City of Brockville says outdoor rinks have been a challenge this winter

Despite the frigid weather forecast, both outdoor rinks in Brockville are still not ready for skaters, as staff face challenges due to warm temperatures and location.

City staff are working on rinks downtown on the waterfront and in the north end at Memorial Park, but confirm they are about two weeks later than in 2022. 

"Mother Nature has not been on our side yet," Parks Supervisor Chad Davis said. 

"So far, a lot of checks. Ice-thickness checks started a few weeks ago when the harbour finally froze over," Davis said. "Now we're just checking the ice daily and making sure it's thick enough for us to be on and thick enough for the public to start skating on."

Measurements on Thursday showed ice levels at Tunnel Bay between 8 and 10 inches thick, but the last dumping of snow has hindered the build. 

"The slush on the top of the ice, underneath the snow, is about 2 inches thick and we're waiting now to get cold enough weather for that to freeze up so we can start to flood the top," Davis said. 

To build the harbour front rink is a tricky process, as the water underneath is always moving.

"The river rink is unique, it always fluctuates," Davis added. "All we have to have is a little bit of a breeze come in from Kingston and it changes the water pressure and level in the harbour, makes the ice move a little bit, and creates that water on top."

An unsafe ice sign on the Laurier Rink in Brockville, Ont. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

Meanwhile, flooding at Laurier Rink in the north end of town began on Monday.

"When we're first soaking it, it'll take 12-16 hours to get the snow fully soaked, and then after that it takes about 20 minutes to put a coat on and we keep building from there," said Parks & Recreation Sub-Forman Dan Elwood.

"Depending on the temperature, obviously the colder it is, the quicker it will freeze for us, so we can get right back at," he added. 

The uniqueness of this area also poses a different challenge to get the north end rink built.

"This land here is a little swampy in the summertime so what we have here we call geothermic temperatures, so we always get a warmth coming up through the swamp into this area," Davis said.

"We've been able to build quite a bit of ice in a short period of time which is nice, but obviously the temperatures coming are a bit of a concern," noted Elwood. 

Temperatures next week are forecast to be above the freezing mark during the day, which could mean a short skating season on both city rinks.

"We're hoping to get a few days out of it for sure," Elwood said. "It's been a lot of effort so hopefully we can get some reward for it."

Spencer Utman (left) and Dale Elwood flood the Laurier Rink in Brockville, Ont. on Thursday morning. (Nate Vandermeer/CTV News Ottawa)

The covered Rotary outdoor rink, also downtown, has been open since December, but it uses artificial ice and has a chiller system. 

Despite the warmer temperatures, it can maintain ice until March. 

"We are getting a lot of calls on when the other rinks are going to come," smiled Davis. "They are coming; we're working very hard at it. We need the cold weather to stay."

As for a timeline for when the rinks might open that all depends on Mother Nature.

Davis is hoping the downtown rink will be open by Family Day, to provide another place for skaters during the Winter Classic Weekend. 

The north end rink could be ready as soon as next week.

The city is also reminding the public to stay off both rinks while work continues, so they will be ready quicker for skaters to enjoy.

"We have signs up and posted, ice closed, unsafe ice, keep off, and we won't take those signs down and put the open rink until everything is perfectly safe," Davis said. 

"If people go on the ice when we are trying to create the rink, it just causes setbacks we have to fix before we can keep flooding," he added.