Skating rinks in London, Ont., have been a major hit during the first few days of operating.
They’ve been so popular that city staff have had to turn away people coming from out of town.
Scott Stafford, the city’s parks and recreation manager, says about five per cent of people registering for skating have been from a locked-down area.
“We had to discourage that travel,” said Stafford, adding that staff will contact people who have their address listed elsewhere.
“We called the customers looking to register to find out their situation because some people have addresses in locked down zones but live in London because they work here, or go to school here, so we want to make sure we chat with people to get the full story.”
Toronto and Peel are the only two communities under the “grey” label in Ontario’s COVID-19 restriction system, which is the most severe and indicates the region is in a lockdown.
Stafford says similar to the swimming program in the summer, people are required to sign up for skating at Springbank Park before they come to the rink, in an effort to limit as much person-to-person contact as possible.
Skating at Victoria Park does not require registration beforehand, but Stafford says they are stressing that skaters maintain two metres of distance while out on the ice.
He says parks and rec is monitoring the situation closely and doing what it can to protect staff and skaters, but he admits a lot of the responsibility is on the people using the facilities.
“This year has certainly been unusual and strange, where at times we’ve had to discourage participation and activity, and closing things like playgrounds,” Stafford says.
“It seems a bit more normal now, but that being said, cases are climbing in the community so we still need to remain vigilant.”
Registrations for free indoor public skates are filling up through city hall’s online platform days in advance, with some rinks even requiring a waitlist.
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