Kelly Haywood, Executive Director of the Huntsville/Lake of Bays Chamber of Commerce, dialed into Huntsville’s General Committee on Wednesday to advise councillors that the Chamber had received a grant for an outdoor skating rink in front of the Ross Kirwin Band Shell.
She said the rink proposed would be 42 x 92 feet and include a subfloor to ensure that the rink is flat. Haywood noted that the rink, pre-COVID, was very popular but small. “We’d like to sort of see how it goes to put one in that’s much larger and would have a bigger impact.”
Haywood said the Chamber would work with the Huntsville Festival of the Arts to develop a snow village around the skating rink. She said while everything is weather-dependent, the infrastructure would likely not begin to be built until sometime in December with skating not likely being available until January.
She said the rink would be lit for night skating, which is one of the biggest reasons an in-town skating rink has been identified. “The Lions Lookout skating rink is phenomenal, we don’t want to change that, we’d like it to be bigger and better every year, but having one right downtown we think will also complement Huntsville as a winter destination and I think it will be very magical. We can host events and a number of activities right downtown as well.”
She said rubber mats would be placed on the band shell where people could sit and change their footwear. There would be boards around the rink to enable sponsorships. Haywood said the rink would be managed and maintained by the Chamber, which will be looking for volunteers to help clear the ice.
Councillor Helena Renwick asked where the water would be coming from and Haywood said it would first be shipped in by truck and later water would be pumped from the river.
Councillors Dionne Schumacher and Renwick said they loved the idea and Huntsville Mayor Nancy Alcock said she was glad the Chamber was cooperating with the Festival.
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Thank-you Rene Brunet for your lovely story. I always loved spending as much time as I could in the summer with my boyfriend and his family. Fast forward 37 years my now husband and I are happy to live here and call Huntsville our home. Our 3 boys have all worked in Huntsville at some point in their lives. They have all worked in Whistler and would always put Huntsville on their name tags despite being raised in Newmarket.
Your story is another example of what a wonderful place Huntsville is and continues to be because of the great people who make a difference for the greater good.
Reading that an ice rink will be set at River Mill park peaked my interest. Seeing the note about getting water from the river made me smile with much nostalgia.
In the 90’s the Winterfest would host on the Thursday night an opening event at the Centennial Centre. Free ice time for families and so on with a plethora of activities. The remainder of the weekend saw an Old Tymer hockey tournament with teams reserving rooms at Deerhurst and all over town and such. That meant no ice available for the public but lots of activities at dances and the revenue producing bar at Centenial Centre. By the Monday morning clean up saw Fran Coleman coming in out of knowhere helping with empties to be returned from the weekend sales. During the weekend 105.5 Mr Duschene assisted with announcing the event. Liz Rice Aben and her crew at the Huntsville Forester did the same. To counter the lack of family ice time Brian Maxwell and the Youth Culb would prepared snow/ice wonderland concepts at Pioneer Village, the Winterfest committee made up of amazing people got engaged in many activities. One season however, the ice at Pioneer Village, due to warm weather and snow, was not going to permit the committee to set an outdoor skating area for the kids. So, plan B came into play. With the discreet assistance of then fire chief Ross Payne and his crew, Andy Cooke took on the leadership of setting up an ice rink on firm land. The site chosen was the parking lot at Pioneer Village adjacent to Brunel Road. While visibly slanted, it remained the best option. Using hoses borrowed from the fire department as well as a key to open the water main Andy was able to extract water and flood the parking area over four consecutive nights, from 2am on. By Friday, one day after opening night of the Winterfest to see hundreds of kids with their parents skating on one of the least even ice rinks in Ontario was priceless. Kids sliding on the ice laughing and enjoying the “skating rink” made it all worth it. The idea of setting the ice rink at River Mill Park is brilliant. It will invariably, create amazing lasting memories.
Add interactive Rope LED or Neon Flex Light underneath the ice such that it reacts to sound.
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A wonderful idea. Will there be overhead lights and music?
This is SUCH great news!! Anything that brings community together, OUTDOORS, in the core of a city is a win-win! I can’t think of anything better that would to the charm & overall aesthetic of our beautiful town of Huntsville!! A wonderful decision team, WELL DONE!!
Great idea. One more reason Huntsville is a great place to live or visit
Sounds like a winner!
This could be a wonderful addition to the centre of our town. Hopefully our milder weather won’t shorten the season as it has done for snowmobiling and skiing. It’s still a great idea. Skating outdoors is a very different experience to skating indoors and is quite invigorating. How good will it be to skate outdoors and then walk to a local restaurant and then attend a show at the theatre. Full marks to this project.