections on the majority of residential streets receive an application of de-icing material,” said Goran Saric, director of roadways.

“Snow and ice management on priority streets is included in the city’s budget.”

The city doesn’t recommend skating on streets for safety reasons.

“Skating in the streets is not what a public road is for and can be dangerous with traffic not being able to a full stop on slippery streets; there are various options in the community for safe skating,” the city said.

Bridgman says she does get out to the rinks to skate, but this rare opportunity was too good to pass up.

“This was perfect because it was right in front of our house.”

With mild temperatures expected to continue, does she plan to do it again?

“Probably not, one time was kind of like check that box off and we’re good.”