***Original published in South Mountain Press, March 29, 2019***
Local Small Town Rinks Finish on a Strong Note
If you had to point to an iconic piece of Canadiana, it would be the image of folks enjoying a skate at the local arena. From the tiniest Atoms trying to figure out hockey to grandparents lacing up for a Sunday Family Skate, Canadians coast to coast have a strong affinity with the public ice rink. Indeed, for the smallest of communities, the local rink becomes the winter soul and focal point of the town.
The Erickson Recreation Centre and Skating Rink has the largest facilities in the area with artificial ice and a four sheet curling rink. The town held two major hockey tournaments and a large bonspiel this year. As reported by Quinn Greavett, the Eli Shannacappo Memorial Tournament in February was well attended and raised $1800 for the rink. The skating rink was a regular host to several hockey teams from Erickson and surrounding locales.
As everyone connected with these facilities are well aware, they are not cheap to run. Plus it takes the efforts of countless volunteer hours to keep the doors open. Erickson’s skating ice is put in by the Antiques hockey team and local resident Kris Koversky takes care of it for the season. All the scheduling, cleaning, maintenance and canteen operations are run by volunteers. Fundraisers, canteen sales, and the Sunday morning community breakfast raise the bulk of the yearly funding.
Annual costs for Erickson’s winter recreation facilities run about $60,000/year. One of the main expenses is hydro which just for the curling rink sits at $16,000/year. Unfortunately, over the last three years, that bill has climbed by over $3,000 which makes it difficult to concentrate on other areas in need of upgrading or renovations.
Thankfully, as Scott Gray from the Curling Committee explained, they have been able to stay ahead of the maintenance curve for the facilities. The committee tries to spend about $15,000/year on upgrades. The curling rink kitchen is their next big project and over at the skating rink, Quinn says they would like to upgrade to LED lights for the ice surface. Both of the facilities are holding their own and in fact the skating rink turned a bit of a profit this year.
It is nice to have these ‘fancy’ recreational facilities close at hand for competition between communities at an easy driving distance. But the smaller rinks in Onanole and Sandy Lake are just as popular. Old fashioned ‘natural’ ice and the whims of Mother Nature keeps these facilities running. Plus of course, there is that same small army of dedicated volunteers giving their time to the well-being of their respective communities.
As reported by Onanole Recreation President, Scot Shellborn, their rink’s ice went in early this year at the end of November. With the current warm spell, there will not be any more flooding but the ice should remain usable for several weeks to come.
Plenty of skating talent has come out of Onanole’s little community. Scot is proud to say that along with the hockey teams the ice is almost in continuous use by kids just out for a skate. In addition, the rink attracts plenty of adults. The Oldtimers team has picked up a couple of ringers, Reeve Jason Potter and Councilor Craig Atkinson. Then next year, after Councilor Wade Sholney returns from back surgery recovery, the Erickson Antiques will be crying the blues!
Like all the other facilities in the area, Scot says despite the costs of operation such as $1900/month for hydro, their rink is doing okay. In recent years, they were able to afford some improvements to the roof and insulation. The committee’s next major goal would be the installation of a cement floor to facilitate dryland training when summer visitors arrive to the area. Also, if they had a dry floor, the rink area would be able to accommodate functions for up to 400 people.
Smaller communities, who are just keeping up with facility operation costs, have a difficult time raising the funding for ambitious expansions or renovations. In the event of a major incident like a plant failure or a structural collapse, the community would probably just lose the facility forever. A decade ago, Onanole’s two-sheet curling rink collapsed due to snow and there was no real push to replace it. Over at Sandy Lake, although it is nice to have an ice surface for family skating, if something catastrophic happened, the community would not be able to afford to replace their rink.
Last year, the Federal and Provincial governments made a big deal out of announcing the Investing in Canada Infrastructure Program (ICIP) and the $1.1 billion portion for Manitoba. Unlike the usual funding formula of each government level taking a third of the cost, the two higher levels will be covering upwards of 90% of the project funding. This will take the pressure off of the smaller communities who may not be able to raise the funds for a larger project.
Our smaller towns and villages are having a hard enough time fighting rural entropy. Given the importance of the community ice rink and the precarious nature of their continued well-being, perhaps some of these precious tax dollars should be directed towards these most Canadian of winter activities and facilities.
Blair is a personification of a ‘Jack of All Trades and Master of None’. He has held several careers and has all the T-shirts. Time to add the title Blogger to the list.