Blaine Lake Community Skating Rink

Blaine Lake has a limited number of recreational facilities available to support community health, wellness, and activity. The Blaine Lake Skating Rink is growing in its use through hockey, skating lessons, public skating, and more. There is a Blaine Lake Senior Hockey Team, which has greatly increased the use of the facility and has gotten the community thinking about what other uses it could have. The Blaine Lake Skating rink typically sees hundreds of visitors throughout the year for various events and activities.

The pandemic caused the community to shut the doors to their small town rinks for the past three years, and now that they are opening them back up to the public, there is a strong interest and use of the facilities. However, given their age, there is also a real need to make improvements, or else the space will not last into future years. This past season alone, the space had upwards of 100 people volunteering: from working the hockey games for door admissions or the canteen/bar areas, to installing of the ice itself and fixing the rink boards, levelling the sand, and replacing the kitchen flooring.

This year, they are replacing all the flooring in the indoor seating area, as well as the front entrance carpet, as they have made the entrance more accessible and created space for tables and seating. They are also wanting to replace the old lighting in the rink arena area with new energy efficient lighting that is designed for the weather in the rink area.

“Since the lobby space is a really nice space, especially for a community without a community hall, some improvements to the lobby and kitchen area would allow us to use the space year-round. ”