MIKE ATHEY
SHAWVILLE Dec. 2, 2020
This year’s pandemic may have put many activities on ice, but the Shawville Arena is still up and running to some capacity.
Though the public skate and minor hockey were cancelled for the time being, individuals and groups can still rent the space provided they respect new preventative measures.
Skaters are only allowed into the arena 15 minutes before they get on the ice and have to leave within 15 minutes after finishing. In the past, individuals would sometimes arrive an hour before.
“That give us time to sanitize,” said arena manager Wes Tubman. “We sanitize after every event. We sanitize from the entrance … right through during every event.”
New rules also state that there is just one . . .
way to enter the arena and one way to leave. On top of that, visitors from COVID-19 red zones are barred, from using the facility. Tubman said everyone from Quyon down cannot currently use the facility.
Figure skating is still operating at this time, but the red zone restrictions have also prevented many of their members from participating. Club President Ronda Richardson said that this has cut their numbers in half.
There are also restrictions of 25 skaters at a time on the ice, which she says can get tricky with the younger group.
“Typically, we have 40,” said Richardson. “But because of our numbers you’re only allowed 25 on the ice. With the fact that we have coaches we can only have 20 little skaters on.”
They practice two hours on Mondays, four hours on Wednesdays and two hours on Fridays. This means they have to take the same amount of ice time with the same expenses but with smaller numbers.
The club usually hosts a Christmas show for the community but that has been cancelled. A new fundraiser has started to make up for lost income.
“We’re trying to be careful and we have a bit of a nest egg from our good years at the club. That’s why we were able to make it go this year, otherwise we probably wouldn’t have been able to open or we would have had to cut our hours down,” said Richardson.
In other good news, Tubman says that a men’s hockey league is still operating and requests for ice time on Saturdays has begun to pick up.
