Warmth returned to a historically dodgy neighbourhood last weekend thanks to a Deep Freeze.

“It’s really happening, the avenue is changing,” said Christy Morin, producer of Deep Freeze: A Byzantine Winter Festival. “Mayor Mandel told us yesterday this is the new, happening area of Edmonton, and he’s right.”

The third instalment of the annual festival shut down a section of 118 Avenue over the two-day period, filling the notorious stretch with smiling faces, music and laughter.

A reprieve from freezing temperatures sent thousands from the comforts of home, in volumes organizers didn’t foresee.

“It’s more than we could have anticipated, or expected,” Morin said, adding that the 10,000 people who headed out for the festival nearly quadrupled last year’s attendance.

The festival is one of many initiatives conjured by Arts on the Ave, a group dedicated to bringing beauty back to an area made infamous by violence, drugs and prostitution. 

Morin said since the festival’s first year, a noticeable difference can be seen on the strip, and that families are choosing to live in the area, rather than running from it.

Street hockey, ice sculptures, skating, music and an artisan market enticed Karen Lakhram to bring Cheryl Wong, a 17-year-old Chinese exchange student, to the free festival.

“She wanted to do something Canadian, so we thought we’d bring her here to learn how to skate,” she said.

Clutching the arms of her host family, Wong baby-stepped across the ice for the first time.

“It is fun, but too hard,” she said with a laugh. “Too cold.”