First season of outdoor skating rink a success, says North Van mayor

With the rookie season of skating at the City of North Vancouver’s Shipyard Commons on ice, Mayor Linda Buchanan says the rink was a smashing success.

“Absolutely outstanding. It was amazing,” Buchanan said. “Super, super great feedback. People absolutely loved it.”

The last full day of skating was on March 1. After the rink first opened in December, the free attraction was drawing upwards of 1,200 visitors per day. Buchanan wasn’t one of them though. She suffered an ankle sprain just days before the grand opening.

Buchanan said she was especially pleased to see figure skating clubs, the North Van Wolf Pack junior hockey team, a seniors’ ice dancing club, and group of more than a dozen people in onesies with Burning Man logos making regular appearances.

The most notable skater however, was Canada’s head of state. Her Excellency the Right Honourable Julie Payette, Governor General of Canada, strapped the blades during an official visit in February to promote her GGactive healthy living campaign

The most frequent complaint from residents was that the 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. operating hours were too short, which Buchanan said the city plans to address.

“Fair enough,” Buchanan said. “We know that it needs to open particularly later in the evenings, as well. I heard it from my own children.”

Site hosts tracked every time they were tasked with helping someone who suffered bumps, bruises or sprains on the ice. In total there were 38 incidents but no serious injuries, Buchanan said. In one instance, the mother of a child who was hurt in a fall was so grateful for their follow-up, she returned the next day with a box of doughnuts for the rink staff.

The city opted to use a CO2 chilling system as opposed to the more traditional but less safe ammonia. At times, staff had to close off the southeast corner of the ice because it was too wet but, all-in-all, Buchanan her own family of hockey players were satisfied with the ice.

“I think for the first year, the quality was at the highest standard and I think they’ll just be lessons learned moving forward,” she said. “There were minor glitches that we will need to amend.”

Council hasn’t yet had a full report from staff but the first winter of operations did come within the budget council set, Buchanan said.

In September, Sportsnet announced it would host a Rogers Hometown Hockey event and NHL broadcast from Shipyard Commons on March 14 and 15. Ironically, it was because of the hockey broadcast that the city had to remove the ice on March 1 to make way for the mobile studio.