The balmy weather over the last couple of weeks hasn’t been good for the Ice Oval.
Dick Voneugen from the outdoor Ice Oval Society of Prince George said this year really highlights a need for a refrigeration system for the rink.
The society has moved from a non-funded program with the city to a funded one, which means they’ll try and get funding from Ottawa, but that’s still in the future. The city has already made a presentation and was turned down, but plan to try again, according to Voneguen.
“With refrigeration, we could be skating at 10 plus degrees.”
Voneugen estimates the price tag of the equipment would be in the ballpark of five million dollars.
“We need minus five or six degrees for the possibility of making ice. Once we have that, then we can survive about 3 or four degrees during the day.”
He said around 20,000 people use the rink each year, and while they don`t plan to have it open all year even with the refrigeration system, they could have been open by this time.