Image Credit: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

FREE PUBLIC SKATING

Construction of Riverside Park outdoor skating rink wrapping up; opening eyed for January

Nov 19, 2025 | 4:36 PM

KAMLOOPS — Work on a new outdoor skating rink in downtown Kamloops is nearly finished, with the rink scheduled to open in January.

The design incorporated the existing tree canopy — aside from one unhealthy tree that had to be removed — and concrete pouring for the skating path weaving through the trees is now done. The City of Kamloops’ infrastructure delivery divisional manager, Matt Kachel, says the rest of the paving work and other additions to the main skating area will wrap up soon.

“Probably the middle of next month, it’s looking like. You can see there’s quite a bit of stuff to do, but we have all the parts and it’s coming together quickly now,” said Kachel. “The hard part is done, which was the concrete pour and all the underground work.”

The new outdoor rink will be open to the public for recreational drop-in skating, free of charge. It will also include benches and areas for people to gather who aren’t skating. When it’s not iced over, Kachel adds the concrete can be used for summer events in the park.

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“The nice thing about this is, as well — we were envisioning that a lot of the vendors, the food trucks or anything that comes down here during Canada Day events or anything like that. They can set up on the hard surfaces as opposed to the grass which causes damage that has to be fixed after, so it actually works out great,” adds Kachel. “We’ve put in enough power capacity to support those events as well, so we were able to do that through this project — upgrade the power system.”

The construction cost is around $7.16 million, but that is fully covered by a grant through the province’s Growing Communities Fund. Once it’s open, the city will still need to pay to operate the facility and that cost is estimated at around $130,000 annually.