Carol Baldwin
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Wakaw Recorder
Applications for the 2024-25 Community Rink Affordability Grant will open on January 6, 2025. Communities, First Nations, schools and non-profits are eligible and encouraged to register for the annual grant of $2,500 per indoor ice surface. The grant helps offset the costs of operating indoor skating and curling rinks in Saskatchewan.
“These are important cultural hubs in our communities, providing a gathering place that encourages activity for many families and residents in Saskatchewan,” Parks, Culture and Sport Minister Alana Ross said in a press release. “The government is proud to support this program, and we will continue to make this funding available to rinks throughout the province.”
Last year a total of 380 organizations with 585 ice surfaces benefited from the program. The application period will run from January 6, 2025, until February 28, 2025, and the grant is set to be paid out by March 2025. Locally Bruno, Cudworth, Duck Lake, Middle Lake, Rosthern, Prud’homme, St. Benedict, St. Louis, and Wakaw all benefitted from the program last year. SPRA President Darcy McLeod said in June, “From ensuring operational hours to fostering vibrant hubs of community social activity, the grant is more than just financial support; it can be a lifeline for our small-town arenas.”
While arenas like Wakaw, Cudworth and Rosthern have been open for over a month, smaller arenas like the one in St. Benedict are just getting going. The St. Benedict arena will be open on Mondays and Wednesdays from 5:00 – 8:00 p.m. for public skating and shinny. An individual season pass is $50, a family season pass is $150 and a single-day pass is $10. The arena can be rented for private events at a rate of $80/hr with a 2-hour minimum booking. Three hours of private ice time is available for $220. More information about rentals is available by contacting Travis at 306-260-5199 or Mark at 306-233-7370.
“Recreation spaces, like our rinks, are crucial to the health, well-being and vitality of communities both large and small across our province,” Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association President Darcy McLeod said. “The continuation of the Community Rink Affordability Grant and a commitment to double the funding in 2025-26, is a promising step toward addressing rising operating costs and combatting the challenges of aging community infrastructure.”
The recent bouts of cold weather have been a bonus to the Domremy rink, helping it to be ready for rentals starting Dec 21. The Domremy rink relies on ‘natural’ ice as opposed to having an ice plant to create the freezing necessary to build the ice surface. During the school Christmas break from Dec. 21st until January 3rd, the rink will only be available for rentals. For more information on rentals text 306-981-9277.
The Government of Saskatchewan invested nearly $1.6 million in 520 facilities in 362 communities through the program in 2012, the year it was introduced. The program was hailed as a great support for community rinks until it was suspended in November 2016, two months after calling for 2016 applications. The Community Rink Affordability Grant was awarded to 633 ice surfaces in 373 communities in 2015, and when the announcement was made in September 2016 that the grant would be available for another year, those 373 communities counted on that money to help meet their costs and the impact of the cancellation was felt in all corners of the province.
Then the pandemic hit and with the economic pressures that evoked, the re-elected governing party reinstated the program in 2020 to fulfill a promise issued during the provincial election campaign. The Saskatchewan government promises to double the program funding to $3.2 million starting in 2025-26, increasing the grant to $5,000 per rink. Since its introduction the funding per rink has not changed from the benchmark set in 2012, so as a measure that was intended to help community rinks’ “bottom lines’, an increase as long as it materializes will go a long way towards helping with the cost of maintenance and upkeep. Saskatchewan Parks and Recreation Association has been tasked with administering the program since it was introduced in 2012, until its suspension in 2016, and again when the program was revived in 2020.