Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

OUTDOOR ICE RINKS

Secret Santa stuffs the coffers for Westsyde Centennial Park skating rink

Dec 18, 2020 | 4:50 PM

KAMLOOPS — Outdoor skating is a fantastic way to spend a day or night during the winter — weather permitting, of course. Here in Kamloops, there are a number of outdoor rinks, including one at Westside Centennial Park. However, it’s not cheap to operate an outdoor rink, even when it’s run by volunteers.

For many, skating outdoors is the best possible way to spend a chilly winter’s day. In Kamloops, we haven’t quite hit the temperature needed to freeze an outdoor rink just yet.

“You’ve gotta have between minus-8 and minus-10 degrees Celsius to make ice,” Ron Kuchma says.

Kuchma has spent many hours flooding the surface at Centennial Park. So far, he’s been able to take it easy this year. However, there could be some colder weather coming next week, as a high-pressure system rolls into the region.

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“Under those clear skies, our nighttime temperatures are going to fell below zero,” Erven explains. “So getting down to what would be more normal at this time of year. minus-6, minus-7 for those overnight lows.”

It’s probably good that we haven’t had the weather for the rink to get up and running. Between COVID-19 and finding a wad of money for liability insurance, this year’s skating season wasn’t a guarantee.

“$5,000 is formidable,” Diane Kuchma, Ron’s wife and President of the Westsyde Community Development Society, says. “Again, it could be for only two months.”

The Kamloops Outdoor Skating Association [KOSA] had set up a GoFundMe campaign to help cover those insurance costs for both the Westyde and Heffley Creek rinks. That fundraiser has made nearly half of it’s $10,000 goal. On December 15th, an anonymous donor stepped up with a $3,000 dollar donation to help cover that $5,000 insurance bill.

“I believe it’s about $2,400 that [KOSA have] been able to accumulate for us,” Diane says. “That’s why, to reach the $5,000, which we’re hoping is the right amount — and no more, because we’re still searching out insurance — the $3,000 takes us up to that level.”

The point may be moot, at least for the time being. The Kuchma’s say that COVID-19 restrictions put in place by the province limit what they’re allowed to do, even if the weather wanted to cooperate. But that doesn’t dampen Diane Kuchma’s pride in the Westsyde community.

“The generosity, the passion of people,” Diane says. “This ice rink means a lot to them — and there’s the proof.”