Canada Games Skating Oval Grand Opening!

This just in: The opening of the Canada Games Oval has been POSTPONED due to the unseasonably warm weather! Plans to open the week of Dec 19th… stay tuned!

HALIFAX – After months of curious construction, the time has finally come!  The monstrous Canada Games Skating Oval will open to the public tomorrow evening, launching the first of many free public skate opportunities to come. As reported in Lezlie Lowe’s giddy Chronicle Herald article, the oval will offer free daily skating, free loaner skates, free lessons, fire pits, and food. What more could one want from a winter-friendly Commons experience?

Too add a touch of that typical Halifax nostalgia, this Saturday, Dec 18th, the oval will host it’s first candle light skating event, with folks dressed up in period costumes gliding around the rink.

While Halifax’s lack of winter-friendly public spaces has been long lamented, the Canada Games promises to be a catalyst for ongoing outdoor skating on the peninsula. Three times the size of an NHL hockey rink, and spanning almost a third of the Halifax North Common, the oval is supported by six refrigeration units — entirely necessary, given the balmy weather we’ve been experiencing. After the February games, the refrigeration units will be made available for dispersal and rink-creation throughout HRM.

For updates on this winter’s rink activities follow skateHRM on twitter, and keep an eye peeled for Lauren Oostveen‘s daily photos of the skating oval, posted under the hash-tag #rinkwatch.

WHAT: Grand Opening of the Canada Games Skating Oval
WHERE: The North Common
WHEN: Wednesday, Dec 15th, 5pm-6pm; with public skating till 9;30

photo by Lauren Oostveen