The manager of the Armour, Ryerson and Burk’s Falls Memorial Arena is recommending Burk’s Falls town council no longer consider requests to have the arena ice removed each September.
Graham Smith’s recommendation is in a report made public at the Oct. 15 council meeting.
The request to have the ice removed is regularly made by the Armour, Ryerson and Burk’s Falls Agricultural Society so it can hold portions of the fall fair inside the facility.
Smith has argued consistently against this.
The arena was repurposed in 2006-07 to accommodate summer ice and Smith’s report indicates this creates anywhere from 450 to 600 hours of use each year.
Smith’s report states it cost $16,482 to make the ice this year and $5,375 to remove it.
In his report, Smith notes that paying staff to remove the ice in August to serve a group for several days at no cost and then to put the ice back in is not a financially efficient use of the facility or staff.
Additionally, when the ice is out, the arena loses money from paying customers.
The fall fair is traditionally a Labour Day long weekend event.
Earlier this year, the society requested use of the arena and that the ice be removed.
However, that didn’t happen this year, nor was the ice removed in 2023.
Smith’s report reveals the financial differences when the ice is left in compared to when it’s removed to accommodate the agricultural society.
In 2022, when the society’s request was granted to remove the ice, the arena had no ice users for the last week of August and pulled in no revenue.
Once the fall fair ended and staff began to remake the ice in September, the arena saw 42 hours of usage with what was left in the month and that generated $297.
But in 2023, when the ice was left intact, the same last week of August generated $3,759 from 50 hours and during September the arena took in $7,932 from 140.5 hours of ice time.
In 2024, again leaving the ice intact resulted in even higher gains.
During the last week of August, the arena ice was used for 62.5 hours and that brought in $6,972.
September saw people clock in 164 hours at the arena, resulting in $10,909 in revenue.
Smith says historically there should have been a discussion on how the arena was used to accommodate ice removal requests.
Smith has said several times when addressing the town councils of Burk’s Falls, Armour and Ryerson that he was hired with the goal of making the arena more efficient.
Smith wants to see his report discussed at a future tri-council meeting.
At the Oct. 15 meeting, the council indicated it would discuss the report with the agricultural society.
Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter with Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.
