Photo: City of Kamloops

A rendering of what the Riverside Park outdoor rink will look like come the winter of 2026-27, once construction is complete.

As soon as the frost is out of the ground, preparations for a different kind of ice will get underway as the City of Kamloops is set to begin construction of an outdoor skating rink in Riverside Park.

City council last year approved plans to construct an outdoor skating rink in the downtown park — to the tune of $5.4 million, which came from the province’s Growing Communities Fund.

The approval included a new location for the facility just west of the original site, which was to be atop the new splash park. The city said that option wasn’t feasible.

City of Kamloops director of civic operations Jen Fretz told Castanet Kamloops the project will take at least a year to complete, meaning it won’t be available to skaters until the winter of 2026-27.

She said the first order of business will be preparing the site, including the removal of turf, re-routing shallow utilities and excavation work.

She said there will be closures around the construction area, but no widespread closures of Riverside Park during construction.

Because the rink is now being built independently of the splash park, Fretz said there will be no impact to water park operations this summer.

The city initially said the skating rink would be open next winter. Fretz told Castanet the timeline was extended due to the amount of work involved.

The project will also include constructing a building to house a Zamboni in the park.

According to the city, the annual operating costs for the rink are expected to be about $130,000, including $40,000 for wages for an attendant and $90,000 for maintenance and operational costs.

Photo: KTW file photo

An overhead view of the space a new Riverside Park ice rink will take up during the winter months as show in blue on the map.