Let there be ice! Outdoor rinks are towns’ gift to skaters

Yorkregion.com
Jan. 22, 2016
By John Cudmore

Add water. A good stretch of cold weather. Let settle. Smooth over.

Serves many.

While southern Ontario basked in an unusually mild start to the winter, frigid temperatures in the past couple of weeks appear to be the beginning of the freeze that will turn municipal spaces into skating heaven.

That’s good news for people interested in a twirl around the ice on freshly sharpened blades, perhaps under the stars or on a sunny, blue-skied afternoon.

The concepts may differ slightly in terms of consumer delivery but municipal rinks in Aurora and Newmarket provide that chance, in most cases starting this week.

It is a long-standing tradition for the Town of Aurora parks staff to build and maintain its stable of natural ice venues.

The Town of Newmarket, on the other hand, has turned the task largely over to volunteer groups that have requested outdoor ice sheets and expressed interest in building and maintaining facilities.

Either way, lovers of skating with no roof overhead figure to be the winners. Make no mistake, there is something unique about skating in the great outdoors.

“In a traditional Canadian winter people want to skate and our rinks are used tremendously,” said Aurora’s parks manager Jim Tree. “We pride ourselves on big and good outdoor rinks and have for many, many years.”

Due to the warm kickoff to winter, work on the Aurora rinks did not start until last week. Tree hopes a cold snap following a mild weekend will help put public blades to ice by the middle of this week.

“Ice is as good as weather will let it be,” Tree said. “Our guys take pride in the rinks and try to get the ice as good as they can. The environment dictates what you get. We need a snow cover and base and conditions have to be just right.”

The Town of Aurora provides four outdoor natural ice surfaces with venues at located at Town Park, Machell Park, Confederation Park and Ada Johnson Park. (The town’s website provides maps).

The Town of Newmarket responded to demand from the community to provide venues for shinny playing beyond the downtown Riverwalk Commons.

The municipality provides the water, expertise and venue; volunteer groups handled the manpower and costs for items such as boards and tarps on which to make ice.

“Riverwalk Commons is not designed for hockey so we looked out to see if there were groups interested in volunteering,” said Service. “The groups did a good job soliciting sponsors for extra costs. We provide ideas with awareness for ice safety and to maintain the ice.

“Our goal is to engage the community and involve people in creating opportunities for usage and physical activity. When you involve and engage volunteers they show they care about it.”

Christopher Kalimootoo, director of public works services for Newmarket, assured the outdoor rinks which were active last winter will be up and running as weather permits to complement the Riverwalk Commons which is intended to cater to pleasure skating.

It should be noted that Riverwalk Commons’ artificial ice surface does not permit shinny playing until 10 p.m.

Newmarket’s natural ice and volunteer-operated rinks are located at Lions Park, Whipper Watson Park and Ken Sturgeon Park.

Of the group, only Riverwalk Commons, which opened in December 2011, provides artificial ice and an extended season for users.

“The majority of work is performed by volunteers and community groups but town staff is there for minor things,” said Kalimootoo. “We’re there for garbage pickup and some snow-clearing and cleanup at the end of season.”

Both communities are considering the notion of adding an artificial ice surface in future years. Tree said the notion of an artificial rink is included in the parks and recreation master plan for Aurora.

“The problem is if you take the level of service to the next level it costs money,” Tree said. “In the next five or seven years we’ll probably be able to look at one but it’s based on funding.

“But with the way the weather is going, it’s the only reliable way to make ice. So much depends on weather conditions.”

The Aurora rinks are typically large enough to accommodate a lot of skaters. However, users are left to police themselves. Tree said signs posted by the municipality help users monitor activity and control conflicts between pleasure skaters and hockey players.

“We don’t encourage hockey but we don’t supervise the rinks, either,” he said. “We have signs to direct people where to play hockey. Hockey is inevitable but everyone seems to get along.”

Due to its expansive area, there stands to be a need for multiple outdoor rinks to serve East Gwillimbury.

“We would need to have a minimum of two locations in order to serve the municipality in close proximity,” said Aaron Karmazyn, the Town of East Gwillimbury’s general manager of community parks, recreation and culture.

Karmazyn said he would like to see the municipality reach out and adopt the practices of Aurora where he worked 10 years as manager of facilities and properties.

“Aurora has done an excellent job and takes a lot of pride in its outdoor rinks,” said Karmazyn, who has memories of skating on Machell Park as a youth growing up in Aurora. “We’re trying to model ours based on what they did in Aurora.”

“Volunteer pads are great but there is risk involved and you need to have consistency. You have to make sure you have crews flooding out there at night. You want to ensure consistency in your ice. There is a high-risk management focus. I want us to take the approach, if you’re in it you are in it to provide a service. I have nothing against volunteerism but it’s not a part-time job.

Karmazyn thinks if the ice chips fall into place EG could have its first outdoor rink(s) by 2017.

“It’s on our radar. We plan to report to council later his year and hopefully receive support from council.”

Tree acknowledges the risk concern but is confident Aurora has its angles covered on the issue.

“We offer a level of service and it is all well-documented,” Tree said. “I don’t think there is an undue risk. We’ve been doing this for years and years. We do our due diligence.”