Since the winter recreation season has been in full swing for a while now, some folks in Niverville may be wondering what’s delaying the ice at the outdoor rink located at the Centennial Arena.
Niverville’s recreation facility manager, Warren Britton, says that residents can soon start lacing up their skates. He anticipates the ice to be ready later this week.
“December saw milder temperatures, which causes the water to run out of the rink, not stay and freeze,” says Britton. “When it’s [mild] like last week, you can only get two or maybe three floods on in an eight-hour shift as the water just doesn’t freeze fast enough.”
On top of this, he adds, the town experienced some major snowfalls in December. Snow-clearing when the ice beneath that snow is thin means having to start from scratch, so it’s been a catch-22 of trying to make ice while they’re having to deal with either major temperature variations or heaps of new snow cover.
There’s another reason, according to Britton. By the time the weather turned colder in late December, the holidays had arrived—and with this came statutory holidays for town staff.
Other community outdoor rinks are run by volunteers, which means they’re not as limited by workday hours and stat holidays. The use of the town’s tanker truck is limited to only a few staff who know how to operate it.
“Monday and Tuesday of this week have been excellent for making ice and my staff have been able to really build it up with truck and tank,” Britton says. “The Zamboni will start evening it out [on Wednesday]. We are pretty close, but we have to ensure it’s thick enough so that it’s safe, which is our number one priority.”
Britton says he’d heard reports from people who’d attempted to use other community outdoor rinks over the holidays and they were breaking through the thin ice surface to the rocks below.
