Kamloops Outdoor Skating Association realizes decade-old dream with new Riverside rink

The refrigerated rink cost $7.16 million to construct with money coming from the provincial government’s Growing Communities Fund grant. City council greenlit the project in February 2024, about one year after the city’s Committee of the Whole voted to use provincial funding for the project.

Bepple, who is a sitting city councillor, recused herself from all of those votes, given her ties to the Kamloops Outdoor Skating Association.

Construction began early last year, and the facility also includes amenities like benches, fire pits and rubberized walkways as well as soft, ambient lighting. While it is an unsupervised facility, the ice will be maintained seven days a week during the four-month-long operating season — December to March.

“The skating is wonderful but building community is even better,” added Bepple. “It’s a chance for people to get together and enjoy the river, which is so beautiful with swans that are out there in the wintertime and to just sit around the fire pits and enjoy each other’s company.”

Bepple adds the new rink is “a special place” that is also helping to foster community as it has brought people young and old together.

“You see parents taking their kids skating for the first time and then you see people who are over 60, over 70 who are still enjoying it as skating is a lifetime activity,” she said. “You see grandparents watching kids skate, couples enjoying time together, or just a person on the ice by themselves.”

“It just creates opportunities to enjoy winter.”

People using the Riverside Park rink on Jan. 16. (Image Credit: Anthony Corea/CFJC Today)

The new rink, which is free to use for recreational, drop-in skating only and not for hockey, is open between 10:00 a.m. and 9:00 p.m. Sunday to Thursday and between 10:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, weather permitting.

“There are thousands of brine lines which is the refrigerant that circulates under the rink,” said Jeff Putnam, the city’s parks and streets manager. “Two massive refrigeration chillers keep it cool so we can keep really good quality outdoor ice here, under conditions that are 8 C or cooler.”

In a statement Thursday (Jan. 15), the city touted the outdoor rink as a “smart municipal investment,” noting numerous sporting goods stores have seen an increase in business as people have flocked to buy skates or sharpen their old ones this month.

“This has been beyond our wildest dreams,” Putnam added Friday. “How the community has embraced this facility has just blown us all away.”

“They’re asking for skate rentals. They would love to have hot chocolate vendors. We’re all working trying to catch up and get organized with that. I know in the future, there are going to be more ancillary services because businesses are going to see this opportunity and want to take advantage of it.”

A grand opening to “celebrate this ice” was held Saturday (Jan. 17) afternoon with food trucks and a limited number of skate rentals.

“The rink came to be because of so many different people,” Bepple added. “We definitely advocated for it as the outdoor skating association but there were many others like the downtown BIA, the service clubs, the sports groups, and the city.”

“It wasn’t one person who made this happen but I think it’s something that is really good for the entire community.”

The Riverside Park rink captured on a Tourism Kamloops webcam. (Image Credit: Screengrab via Tourism Kamloops)

by Victor Kaisar

Kamloops Outdoor Skating Association realizes decade-old dream with new Riverside rink

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