Figure skating is 50 years old in town and the Innisfail Skating Club is preparing to celebrate with its ìBig Top of Skatingî show.
The skating club will host the event March 22 at the Innisfail Arena starting at 2 p.m. and the golden anniversary promises to be an event to remember.
ìWe are looking forward to the Big Top of Skating Ice Show on March 22 celebrating our 50th year of operation. It will be an exciting show and skaters from our past will show up and lace up one more time,î said Brigitte Sinclair, publicity coordinator of the club. ìThe parents are busy prepping the show while the kids are practising their skills at competitions.î
On-ice, the Innisfail Skating Club is coming off two good months of competitions that have yielded medals in four events in 2014.
ìOur PreStarSkate girls participated in three competitions in three events: elements, two free skates, and a team event,î said Bridget Sinclair, ìIn January we sent Anna Russell, Brooke Pike, Melena Stevens, and Claira Sinclair to Stettler for a fun meet and they came back with four gold and silver medals. February saw the same girls enter the Carstairs Fun Meet who again came back with four more high medals. The PreStarSkate girls also went to Wetaskawin on March 1 and everyone came back with medals as well.î
She added that Alyssa Allan, Tiana Leonard, Kiersten Hepburn, Ashley White, Erica Rafuse, Acaisha and Athena Pare, and Ali Russell (StarSkate level girls) participated in the Red Deer Fun on Ice competition on Feb. 7 and also skated well bringing home eight more medals.
The club teaches the CanSkate program which consists of four levels: CanSkate, CanPowerSkate, PreStarSkate, and Star Skate. Coaches Cory Newton, Mark Dowler, Jill Neilson, and Charlesly Whittemore have mentored the 70-plus members successfully this season.
The final event of the figure skating season is a StarSkate competition to be held in Olds on the weekend of March 28 but not before the club celebrates its 50th anniversary.
ìWe have not finalized all our plans yet but the kids are excited to see this event finally arrive,î said Sinclair. ìThe girls love to skate and at the ice show their friends and families can see this showcase of talent. Our goal is to make this an event that these kids and their families will always remember.î
She added the annual show is always a successful event drawing as many as 700 spectators over the day. Admission is $5 for adults, $3 for seniors and kids 4-12 with children under the age of three getting in free.
For more information on the skating club and the celebration, go to http://innisfailskatingclub.weebly.com/
