Kinsmen Community Arenas set to reopen December 18

Because of the number of sports organizations that use the Kinsmen Community Arenas in the fall and winter, they brought the issue before council as an urgent matter.

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That same month, city council unanimously approved a $350,000 budget for the chiller.

Recreation superintendent with the City of Red Deer, Barb McKee said the return of the facility is significant for the community.

“We’ve had lots of different changes over the last number of years, even the closure of the Dawe over the last year to bring on the new twin facility there which has meant our community hasn’t had six sheets of ice running at full capacity for a while,” McKee said.

“So, we were looking forward to this fall hitting the ground running and being able to fully have all of those surfaces available. It was very hard but I have to credit our sport partners in the way they shifted gears, stepped up to the table, and did what had to be done. We’re really excited to get back to our full six sheets of ice.”

She added, council jumped on the matter quite quickly but what caused delays was through the manufacturer.

“It had to be custom built because it functions specifically for the purpose of our space, supporting two different arenas,” McKee said.

“That equipment had to come out of the U.S., so there was some waiting during the shutdown period. We were able to relocate groups. We had some great partnerships with Red Deer Polytechnic and Westerner Park allowing us to use all of available ice surface in the community.”

Teams throughout minor hockey, ringette, and figure skating were having to compete in rinks they don’t normally do and parents were travelling throughout the region to get their ice time in.

“We know it was an inconvenience for sure but we were able to get the equipment installed. We had hoped to be open a little bit earlier but we’ve done some troubleshooting in the last week that gives us confidence that we’ll be open for Dec. 18.”