Penticton's outdoor rink opening pushed until January, finishing just in time for the BCHL all-stars game

Photo: Chelsea Powrie

Crews poured concrete for the rink in early December

While supply chain delays have inhibited Penticton's outdoor rink from opening this week, the team behind it is looking forward to getting the final pieces together in time for the BCHL January All Stars game.

The rink is the passion project of a non-profit group called Activate Penticton, which has been fundraising for years to make the dream of a public outdoor ice facility come true.

"The original intended date of completion for the grand skating opening was supposed to be December 15. We faced some equipment delays. I mean, there's obviously been many shortages with supply chains globally right now. So we have a bit of a shortage with a specific material required for the chillers," Alex Waddington, the VP of Activate Penticton explained.

The new estimated completion date is Jan. 14, which will be just in time for the BCHL event taking place that weekend.

While new restrictions were implemented on Friday by the provincial government to come into effect on Monday and last through until the end of January, the event will still be able to take place.

The BCHL 60th anniversary will now coincide with the grand opening of the rink and is a free event open to the public from Jan. 14-16. Tickets for that event are available online now trough Eventbrite.

"There will be a ribbon cutting taking place, involving some of the top donors for the rink," Waddington added. "There will also be community open skates that will be taking place on Friday, as well as Sunday and both of those states are presented by Save On Foods."

Once the rink is up and running, there will be skate times where people can schedule to use the rink and
community skates through the rest of the winter just to accommodate families and kids that want to come out.

"Really, I think moving forward past this event, and past that introduction of the rink to Penticton, we just want it to be a place where kids can come and play. Families can come and skate. We really want it to feel like a community outdoor rink and we really want people to feel like they're able to participate."

The lion's share of funding has come from private donors at a price tag of about $400,000, plus roughly $125,000 kicked in from the city for infrastructure upgrades.

"We still have some funding required, I believe at this point, we're looking for an additional $75,000. But we are almost across the finish line. So there's that kind of last push leading into January for that additional funding."

And while the rink may not look like much yet even after concrete was poured in early December, Paddington said that it's come quite a long ways.

"I think visually from the public, it's still probably looks quite unfinished. But once we get the boards in place by January 9...it'll feel very real to the city and that's exciting."

Activate Penticton will operate the facility moving forward and they are still accepting donations towards the rink and its future here.