Warm weather an early gift for ice cream lovers and golfers

With another weekend of double-digit high temperatures, some seasonal businesses are looking at an early start.

Ryan Boldt at Milky Way says the classic ice cream vendor won’t be ready to open this weekend, but he wishes it was.

“Even though we own the place we still have cravings, and I can’t wait to have a hot fudge milkshake,” he said.

He doesn’t have a firm date for opening yet, but it will definitely be in the next week or two, before the first official day of spring.

“Most of our suppliers are used to selling in May, May long weekend a lot of places open. So when I have to wake them up from hibernation in March, things have been going a little bit slow, but hopefully we can get everything together,” Boldt explained with a laugh.

Greg Dukart is the CEO of the Wascana Country Club. Although the golf course itself is far from ready, golfers will get a chance to practice their swings as early as Saturday.

“March 5 our driving range will open, which from what I hear, going back many, many years, is an all-time earliest on record that people can say,” he said.

He noted that the ground is still frozen in some areas, but he said it should be quite pleasant to hit a few balls from the mats on the driving range.

“It certainly gives people the opportunity to ultimately get the rust off that they may have acquired all through this winter, if it was even called winter for that matter,” Dukat commented laughing.

He said there is still quite a bit of ice on the golf course thanks to the freeze and thaw cycle, but the snow is almost all gone. In order to start preparing the course itself, the overnight low temperature has to stay above freezing for several days.

Archie Cameron is the general manager of the Royal Regina Golf Club. He says the early spring weather is great news for them.

“It means we get to start earlier than we’ve ever probably done in the history of our golf club,” Cameron explained. “Last year we had an early spring and we opened the third weekend of April and this year we’re planning to open the first weekend of April.”

He said the greens are still covered with insulated tarps and ice shields. If the low temperatures rise above zero over the next week or two, those will come off.

Cameron says the club is calling in seasonal staff members for March 21 to be ready to open weeks earlier than normal.

Last week the Paisley Golf Oasis beat its own record opening last weekend. The Rock Creek Tap and Grill in Normanview also opened the patio early.