Volunteer program to create community rinks hits bumpy ice
Outdoor skating is permitted under lockdown rules. Yet many rinks on the city’s website don’t exist right now
There was a crisp bite in the air as he sprayed water onto the icy infield of the baseball diamond at Bruce Park. He didn’t seem to mind. Better now while it was merely brisk than when the big chill arrived on the weekend.
Besides, he was able to do it in daylight. Usually he and the other three volunteers who keep the makeshift, central Mountain rink intact are out there overnight.
“It’s a lot of work,” says the man who will only identify himself as Abraham.
But are their efforts appreciated?
“You can’t keep people off it,” he says.
It’s a wonderful community project. A great rallying point for the neighbourhood especially since skating outdoors is one of the activities allowed during the lockdown (as long as people maintain distancing and mask rules). Unfortunately, it’s one that seems to be a bit of a rarity these days, despite expectations this could be the best year for local rinks in recent memory.
The city’s website lists 41 community rinks that
could be open by now. But a visit to 28 of them chosen at random over the past few days found just four that were usable. Two more appear ready to go (or mostly so) but have handpainted signs telling people not to skate. Some work has occurred on a few others but most of those are still a ways away from being skateable.
This is the very definition of a good-news-less-good-news story.
The Outdoor Ice Program has been operated by the city since 2005. The Recreation and Parks divisions identify parks that have the infrastructure necessary — flat ground, a water source, and possibly electricity for lighting — and then open the door for volunteers to take on the task of creating rinks.
“It’s a great community engagement opportunity,” says Hamilton’s manager of sport services Steve Sevor. “It brings the community together.”
It could be particularly appreciated this COVID winter when people are probably eager to get outside and do something active that’s permitted.
The city offers training, equipment, a handbook and other guidance on how to build the rinks. It then lets the volunteers do their thing. At the end of the season, they can receive a grant of as much as $300 to cover some costs based on the number of days the ice was usable.
Four years ago, 37 groups signed up. Three years ago it was 30. Then 16. Last year, it was down to 14. And of those, only a handful were really able to deliver.
“I believe only four really had sufficient time and good weather to produce ice that was good for the community,” Sevor says of last year’s total.
But just when it looked like the program might be slipping into the abyss, optimism grew when the number surged to 41 this year (the majority coming from spots across the Mountain and in the suburbs, though there are more than a dozen parks in the lower city capable of hosting a rink). After reaching out, each group was put in touch with a volunteer lead.
Yet the fact that only a few are operating is the bad news.
The city created a terrific program but can’t be expected to operate dozens of outdoor rinks. Sevor says he doesn’t have the manpower for that. So it’s up to the volunteers. Who face challenges.
The weather is often unpredictable and tricky. A warm spell could wipe out hours and hours of work. As Abraham says while watering the rink at Bruce Park, while making ice has been possible, it takes a lot of time. Plus, peoples’ jobs and schedules have changed in recent months. And COVID has likely convinced some folks not to venture outside the house.
“The other thing that I see personally in driving around the city is we see a lot of people with their own personal backyard or front yard rinks,” Sevor says. “That may take away from some of those same people who might be donating in a communal way.”
So even though nobody’s really at fault, it means large swaths of the city have nowhere to skate unless they can make it to one of the four city-run rinks — the Serafini Family Ice Pad at the Bernie Morelli Centre across from Tim Hortons Field, Dundas Driving Park, Freelton Community Park and Waterdown Memorial Park — that are operating.
The good news?
The fact that there are still a bunch of mostly-anonymous volunteers in this city at a dozen-or-so sites willing to try making ice for their neighbours in an increasingly finicky climate, and do it in the midst of a pandemic, is laudable. Even if they haven’t got there quite yet. We need folks like this.
The deadline to sign up to create a rink was Jan. 8 and there may now only be a couple months left in the season. Still, Sevor says the city is still getting inquiries so perhaps some more will still emerge.
To go along with some of those rinks-in-progress that hopefully will become usable before long.