As action gets underway in 2017 at the Innisfail Twin Arenas, citizens will experience the town's most prominent recreational facility with several subtle but vitally important improvements.
The first noticeable one is on the outside where the town recently installed a new glitzy digital sign at a cost of about $35,000. The sign includes an electronic display/message board that measures 5 feet 3 inches high by 10 feet 6 inches wide.
The improvements on the inside cover the needs for several sports groups, including the Innisfail Eagles hockey club, and the overall cost runs into the hundreds of thousands of dollars.
The town spent about $100,000 in 2016 to create new meeting room and office space for the Innisfail Minor Hockey Association (IMHA) in the mezzanine level, as well as more defined storage space for the Innisfail Skating Club.
"The figure skating club has a larger storage area," said Henry Wong, the town's director of community services of the upgrade, which separates the club's area from the mechanical room, one of two on the mezzanine level. And there is more on the main level. A pair of special storage lockers has been created for the figure skating club and the Innisfail Minor Lacrosse Association.
The most noticeable change spectators will experience as they watch action on both rinks is the lighting. The town spent just under $55,000 to replace the old metal-halide system with LED lighting, a move already praised by shutterbugs for better photography. It will also save taxpayers money.
"We should be reduced in our energy consumption from a lighting perspective. They will probably require half the power to run," said Wong.
The town is also making the spectator experience safer. Workers have added new handrails in the bleachers on the blue rink side. Town council has also approved a $17,500 investment this year for corner-to-corner safety netting across the bleachers in both the red and blue rinks, which adds improved protection for spectators. The investment will also include replacing the four-foot glass on the west side of the blue rink with new six-foot glass, making it uniform all the way around.
Meanwhile, the biggest change at the Arena sees the old IMHA space on the main level at the southwest corner of the building turned into a new dressing room for the Innisfail Eagles.
The hockey club is also getting a recently completed 20-foot by 45-foot addition that is extended from the southwest corner of the facility that will house a trainer's room, coach's office, team storage space and an area for players to meet and greet family members. The budget for the new dressing room and addition was $370,000, which was split between the town and Eagles hockey club.
The town spent about $195,000 to build the shell of the new addition, with the Eagles responsible for the cost of flooring and all furnishings. The hockey team is also responsible for all costs to create the new dressing room, which will be available in the off-season to any local minor sport organization.
"When it is done it is going to be a great asset to the Eagles hockey team as well as other minor sports and organizations in town. In the off-season other user groups can use the dressing room part of the project," said Vern Loughlean, a director with the Eagles hockey club. "This is for the whole community and that was our intention right from the start. The Eagles certainly appreciate what the town has done to help us with this project."
Not to be forgotten is the $300,000 the town is investing this year to replace the ice plants following the breakdown of the red ice surface's chiller last fall. Until a new one is installed to replace the two rinks' old ones, which is expected to be done this summer, the town is using a temporary ice plant for the red rink at a monthly cost of about $7,000.
Vern Loughlean, a director with the Eagles hockey club
"This is for the whole community and that was our intention right from the start. The Eagles certainly appreciate what the town has done to help us with this project."
