City: Do people still want outdoor rinks?

We seem to be having an early winter. As Mr Malcontent said to me today, “I’ve had to put on my coat des neiges.”

The city wants to find out whether people are still interested in outdoor skating rinks in parks. I haven’t seen anyone using them much in recent years, either for hockey or general recreation, although I noticed the classic boards being put up in a park last weekend. The Journal says the city is planning to put in more refrigerated rinks to offset the unpredictable thaws we’ve seen in recent years.

Although Beaver Lake was supposedly closed permanently to skating last season, Luc Ferrandez now says the city is considering reopening it, using something smaller and lighter than a Zamboni to polish the ice.