Mayor Jim Parsons knows a community outdoor rink would be welcome by Corner Brook residents, but there’s no plan to have a permanent structure in place in the near future.
Two outdoor rinks were built on the former Herdman soccer pitch near the civic centre when Corner Brook played host to 2018 Hockey Day in Canada earlier this month.
Despite challenges with the weather city workers were able to get the rink operational in time for the big showcase event, only days after Corner Brook had declared a State of Emergency because of infrastructure damage from a torrential rain storm hit the west coast.
Parsons said the City doesn’t plan on doing any maintenance work to open the rink, but there is a possibility that one of the rinks would be open for the 2018 Corner Brook Winter Carnival.
He said city officials were waiting to see what’s up with the weather after having a number of mild spells over the past few weeks and decided the City didn’t have the resources to build and maintain an outdoor rink.
He would be interested in talking to community groups who may be interested in forming a partnership when it comes to an outdoor rink for folks to flock to when they want to get in a good skate or play some shinny.
“The trick is doing it in a way that’s repeatable and easy to maintain,” he said. “As we seen this year the weather is so variable. Committing to something for a long haul is very difficult.”
The idea of the City being home to an outdoor community rink is something that keeps popping up in conversations so the mayor knows it’s an asset that people would really like to have in their community if a way can be found to make it feasible.
“There’s a lot of people who would love to see it for sure,” he said.
