The grand opening of the Westlock Rotary Spirit Centre last June was impressive, to be sure, but an arena without ice isn’t exactly a showstopper.
Of course, one can imagine the lines on the ice, the chill in the air and the sounds of skaters coming to a stop. But it’s hard to really get an accurate picture of
Last Sunday, when scores of people descended on the arena to take get out on the ice for the first scheduled skate, which in this case was a public skate sponsored by a local business, the picture suddenly became much clearer.
And the reactions from the folks out on the ice was unambiguous.
This is an impressive facility — a head and shoulders above some of the newer facilities in towns the size of Westlock and a full torso above the old Jubilee Arena, although it undoubtedly served the community well for its nearly 50 years.
With the ice in the arena now in place, we have a clear picture of what ice sports are going to look like for the next 50 years in Westlock.
And with the hockey season now upon us — teams will be practicing and conditioning in there this week and enter the regular season soon thereafter — the full potential of the Spirit Centre will begin to come into focus.
Throughout the summer, it has been tough to get a good handle on how much use the facility will get. Hot days mean outdoor sports, and the Spirit Centre sometimes felt like a ghost town on any given afternoon.
With families now coming to the arena for practices, hockey games and figure-skating competitions, the added bonuses associated with the Spirit Centre are likely to get some heavy use as well — the arena is just part of the story.
We know Westlock’s taekwondo club is settling in to their new home at the Spirit Centre, the walking track has been getting and will continue to get some good use, and we’ve heard from some school sports organizers that the field house will be an ideal place to hold tournaments.
For all the trouble there has been in getting this show on the road over the past five or six years, it would be hard for anybody to walk in there today and suggest it hasn’t been worth it.
