After a warm winter it wasn’t so easy to discern the arrival of spring, with temperatures hovering close to freezing. But it arrived on the calendar, at least, on the weekend, which means time has run out for Toronto’s seven winter stations.

The temporary structures that have dotted the Lake Ontario shoreline from Victoria Park to Woodbine Aves. since Feb. 15 were dismantled Monday.

The installations, which transformed lifeguard stations with interactive art meant to attract people to an otherwise seasonally-desolate space, were chosen via a contest and attracted submissions from around the world. Contest co-founder Ted Merrick told the Star in January he wanted it to be like Burning Man — not corporate — and that anything could happen to the structures.

The winners this year included a faux-fur-lined dome called In the Belly of Bear, a light installation inspired by the Northern Lights, a working sauna and a shelter made of interlocking wooden stairs. From Feb. 15 until Sunday, long lines could be seen snaking from the stations as people waited for a chance to interact with them.

But, like the season they were meant to celebrate, the Winter Stations drew their last breath Sunday, the first day of spring. In a somewhat cruel twist of fate, after standing through an unusually warm February and March, the structures were taken down as the mercury plunged and flurries re-entered the forecast — conditions they were supposed to guard us against.

With files from Sarah-Joyce Battersby