As a young lad, Mike Rusenstrom spent many an evening at the Shawville arena watching the older kids perfect their slapshots.

“You were the little kid watching the big kids, hoping you could be that good,” he said.

Now that Rusenstrom is older and his kids are in minor hockey, he is seeing another generation of kids cherish the space.

“It’s definitely a place that can have a big impact on a kid’s life.”

But the arena isn’t in the same shape it used to be when it was built in the 1960s. With the only major repairs coming in the 90s, the infrastructure is getting old.

Last year, the Pontiac Agricultural Society, which owns the arena, found out needed repairs would cost roughly two million dollars, according to society president Ralph Lang.

Rusenstrom said when the ice system is replaced, the arena will also need a new concrete floor and boards.

He said the exterior walls on the east and west sides of the building need some structural repairs as well, work that will cost more than $50,000.

“On the outdoor walls there’s going to be some work done there, and we’re looking to insulate underneath the stands,” he said.

So, he and others are stepping up to raise money for the repairs. The new Pontiac Arena Fund is made up of members of organizations who use the arena, as well as interested community members who wish to see the arena improvements become a reality.

To this end, over the next few months the group will be holding a series of events for the cause, including a mom-to-mom sale on May 3 and a men’s night on May 9. The group will also be on site at the RCMP musical ride on Jun. 1.

“The goal is to be able to raise enough money through fundraising and potential grants to actually be able to replace everything that needs to be replaced,” said Shelley Heaphy, president of Shawville’s figure skating club.

Lang said according to an agreement between the society and the Municipality of Shawville, the two parties would split the cost of the exterior wall repairs, but millions of dollars worth of repairs would still remain.

He said the agreement, which came into effect on Jan. 1, said that a committee should be formed by the different users of the arena, which he said is where the arena fund started.

“There’s a clause in there that says there will be an arena committee set up [ . . . ] to help best guide the management and money spending of the arena,” he said, adding that the committee was formed and started meeting in January.

“It ballooned once we realized what kind of shape the arena was getting to be in, and how soon we needed to replace it,” he said.

Repairs could offer extended season

Meagan Derouin, a committee member whose kids play hockey at the arena, said improving the insulation underneath the bleachers should have the added benefit of helping the arena extend its season, which currently begins around Thanksgiving and ends in April.

“We need to be able to keep the programs that we currently have functioning as they currently do without the fear of halfway through something not working anymore and having to call the season short,” she said.

Derouin added that some Shawville minor hockey teams do their training camps in Masham because the Shawville arena is not cool enough to form ice before Thanksgiving.

Heaphy said an extended season would give more ice time to her enthusiastic figure skating students.

“I spend 10 hours a week here for figure skating [ . . . ] and these kids absolutely love it. They wish they could skate a million hours a week, so we wouldn’t want to see this sport not be able to continue,” she said, adding that the club’s participation has more than doubled since the COVID-19 pandemic.

Derouin noted that the same trend is under way in Shawville minor hockey, and she would like to see more teams get extended ice time without having to travel elsewhere.

“The two youngest age groups have more than doubled in the last five years,” said Derouin. “We have a lot more, which means that there needs to be more ice time available for those kids.”

The group said there are grants available from the government for arena repairs, and they have already been in contact to see what opportunities are out there.

“That’s why we formed the committee now, so that as the grants become available we’re already rolling,” Derouin said.

Rusenstrom said even if they do receive a grant, it will only cover so much of the expenses anyway.

“We’ve had some meetings, but we know that there’s a portion that will have to be raised by the community,” he said.

Lang said he hopes there can be cooperation between arena committees, users, municipalities, as well as different levels of government to make the arena last for future generations.

“We’d like to get them all working together and make it a viable spot to last forever, keep the kids off the streets and out of trouble,” he said.

The group’s first event will be a mom-to-mom sale, hosted on May 3 at the Shawville fairgrounds.

“It’s a community yard sale where [people] can come to get equipment or things that they need,” said Derouin.

Derouin added that if anyone would like to join or contribute to the fund, they can get in touch at pontiacarenafund@gmail.com or on the Facebook page, which is called “Pontiac Arena Fund.”