A Hamiota family has taken the concept of a traditional backyard rink a step further.
Dave Rawlings told 680 CJOB he converted an old sheep barn on his property into a fully functional arena for his sons, 5 and 8, to enjoy.
The Rawlings Barn, as it’s known, required hundreds of hours of work to get to its current impressive state — a huge difference from what it was a few years ago.
“It’s an old sheep barn. We’ve lived at the property for 12 years, and in the last 9-10 years, it was just a place where we stored junk,” Rawlings said.
“My kids are getting older and we decided to turn it into a rink one day.
“We’ve put a lot of work into it, period, so it’s pretty easy to look after, maintain and flood. We just put a tarp down and get the local water delivery service come out, and they just dump 2,600 gallons on the tarp. We let it freeze and away we go, so it’s pretty easy now.”
The rink, which has professional-looking boards, lines painted on the ice, and indoor lighting, takes about 10 minutes to flood, he said, and then it’s just a matter of waiting for it to freeze.
The barn, which has attracted national attention, acts as a way for his kids and their friends to spend some time on the ice without being quite as exposed to the elements as they would be on a standard outdoor rink, Rawlings said.
“It’s pretty cold in there when it’s cold out. Usually on a nice sunny day it warms up probably 10 degrees warmer than it is outside. But mainly we’re out of the wind, so that’s a huge plus.
“I think (the kids) are really on cloud nine with all the attention we’re getting right now. They both think they’re rockstars.
“They’re pretty excited about the rink itself, but they’re really excited about the attention we’re getting, that’s for sure.”