With the warmer temperatures, the season is now over for the Prince George Ice Oval.
The skating facility was open for 75 days between December and March, which saw a stretch of 58 days of consecutive operation.
The ice oval was open for 99 days during the 2017-18 season.
Despite getting off to a rocky start, Ice Oval Society Member Lyle Dickeson told My PG Now it was a good season.
“It was a bit sketchy off the start with the warm weather, we had that El Nino effect that kept us on our toes trying to make some ice when it kept warming and cooling down but we managed to get open December 8th right through until March 13th (Wednesday).”
Dickeson says they set quite a benchmark amid the frigid conditions.
“We had about 58 days straight that we were open, which is quite a record, unfortunately, many of those days were, super, super cold but we still had lots of people coming out which was quite amazing.”
He adds the Ice Oval would be open for longer periods of time where balmy weather is considered a help not a hindrance, however, those days won’t come until the skating facility gets a refrigeration system.
“Certainly we could be less reliant on Mother Nature if we had refrigerated ice there. Keep in mind it is tax season and we do have tax-deductible donations through City Hall you can make to the Ice Oval and one day soon we can get this thing refrigerated and we can skate on a day like today when it’s beautiful out like it is now.”
“That is sort of the situation we are in, we have all the buildings, all of the people, all of the buildings and rentals, we just need some concrete and some cold.”
Over 12,500 skater visits were recorded over the course of the season, down from last year’s mark of 15,800.
The skater visit numbers for this season equate to about 167 visits per day the Oval was open.
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