While most Canadians have had enough of winter, one Manitoba woman is embracing it -- and attracting some attention for the unusual way she’s gone about it.
Kim Bright of Brandon has created eight videos and a few bonus clips in which she cavorts in the snow, clad in a black, one-piece swimsuit.
In one video, she rides a snowmobile. In another, she makes snow angels. Others have her skating and tobogganning. And in every clip, she’s clad in only the swimwear, a trapper's hat and some shoes.
Every video is labelled “Canadian Granny Defies Winter,” and each comes with the same message: "Fight on Manitoba! Fight on," she calls out.
Bright shot the videos as a joke to send to friends vacationing in warmer climates. But she then decided to load them onto YouTube for the world to see.
“It just escalated. It started with the bike one, then we thought, ‘Oh, maybe we should do a skating one’, because I like to skate,” she says.
Bright says she just wants to urge fellow snow-weary Manitobans to keep fighting against what seems to be an endless winter.
“It's a long winter and we just have to appreciate winter,” Bright explains to CTV Winnipeg. “And it’s to cheer people up. And to tell them it will end, but we've just got to fight on.”
When she's not shooting videos, Bright works at a pharmacy. Her manager, Jennifer Ludwig, says the videos have customers talking.
“I'm really excited for her that it’s taken off so well. We keep hearing customers saying, ‘Fight on Manitoba.’ So it's great for morale.”
Bright's son, Michael, helps his mother upload the videos. He says the videos reflect his mother's personality.
“Growing up in this family, it's something that you're used to,” he says.
Bright hopes her new YouTube fans enjoy the videos, but she’s not exactly sure what the neighbours think.
“The people that know me quite well, they think it’s a hoot. I don't know about the random people on my street. They don't say anything.”
With a report from CTV Winnipeg’s Ina Sidhu