Discussions

Does anybody know if the outdoor rinks are open yet? When will they be ready?

unlikely. The conditions haven't been where outdoor ice can be made.

Between weather and available time from all the volunteers that put ice in, it can be tough to get rinks ready to satisfy the public’s demand to go skating. Instead of coming on here and asking if rinks are ready try contacting centres and volunteer to help. All youths wanting to skate, tell your parents to help out. Some community centres only have a couple people to do ice and the public forgets that many volunteers have full time jobs and families that have other activities going on. So instead of posting on here, think of other options to fix the problem .

we only got our first real snow fall last Saturday.  
 
And for anyone who's wondering about the outdoor rinks, contact the community centre's and see if you can volunteer to put the ice in and maintain it. Most of these rinks don't put ice in because they don't have the volunteers to put the ice in. It takes a lot of hours in cold weather flooding the rink with water to make the ice then constant maintenance afterwards, clearing snow and flooding.

itisjustme said "If people are ice fishing then it is possible to start making ice. Please don't blame weather. Ice making could have been started already, maybe not for skating yet. yes volunteer are always needed "

are people ice fishing in the Brandon area? What lakes and rivers are frozen with sufficient ice thickness?  
 
It absolutely has to do with the friggen weather!!!!! The ground isn't even frozen yet!!!!! Take it you've never had to put ice in to an outdoor rink?

Seems this comes up every year, and it''ll get done when it gets done. Some things you just can''t put a date on a calandar to proceed. I have build a few rinks in the yard over the years and am wondering if they just start flooding the frozen ground, or do they put a liner down, I''ve had mixed results with both ways, and know a liner increases the cost but seemed a quicker way of getting an ice surface.  
As for frost in the ground it must be warmer in Brandon than out here west of Souris, we had a waterline trenches in 11 days ago and had 6-8 inches of frost in the ground on bare ground, some corral repairs through the last week found only an inch or so in grass covered areas.  
Guess this is part of the instant gratification world we live in, we want ice, and we want it now. A couple of week wait won''t hurt anyone, winter is usually pretty long, and with any luck there will be many good days for outdoor rinks.  
 
Edited by don brown, 2017-11-12 16:38:30

need to factor in that these community rinks are using city water and that goes on to their water bill. They are going to wait till the ground is frozen and weather conditions are suitable before dumping thousands of litres water into the rink. Doing it before is just going to be a waste and rack up their water needlessly.  
 
The weather is only now starting to allow for flooding of outdoor ice. Give it time. Don Brown, your right about instant gratification world.  
 
BTW are any of the snowmobile trails fully groomed yet?

Hey are a few of the lake that I know people where fishing on this weekend. Oak lake , rivers, Minnesota , pelican lake, Patterson and clear lake and there are lot more I haven’t heard about

Winter is only starting, give the volunteers time to put ice in the rinks. They will be ready when they are ready. Tomorrow the high is 0 and Tuesday is +1

Ive been away for the last 2 months for work, so didn't know what the weather had been like. Anyways long story short I actually have a few weeks off so id love to help. I looked up South End Community Centre and couldnt find a phone #. If anyone on here is a volunteer there or at any other rink if you can give me a time and date id see you there.

Our first real snow fall wasn't till Nov. 4. And even since then it hasn't been overly cold other than one really cold day. Otherwise the weather really hasn't been ideal to make ice in rinks.  
 
Sure you could pour thousands of litres of water and watch it disappear into the ground since it's not frozen yet. But I think the volunteers who have made rhe ice before know when it's time to start.

Sorry to say south end doesn’t have a rink anymore and the building was shut down this year do to mild and mice. So you won’t find a number for that rink

is that the one by green acres that was shut down?

I have installed and maintained outdoor rink ice for many years. In brandon we usually start flooding on November 11. The last two years were very mild and rinks were about a month late. This year is more typical. We started four days ago. It will take about 12-15 floods using about 3000 gallons each time. We almost always flood in the evening when it is colder Our rink should be ready about the end of November. Volunteers are always needed. I would give a shout out to a Mr. Denbow who used to flood Park Community Centre on 15th street back in 1970(?). I had hours of fun on the outdoor rinks and am happy to pay back and see the next generations enjoy them as well.

No southend rink is/was the one across from Neelin high school

supposed to be plus 2 on Wednesday!  
 
Most outdoor rinks have ice in for Christmas and that is usually the earliest.