Neighbourhoods may have to step up to keep outdoor rinks running

Sault Ste. Marie's parks and recreation advisory committee has started looking for ways to cut the cost of operating the city's outdoor ice rinks.

But so far, during its initial look at the issue, the committee has showed little interest in reducing the number of rinks.

Instead, there's been considerable talk about having neighbourhood volunteers roll up their sleeves the way they did in years past.

Another idea under consideration is cutting the hours and/or days when rinks are accessible to the public.

The committee has been directed by city council to find ways of slashing after Ward 5 Coun. Matthew Scott tried unsuccessfully during last year's budget deliberations to save $75,000 by closing the Phil Esposito outdoor rink at Queen Street West and St. Andrew Street.

But council agreed to instead find a way to cut $75,000 in municipal rink expenditures this year while operating all existing rinks, and to study all rinks to find long-term savings to be included in the 2025 budget.

The City of Sault Ste. Marie currently maintains three boarded outdoor rinks:

• Esposito Rink – 36 Queen Street West
• Merrifield Rink – 331 Patrick Street
• Anna McCrea Rink – 250 Mark Street

We also have three city-operated leisure skating venues:

• Art Jennings Speed Skating Oval – 260 Elizabeth Street
• Clergue Park Skating Trail – 10 East Street 
• Downtown Plaza

There are also privately run rinks: at St. Basil's and the Machine Shop.

And then there's the Sault's noble history of family ice surfaces.

"Families build their own backyard outdoor rinks, many of which are built at a high standard to include rink boards, lights and netting," says a city report prepared for a meeting of the parks and recreation advisory committee last Tuesday.

"These outdoor ice surfaces often provide for their children and friends in the neighborhood," the report says.

While attendance figures haven't been compiled for the just-completed 2023-2024 season, the skating oval was our most-used outdoor rink before that, while Esposito Rink had the lowest attendance.

The current distribution of ice rinks leaves noticeable gaps in the north and west parts of the city.

"I would hope that we would continue to support some city-run rinks," committee member Tracey McClelland told last week's meeting.

"I mean, we want children to be up and moving and active and being outside. So if that's not too much of a burden financially, I can see us continuing to support that," McClelland said.

As for going back to the city's former practice of running ice rinks with volunteers, Virginia McLeod, the city's manager of recreation and culture, said that sometimes had drawbacks.

"When we did have volunteers in the past, there was an issue with consistency. So if you're having youth or different individuals go open up the change rooms to make them available, there us some inconsistency potentially in those services," McLeod said.

"It would take probably a couple of years if you were going into a volunteer model, to really develop a strong base for that. And then we have to see what the logistics and liability are.... if we're asking the volunteers to address certain situations."

"I think the three [boarded] rinks have been a nice balance," said Deane Greenwood, the committee chair. "But I understand that the council's wish is to trim the budget. I think this is a very important activity."

City staff are now preparing additional data and the parks and recreation advisory committee is expected to approve recommendations at its next meeting in April.

The final decision on how to cut the Sault's spending on municipal rinks will be made by city council.