The season that just ended was one of the more challenging ones that we have had. The season started well with a good cold snap to get the ice in then a second around Christmas to give us a good thick base of ice. We needed it as January and the first half of February was more like spring than winter. That was compounded by another water main break which cut off flooding for two weeks. On Family Day at Frostfest, we had a quarter rink to skate on and kids played more soccer than anything else. We did have ice for ice bocci but our curling stone milk jugs were only half frozen so there were some geyser like collisions. The evening of Frostfest, a blizzard and cold temperatures rolled in and over the next few days we rebuilt the skating surface for a few more weeks. It all came to an end on March 9th when we had to stop flooding due to new water restrictions.
This is about my 40th year of being involved with the rink and I could not do it without the financial support of the ECA and the other volunteers who help and often lead. It is a labor of love. Thank you to Michael Haywood, Marty Chisholm, Mike Good, Ed Wiercinski, Dan and other folks who help out when they are there during cleaning events. A special thanks to Ed who is responsible for designing our Christmas light layout and a good part of the electrical work behind it. The rink is paid for by the ECA and the city provides us with a water supply. This year was an expensive year as some electrical work had to be done, one LED post light had to be replaced and building lights and timers were replaced. This summer we hope to do some repairs to cracks in the asphalt base.
One dad who was down at Frostfest could not believe the rink was free to all users. If you like the rink you are encouraged to support the ECA by purchasing a community membership and volunteering to help out at the rink or at any other of our functions.