The 100 Mile House Outdoor Skating Rink will be ready to go for another season.
Director Nadaya McNeil says they’ll be making some improvements to the ice this year including a liner to go under the ice surface.
“We’re hoping to get more consistency out of the ice, and more days skating,” McNeil says, “that way when it is mild and it melts, we won’t lose our whole rink to floating away, it’ll stay within the liner and then freeze again.”
McNeil says her father and others will construct the rink with some welcome additions.
“It’s going to be a similar design as it was last year, it’s going to be higher on the sides in order to accommodate the liner, and we’re going to have porta-potties this year.”
She says she’s excited to get the season going this year, the goal is still a permanent outdoor facility.
“We were a little bit deflated last spring after we did our proposal. We were met with a lot of enthusiasm at the time, but then we didn’t really hear anything back after April,” McNeil explains, “when the South Cariboo Joint Committee had their meeting in September, we were listening in and we heard that the project can’t or it won’t be considered until the 2022 Recreation Tax Boundary Referendum. That’s really disappointing to us because we feel this facility could be built and maintained without affecting property taxes.”
McNeil sent out a sponsorship letter outlining what costs might be for the rink this year, which she estimated to be between $10,000-$13,000. She says people have been asking how they can help.
The rink will be built in the same location this year, at the tennis courts near 100 Mile Junior Secondary. “The School District was very generous in allowing us to use that same property again,” McNeil says “It’s such an ideal location, it’s central, it’s visible, we loved having it there last year so we’re very grateful that we can have it there again this year.”
McNeil says the support from the community has been heartwarming.
“I just can’t get over how supportive local businesses have been, and private citizens and all the people that want to help and see it come together. It’s been so easy to make this happen. I’ve said it’s just me and my dad but it’s not really, it’s like the whole town’s behind this project and it feels really nice to be a part of that.”
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