Moosomin - Rocanville celebrated the grand opening of their ourdoor rink on February 12. The town came up with the plan for building a new boarded outdoor ice rink for members of the community to skate on and enjoy during the winter season, and Borderland Co-op donated $15,932 in support of the project.
On the day of the event, children and families came to the newly upgraded outdoor rink, while roasting some hot dogs and enjoying snacks and drinks.
Savannah Roden of Borderland Co-op, said the grand opening was a chance for the community to celebrate the new rink.
“The town put a lot of time into building this and making it a place that the kids can use all year around,” said Roden.
“We thought it would be a great way celebrating not a facility but a fun place people can come to.”
During the day as kids were skating at the outdoor rink, Roden said the community will benefit from this new addition in town.
“There’s lots of kids outside already on there. The outdoor rinks in other communities that I’ve seen, they’re full all the time, this provides a space for kids to go to come hang out.”
“Especially today when the rinks are full, there’s a hockey tournament today so there would be no ice time for them otherwise. In the summer, it will be a place where they can play ball hockey, and hopefully other people can get use out of it as well,” she said.
“I’m hoping they just have fun and that it gets used. It’s a great opportunity for Borderland and it’s a great opportunity for Rocanville.”
The towns foreman, Mike Lewis, helped build the boarded outdoor rink. He said it’s important for the community to have.
“Kids love skating around here and playing hockey. If you come here on a hockey night, the place is packed,” he said.
“I like watching it being used, it gives something for the kids to do. They get to come outside for some fresh air.”
Andrea Logan from Rocanville’s Recreation Department said she hopes to see the rink gets used to its full potential.
“I think they will use it, obviously weather plays a role and there’s going to be times where it’s quiet when it’s cold out,” she said.
“But on the nice days, having this shack here and the lights, I know my kids are out here at 10 o’clock at night skating because it’s nice out, it’s something they can do.”
Logan said she is thankful to Borderland Co-op and the town’s volunteers, for the building of the outdoor rink.
“We probably wouldn’t have done it without the sponsorship of the Co-op, because they sponsored putting up all the boards. Then with the help of Mike building it, we were able to make it all happen.”
“CORE also put the posts in, and then some of the other business helped by sponsoring and purchasing signs for the outdoor rink.”
She said there were about 10 to 20 volunteers who also helped with the construction of the rink.
Logan said she is hoping the rink gets used during the summer as well.
“Kids will use it for hockey and skating, even for pickle ball in the summer. The pickle ball group said they would like to use it in the summer time, so hopefully they get to use it,”said Logan.
“We’ve got some street hockey nets for the summer too, we hope it gets used all year around.”
