Centre of the community
New Waterford and District Community Centre offers a variety of winter options
Do you find time goes by a little slower than usual during the cold winter months? For many, the winter means being stuck up in the house with nothing to do, but did you know you don’t have to be?
Like every community, the local arena may be the perfect place to beat the winter blues. The New Waterford and District Community Centre offers a variety of winter options for the general public.
The facility offers the community an opportunity to watch up and coming hockey stars through the New Waterford Minor Hockey Association system from Tim Hortons Timbits to the midget rankings, seven days a week. The community centre is also the home to the Cape Breton Jets, who play the newly formed Nova Scotia Minor Midget ‘AAA’ Hockey League and sit first overall in the league, as of publication time.
The community centre, which opened its doors on Feb. 14, 1974 - 44 years ago last Wednesday, also has rental options for recreational hockey and has many regular rentals for that throughout the fall and winter months.
Aside from the hockey aspect for playing and viewing, the New Waterford Skating Club also calls the community centre home.
The skating club offers a can skate program for those wanting to learn how to skate as well as a figure skating program, both of which take place each week on Sunday afternoon. There is also a power skating program that runs every Friday.
The New Waterford and District Community Centre, which marked its 13th anniversary as the official venue for speed skating for the Canada Winter Games in 1987, has lots of options for skating throughout the season, even for those who have never skated before.
Mother and tots skating as well as adult back to skate programs are offered every Monday at the community centre. Meanwhile, adult skating runs every Wednesday and Friday morning. One of the more popular skating events is family skating, which takes place every Friday night.
The community centre, located on Victoria Avenue in New Waterford, is also known to be the perfect place to celebrate a winter birthday. The rink has rental options for birthday parties, giving party-goers the option of skating and later relaxing with the celebration continuing in the recently renovated Gillis, Watts Room, high above ice level.
What many people may not know is that the New Waterford and District Community Centre is owned by the New Waterford community. The rink is not part of those arenas owned by the Cape Breton Regional Municipality.
The New Waterford community should be proud of what the arena has accomplished over the years, running on its own. Of course, the arena has received grants over the years and in the most recent years has replaced its boards and Zamboni, but along with the entire community, rink manager Kevin Forward and the venue’s executive committee deserve to be recognized for their efforts each year.
The cost of running an arena isn’t cheap. There are lots of expenses that come with having an operational rink in a community. The executive committee has raised money in various ways over the years, most recently being the addition of the Chase the Ace game, which is held every Wednesday night with the jackpot growing each week.
Many families, whether it be for hockey or figure skating reasons, have spent countless hours at the New Waterford and District Community Centre for games, practices or competitions. My family and I are no different.
Personally, I’ve been going to, what many call “The Shark Tank” referenced to the minor hockey association’s New Waterford Sharks name, for over 19 years, not only as a hockey player myself, but as a hockey official, skater, fan and reporter and I have to say there’s no better feeling than walking into a cold rink on a Saturday morning for whatever reason - let’s just say it wakes you up real quick. Needless to say, some weeks I’m at the rink more than I’m home.
I’ve skated on many ice surfaces across the province during my minor hockey career and I have to say no ice is any better than at the New Waterford and District Community Centre.
The rink crew, consisting of Forward, Joey Power and Walter Podgurski, do an outstanding job keeping the ice in great condition
every week. They take pride in making sure the ice is perfect every time you’re on it and they too deserve to be thanked for their dedication to our community centre as their work doesn’t go unnoticed - thank you.
The arena also offers visitors an opportunity to learn more about the New Waterford’s sports history as the local sports hall of fame is located in the Gillis, Watts room of the facility. Along with the sports hall of fame, many tournament and provincial championship banners hang inside the venue, one notable banner being the Nova Scotia Junior ‘C’ Provincial Championship, which was won by the New Waterford Jets in 2007.
Although some may think once the winter season is over, the venue doesn’t have much more to offer the community but that’s not the case.
During the off-season, the venue is home to the Tar City Rollers roller derby team and also features adult rollerblading twice a week. The centre is also popular during the summer months for its weekly bingo game, which is held on Friday nights in the offseason.
With Mount Carmel gym no longer in operation, the New Waterford and District Community
Centre also offers wedding reception options during the summer. The venue hosted its first wedding reception last summer, meaning wedding planners have another option for possible reception plans.
For more information on ice or venue rentals, contact the New Waterford and District Community Centre at 902-862-6031.
Remember, if you’re sitting at home looking for something to do this winter, don’t hesitate to try something new, stop by the community centre. You may find your new winter passion.