STONIER-NEWMAN – Kudos to the City and contractors for the outdoor rink

 

By LYNNE STONIER-NEWMAN
ArmchairMayor.ca Contributor

“AWWWW,” the skaters are saying, “it’s closed?”

Yes, the ice has melted and it’s time for the skates to be putaway … but about seven months from now,  the rink will be frozen and full of skaters again.

When the Kamloops overnight temperatures return to being 8 degrees C, the Riverside Park’s refrigerated new rink and skating loop will re-open. And the skaters will return to have free pleasure, fun and excellent exercise.

Its first season has been a hit and the number of skaters has far surpassed projections. As well as a fine new amenity for our park, there’s side benefits for Kamloops. Stores have sold many skates and cozy clothes for skating. Older pairs of skates have been found and tuned up by the skate sharpener who provides rink-side service.

Let’s give the City of Kamloops’ elected councils, its planners and administrators our kudos as advancing this skating rink from concept to reality has encompassed many steps. Kudos and thanks also to the contractors and their many workers. They’ve used their savvy and tools to build us this fine outdoor ice rink.

Let’s also recognize that all the costs to build this rink and install its massive refrigerator system have created a valuable new City asset. It has many long-term and spill-off benefits; health ones and its options for socializing.

I believe our forefathers would be delighted to see the parkland they dedicated to all the people of Kamloops being utilized so well. It’s over a century since those long-ago men and women began preserving these lands. And started planting all the magnificent array of trees we savour and benefit from now.

Each new phase of creating a community park by adding an amenity like the rink does generate more users. And all Riverside Park’s options enable thousands to enjoy recreation, leisure time and that critical factor, exercise.

Now, what we can enjoy at Riverside Park is definitely year-round. The rink adds a new choice to the park’s benches, picnic tables, play areas, gardens, lawn bowling, outdoor stages, walking and biking paths. And the park’s hectares being in the centre of our city means many Kamloopsians can walk or bike there.

Isn’t it satisfying to say or think, “I’m going down to Riverside Park?”

Whether it’s to walk, swim, gather with family and friends, take needed time alone, admire and smell the rose garden, play with our children in the play area’s innovative swings, enjoy the numerous cultural and food events or just sit under a tree with a book or tablet, going down to Riverside Park is self-nurturing.

The skating rink has added the grand option of being outside with much to see. Skaters can look across the river at the Tk’emlúps te Secwe̓pemc lands and the meeting of the Thompson’s north and south rivers or, perhaps, ducks and geese strolling along Kamloops’ most popular sandy beach or flying just
overhead. The rink and loop are surrounded by the magnificent old trees that do mark how many decades this park has been our gathering place.

As those trees grew from saplings to magnificent maturity, they provide shade for the park in the summers while fall brings their changing colours, then piles of leaves in the fall that some of us like to kick – and soon after, their bare branches create sky sculptures against the winter skies. And now, the fact that the rink’s ice has melted means the budding trees will soon be bringing forth their leaves.

On a crisp and cold Sunday a couple of weeks ago, I rolled beside the rink’s loop in my walker. Exchanged nods, smiles and a bit of conversation with some of the skaters. And exchanged short chats when I heard happy stories of how much the skaters that day were enjoying Riverside’s newest addition. Some volunteered they’d no longer had their skates from decades ago and had bought a new pair and were pleased to be coming to skate often.

I delighted in the grand spectacle of the circling skaters’ diversity, the colours of bright winter clothing and the sounds laughter and talk.

There’s a general vibrancy that enhances the sound skates make as they whoosh over the ice. Tiny toddlers to pre-teens played with each other and with ‘their’ adults. Teenagers jibed each other – and I found watching the variety of couples skating with criss-crossed arms and hands special.

There were also many single skaters gliding by, most looking relaxed. There were a few wide-eyed ones, moving determinedly because no matter what age, launching onto the ice for the first few times is a challenge while beginners learn to glide.

Heartwarming. And sometimes, amusing. My favourite chat was with about an eight-year old who dramatically kept falling near me. On his third splat, I offered sympathy and asked, “you okay?’

“Oh, fine!” he replied. “I like falling as much as the skating.”

The benches for taking off or putting on their own or children’s skates were nearby and there were chairs for the spectators. Quite possibly, those folks watching, many perhaps grandparents, were doing as I was, remembering former frozen ponds, sloughs, lakes and the professional rinks. The indoor ones
usually had waltz and boogie music and many of us skated at Memorial Area couple of times a week, meeting friends or just to be free, have playtime away from work or school.

Back then, one of our most common winter outdoor activity was skating on a nearby frozen slough on weekends. Groups would gather and we’d usually have massive bonfires burning. We’d skate on a pond for awhile, perhaps chasing a puck, or slide down hills on toboggans, tubes or even cardboard. Then we’d sit around the fire, warming, chatting and sometimes singing … before being off to play some more.

Now, the Riverside Park’s skating rink offers the modern day equivalent of those bonfires. There are three good-sized warming fire pits burning brightly and and giving off a lovely warmth. People stand around them in boots or skates, lean against the circular bars around each fire. Some are sipping hot chocolate or coffee from the refreshment stand as they chat or enjoy staring down into the fire and being mesmerized by the flames.

There are a few common sense rules for the skaters enjoying this rink. It’s open daily for long hours and includes evening times under the lights. A fine benefit as people can chose when to skate and be able down to the rink for exercise, fresh air and recreation.

So, again, thanks and kudos to the City of Kamloops’ team, and to each of the contractors, for creating this ice rink in our Riverside Park. Kamloopsians will be benefitting from it for many
years.

Lynne Stonier-Newman is a resident of Kamloops. She’s a social marketing and communication consultant, and a B.C. historian and author.