Discussions

are there any rinks that are ready to use yet? I know the oval wont be ready for a couple weeks yet. My little girl is dying to try out her new skates!

Does anyone know if the skating oval is open yet?

It is

did the city announce that it was open? They might have the display lights on, but it doesn't mean the oval is officially open. I'd wait till the city officially announces that it's open.

Is open tonight from 7-9.

Westend Community Center.

We were at the oval today. It is ok but still needs some flooding. Shacks are still locked. We weren't there long as the wind was pretty raw.

would be why it's not open yet. They are still working on it.

It worked fine for us even with it being a bit rough. We have family from out of town and they wanted to skate at the oval before they left. We were only there for 30minutes or so anyways.

Too bad they could not open the hut at the non skating oval. Ice is fine and kids will be back in school soon. Hope they are not waiting for the river to freeze over. My last positive comments for 2015.

Skating on the ice when it's not finished damages it...

Call the sportsplex, they have public skating.

The sportsplex has quite a few skate times during the holidays! Check the website for dates and times. They are having a $3 skate on the 31st: Princesses and Superheroes theme!

Saw people skating on the one beside Green Acres school. They have 2 outdoor rinks.  
 
I just assumed that until the ice is ready, they put up a sign. Is this not the case?

Community Services staff began flooding the outdoor skating oval in the area of McGregor Avenue last week, however, it is not ready for public use yet.  
 
The public is asked to refrain from skating or walking on the ice surface as crews work to prepare the ice for safe public skating.

Most community centres have Facebook pages. Check them out and they will tell you if they are open or not.

Any skating areas open later like past 9 on New Year's Eve?

Is the oval open today? I've heard conflicting reports and while some friends insist that it's open, the city Facebook page has no indication of it being open.

Seen about 20 people skating today, warming hut is closed  

IS NOT open!!!! The City of Brandon posted on here stating that it's NOT READY a few days ago. They will announce when it's open. It takes a little more time to get ready that skating rinks due to it's size.

CityofBrandon said "Community Services staff began flooding the outdoor skating oval in the area of McGregor Avenue last week, however, it is not ready for public use yet.     The public is asked to refrain from skating or walking on the ice surface as crews work to prepare the ice for safe public skating. "

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Litebrite said "Is the oval open today? I've heard conflicting reports and while some friends insist that it's open, the city Facebook page has no indication of it being open. "

the city did say in their Facebook post that they will announce when it does open. They will likely post on here as well.

Maybe it's just me but shouldn't the city try and get the oval going before Christmas break?

lovemygirl said "Maybe it's just me but shouldn't the city try and get the oval going before Christmas break? "

make outdoor ice when the weather isn't conductive to making ice. For most of November and December we were still experiencing PLUS temperatures. Only in the last few weeks has it been cold enough to make the ice. And the oval takes a lot more time to make than the small skating rinks.

Trevor I'm sort of curious how they make the ice for the oval, do they use a water truck to flood it or just pour water on using hoses, and also do they make a packed snow base to start with. Like I said I haven't made much ice, only three outdoor pads in the yard, and one was made in a winter that was warm and had basically no snow cover. Making the one on a packed snow base took up the most time and was the poorest ice.

Was over today (January 1). Looks like they have the skating rink opened (didn't check the clubhouse) but still working on the hockey rink.  
What an excellent day to be out!  
Have a great year!

don brown said "Trevor I'm sort of curious how they make the ice for the oval, do they use a water truck to flood it or just pour water on using hoses, and also do they make a packed snow base to start with. Like I said I haven't made much ice, only three outdoor pads in the yard, and one was made in a winter that was warm and had basically no snow cover. Making the one on a packed snow base took up the most time and was the poorest ice. "

I was never part of that operation. But pretty sure they use the water truck to get the ice to proper thickness, then use the Zamboni to maintain it. I have flooded the ice at Douglas rink years back and we usually waited till the ground was frozen and a layer of snow before we started.