The outdoor rinks maintained by the City of North Bay are expected to continue to be operational into the middle of March.
“March break is our goal, it is meant for the public to be able to use, so that is what we shoot for every year,” said Elaine Pepin, Parks Supervisor with the City of North Bay.
“This year Mother Nature has been more than cooperative in that aspect. We have looked at the long range forecast...a little warmer tomorrow with a -5 but hopefully nothing serious until Thursday when it is supposed to be +4. So we are shooting for at least the 14th and hopefully the 16th right through to the end of March break.”
Pepin has been keeping track of outdoor rink closures in the city for more than 25 years. She believes this will be the latest the rinks have been open since 1989.
She credits the hard work by staff and the community rink volunteers for keeping the rinks going this winter.
“We are able to do that because we have had multiple, multiple floods,” he said.
“The staff have been absolutely fantastic, we have managed to keep the snow off - with a few minor bumps here and there - but for the most part it has been wonderful, it’s been an extraordinary season. We have not had the thaw, as most people know, in North Bay that we usually have. We have kept the blisters and the frost heaves to a minimum and it has been a great time.”
While the lack of a mid-winter thaw has been good news for the ODR’s, Pepin admits some of the crazy winter weather in February which included extreme cold, heavy blowing snow and then freezing rain, made things extremely difficult for maintenance crews.
“That was definitely a huge challenge,” admitted Pepin.
“We have a tractor with a blower and we have had to use it more often than we have ever before because of the amount of snow on it.”
