WESTLOCK – The Eastglen outdoor skating rink in Westlock has reopened its changing rooms to the public after being vandalized Jan. 24.
Vandals had entered the building at some point over the weekend of Jan. 22 and damaged the property by ripping coat hooks out of the wall, emptying the soap dispensers and wiping the contents of a sandwich on the wall. The town closed the facility for repairs and cleaning which were completed late Jan. 25.
“It created quite the mess for our crews to clean up and it’s going to take them a couple days to get the mess all cleaned up and we can safely open to the public,” said director of community services Gerry Murphy in an interview Jan. 25. “It's unfortunate, really, because the ones that did this probably weren’t at the outdoor rink for skating or playing shinny or anything like that really, it was just an opportunity to get into some mischief.”
Murphy said that thankfully the damage was minimal and the cost to repair was not an issue, noting vandalism is something he has not seen in the past two years.
However, it did add to the string of bad luck the outdoor rink has been subject to this year.
After opening just before Christmas holidays, a rash of frigid cold prevented maintenance on the facility as it became too cold to flood the ice or open the shack.
“You wouldn’t think that having it too cold would be detrimental to a skating rink but when it’s too cold to flood, around –25 C, it actually fractures the ice,” Murphy added, noting the recent stint of warm weather has brought other problems. “We had some rain, which isn’t good for ice either, but our crews are doing their best to bring the best skating experience they can, and I think they’re doing well.”
The rink is back to operating at normal hours and the changing rooms will be available until 9 p.m. each night, unless temperatures dip below –25 C.
