Winterlude, Ottawa's annual festival, is a celebration of all that things cool and wintery. But unseasonably warm weather has been making the frosty celebrations seem a little out of place.

Winterlude, organized by the National Capital Commission, runs for the first three weekends in February. The festival, which includes ice sculpting and snow carving contests, typically attracts some 650,000 visitors and brings in around $140 million. But this year with the could be much different.

The Rideau Canal, the world's longest groomed skating rink, has always been the main attraction of the festival. But with warm temperature turning the rink to slush, the canal has not been able to open -- that is, until Saturday.

Winterlude organizers were elated to find that Mother Nature came through just in time, as a four-kilometre stretch of the canal opened to skaters. It's the latest the canal has ever opened, but as Winterlude-goers correctly point out: better late than never.

John and Cathy Brady are relieved the canal opened and were among the first skaters on the frozen waterway.

"The canal is the centrepiece of Winterlude," says John. "I mean, I know they try to organize around the canal not being open, but thank God it's open because it wouldn't be Winterlude without it."

Above fluttering, red danger flags that warn would-be skaters of thin ice, Greenpeace activists moved in and hung a banner that reads: "Slush Sucks, Ratify Kyoto."

Greenpeace said the event shows the effects of global warming and urged Canada to ratify the Kyoto Protocol -- and environmental agreement that urges nations around the world to cut emissions by an average of 5.2 per cent below 1990 levels by 2012.

"Today's weather really illustrates the point we came to make here today -- the fact that our climate is changing. There is no scientific debate about that fact yet Canada still hasn't ratified the Kyoto protocol," said Steven Guilbeault, a Greenpeace climate change campaigner.

Washington decided last year to abandon the Kyoto protocol, and Canada has still not decided whether it will ratify the accord.

Peters said that Winterlude might have to be pushed back by a week in the future because of gradual warming.