Canberra needs to capitalise on the cold with a festival that celebrates winter

Winter means crisp blue skies and frosty morning walks, or grey clouds that entice you to curl up in front of the fire with a good book. Winter means time on the sidelines at footy, knowing that something is bubbling away in the slow cooker for dinner when you get home.

I love a Canberra winter specifically. We all pull on our puffer jackets and head out to face the low temperatures and the jibes from the outsiders who rib us about living in such a cold old hole as Canberra.

Canberra comes alive in winter. As soon as you can spot the snow on the ridges of the Brindabellas, you know good times are just around the corner.

The Raiders and the Brumbies are on fire. People who love the cold never complain about GIO Stadium. The walk up from Dryandra Street warms you up enough beforehand, get over it. Can you believe the infamous Raiders/Tigers game in the snow was more than 20 years ago?

But it struck me the other day, as I covered the Canberra Winter Solstice Nude Charity Swim (and, no, I didn't get naked this time) that Canberra actually needs a proper way to celebrate the best of all seasons, winter.

There was news this week that the Enlighten festival injected $20 million into the ACT economy. Sure, March is a nice time of year for things like Englighten and the Night Noodle Markets. It's not too hot, or cold, a middling month. Floriade blooms in September (which can be Canberra's most awful month), Summernats burns rubber in January, the National Folk Festival sings at Easter.

But what is there to do from April to August? Sure, there's the Canberra Region Truffle Festival which is on now. The Fireside Festival, where local wineries and food venues would showcase the winter terroir, was knocked around by COVID but is back in a slimmer format from July 8.

In 2013, the National Gallery of Australia held a winter blockbuster, Turner from the Tate, and then director Ron Radford pleaded the case for a proper promotion of Canberra's winter appeal. A young whipper snapper, Andrew Barr, was tourism minister at the time. He too saw the appeal of capitalising on the cold.

"Certainly we've been focused on lifting that winter period," Barr said back then. "There's no point trying to sell an experience different from what you're going to offer, or from the reality, so we have to make a virtue of the fact and have a point of difference, that yes, we have a winter, and four distinct seasons."

And my favourite season is winter.

Imagine what WinterFest could do (I'm trademarking that name now). Perhaps it could build on the Christmas in July event which opens on June 30 at Park West Lawns in the Parliamentary Triangle.

There'll be Christmas lights, snow falling, mulled wine bars, live concerts and melted cheese stations in igloos sprawled across the grass. There will also be authentic wooden chalets from Europe, nutcrackers, Christmas trees, fire pits to toast marshmallows and singing of carols.

It's all very European. Which is lovely. I've celebrated a Christmas in Europe and it's delightful.

But it's not Canberra. I love the idea of glowing igloos spread across the lawns. The dining dome concept has really taken off in Canberra. I'd keep that idea in WinterFest.

Let's kick it off with a nude swim on the winter solstice, throw in some truffles, some red wine experiences held near fire places, perhaps night events at Corin Forest. Bring back the Winter Glass event at the Canberra Glassworks which was always fabulous, with glass blowing and food trucks and our favourite local beverages.

Find the money to give the NGA another winter blockbuster.

We don't need a WinterFest that tries to transport us somewhere else. We need one that celebrates all the magical things Canberra has to offer when the temperatures drop.

Who do I need to convince to make this happen? Perhaps that young tourism minister. What's he up to now?