Skating with Santa is a holiday tradition that’s in jeopardy this year at many outdoor rinks across the city. Community associations are having trouble making ice because of the warm weather and there is little hope that will change in the near future.
Braeside Community Association president Jenny Mae Smith says the rink will not be ready for the Skate with Santa festival scheduled for this Saturday in the southwest neighbourhood.
“Unseasonably warm, some of us love it, but for a community association rink its not the best circumstances especially when you have a skating party planned,” said Smith. “The event is absolutely still going on. We have a multitude of other activities that we are offering. We have got pictures with Santa, we have cookie decorating, we have a 20-plus vendor market.”
Lake Bonavista is perhaps the only natural ice surface in the city that isn’t on thin ice. Association general Manager Michael Horder says people are surprised when they see it.
“Yeah, so are we. The rest of the lake communities are struggling right now. We have three to four inches and, from what I am hearing, they have an inch-and-a-half to two inches.”.
That still won’t be enough for the Skate with Santa event scheduled for Dec. 15 in Calgary’s oldest lake community. Even a quick freeze will likely leave no time to get the ice thick enough —at least six inches — or to allow grooming to be completed.
“We have three skating rinks and a perimeter pathway skating rink that goes around the entire lake,” said Horder. “Typically, we would be open by about now, so I guess we are set back by probably two weeks so far. Of course, the kids and families love to be here so it’s disappointing not to see them.”
But Mother Nature is getting a little help to create some open ice in Calgary. Olympic Plaza is open to skaters and has it’s own festival planned for this Saturday, thanks to its refrigeration system.
The University District also has a system in place to help freeze its skating pad. The ice surface in Central Commons Park in the northwest community will open Wednesday in time for a special Winter Night Market that will run from Nov. 28 to Dec. 7, from 5-9pm.