By Spencer Sterritt

Where is Nanaimo’s outdoor skating rink?

Jan 16, 2018 | 4:25 PM

NANAIMO — After making a high-profile debut, Nanaimo’s outdoor skating rink hasn’t been seen or mentioned in nearly a year.

For the Hometown Hockey event in February 2017, the City of Nanaimo bought a 40×80 mat for $50,000 and spent $150,000 to rent the additional equipment to run the rink for a rainy two weeks, which required a tented roof and three walls.

After a wrap-up presentation to Council about the event in March, the rink hasn’t been heard of since.

Richard Harding, director of parks, rec and environment with the City, told NanaimoNewsNOW while he hopes to have a staff report about the rink before Council in the coming months, there’s no immediate plans to put it in action.

A busy 2017 was cited as why the rink wasn’t utilized and planned for, as well as the challenges of setting it up.

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“It takes at least a week to set this thing up and then get the ice made,” Harding said. “It would have to be up for a couple of weeks to make it something people want to come through and to get enough people through to make it worthwhile.”

Harding said there were conversations between his department and Woodgrove Centre about the mall using their mat, but found the outdoor ice sheet was far too big for the mall. Instead, Woodgrove Centre is installing a much smaller synthetic ice rink starting in February. The $3 admission to skate at Woodgrove is going to the Nanaimo Child Development Centre.

When the synthetic ice rink was announced, many on social media asked where Nanaimo’s outdoor rink was.

Harding said he’s now talking to various spots around town to use the rink, such as Maffeo Sutton Park again, elsewhere downtown and possibly the roofed multi-purpose space at Harewood Centennial Park.

“Ideally with this, we want to link up with a bigger event and do something a little bit longer in December 2018 and hopefully tie it into some kind of winter festival or event,” he said.

Having already set up an outdoor rink once, Harding said it certainly wouldn’t cost as much to operate the rink again, but the final cost would depend on where it’s used and for how long.

He said it would likely cost a minimum of $50,000.

Coun. Bill Bestwick, who spoke passionately for the outdoor rink as part of the Hometown Hockey festivities, told NanaimoNewsNOW he was optimistic about Council voting to spend a relatively significant amount of money on the rink during an election year.

“When you turn that thing into an asset you can provide community engagement for events…We hear often ‘Well there’s nothing to do, why don’t we have a Butchart Gardens, what do we do in December?’ So we have to make an investment.”

A staff report said it would cost roughly $580,000 to buy all the components of the outdoor rink.

Asked about the high cost of renting the rest of the equipment, Bestwick said he was in favour of buying the rink piece-by-piece.

“There’s no way we were going to purchase all of the necessary pieces to have an outdoor arena sitting in (our) warehouse, ready to be put together for another event at a moments notice. I think you have to purchase responsibly with the goal of something bigger.”

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit