Fred's, (Used to be Barb's), Board

The Minto Skating Club is, once again, looking for a new home

MASK Management, owners of the Minto Skating Centre facility, have announced that they have accepted a conditional offer to purchase the facility from an organization which would NOT keep it open as an arena. They say that the arena facility will continue to operate through August.

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/popular-minto ... -1.5347866

In an e-mail message to Minto club members/friends before the news broke, the current president said, in part:

In the club's more than 110 years of operation, it has occupied several different locations within the city and this upcoming move will usher in the the start of a new chapter in the club's long history.

The centre has been our home for more than 30 years and has served the club's needs well. In addition to allowing us to meet the training needs of our own skaters, the centre management has always been an ally in helping to make special events like skating shows and the Minto Summer Skate competition financially viable and successful. The sale of the Minto Skating Centre marks the end of an era for the Minto Skating Club and the end of a long and successful partnership. While we're saddened to be leaving our current home, we're looking forward to finding a new home for our skaters to continue their pursuit of enjoyment and achievement on ice.

How sad! I've been there a couple of times. Hopefully the future will be bright though with a new/different facility.

Wow, I'm away for a few days and the world changes so much. I only know of Minto at the one place, and there are some good memories there, and a couple of bad ones after falls. There were, and likely still are, wonderful people there. On the whole, I'm so glad to have witnessed the joy of skating in full force at Minto. Of course it's not the end.

fred wrote: Sat Mar 27, 2021 8:27 pm Wow, I'm away for a few days and the world changes so much. I only know of Minto at the one place, and there are some good memories there, and a couple of bad ones after falls. There were, and likely still are, wonderful people there. On the whole, I'm so glad to have witnessed the joy of skating in full force at Minto. Of course it's not the end.

An interesting article about the bigger picture of rinks/skating in Ottawa: https://ottawacitizen.com/opinion/denle ... k-strategy

There is something more going on behind the scenes than what is covered in that story. If the Ice time balanced off the taxes, then why doesn't Minto Skating just charge for the ice time over the same period. Things could balance out.(?)
I am also surprised that the court doesn't rule that since the city had an agreement with Minto and continued to support the agreement after the termination date, then that's an indication that they were continuing the agreement voluntarily. Problem solved.
In my circles we'd mount a protest and bring banners to City Hall and raise a big stink about it. Some press coverage for skating fans and the negative publicity for the city would have an effect. At this late date?!
Headline: "City of Ottawa, Unfriendly for skaters!" Maybe the arena could be called an "Historic Site." There's certainly grounds for that. It might change things a bit.

fred wrote: Sun Apr 11, 2021 4:45 pm Maybe the arena could be called an "Historic Site." There's certainly grounds for that. It might change things a bit.

There is nothing about the current location that is historic, Fred! This is not the original location of the Minto Skating Club; it's not even the second location of the club; in addition, the building is not owned by the club but by a private (family owned) company.

Remember too that all of this is happening in the time of a pandemic - we are currently under "stay at home" orders in Ontario until early May.