The Forks offering parking ticket amnesty in exchange for river trail donation

With the holiday season just around the corner, The Forks is in a forgiving mood — for parking tickets.

For the month of December, anyone with an outstanding parking ticket from a Forks North Portage Partnership parking lot can close their debt — and save a few dollars — by "adopting" a metre of the Nestaweya River Trail, the organization said Wednesday.

Parking tickets incurred at any Forks North Portage parking facility — most of which are at the national historic site, though its parking authority also oversees some other lots in the city — are $42 if paid within seven days, but jump to $84 after that.

A $50 donation to the "Trail Together" campaign, which supports the river trail, is an idea that arose in the spirit of holiday giving, the communications and marketing manager for The Forks says.

"Let's give individuals with a little bit of debt the opportunity to pay a discounted rate, and in turn ask them to essentially be supporting a good cause," Zach Peters told CBC Radio's Up to Speed.

The "Trail Together" fundraising campaign, which launched for its first year in November, gives people a chance to "adopt" a metre of the trail along the Assiniboine and Red rivers, which hasn't yet opened for this season. Those donations will help build and sustain the trail when it does open, said Peters.

"It's obviously a resource-intensive amenity to build and upkeep, and regardless of whether it's [open for] nine days or 75 days, we have a skating trail," he said.

"Whether it's 600 metres or it's six kilometres, it costs about the same amount on our end to get it underway and going and monitored."

The earliest opening for the trail was in 2011, when it opened on Dec. 21, according to The Forks.

Last season, during an unusually warm winter, the river trail didn't open until Jan. 25. It was open for a total of only five days in January, and four more in February.

Peters estimates there are about 1,800 unpaid Forks North Portage parking tickets. If every one was paid before the amnesty expires at the end of December, The Forks would raise about $90,000 for the trail.

"We're hoping that a number of those folks realize it or dig into their purse, backpack and potentially find that ticket and see it as a way of us giving them a little bit of a break," he said.

Peters said there was already a slight uptick in donations in the hours after the announcement.

Anyone who wants to take advantage of the discounted payment option can do so through the Forks North Portage's parking website.