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Walls and roof expected to come down on Jubilee Arena this week

Minor hockey president has fond memories of the old barn, but is excited for the site to cleared
WES - Jubilee-interior2
Crews have all but finished the interior demolition of Jubilee Arena and will begin taking down the roof and walls down starting the week of Sept. 12.

WESTLOCK – With much of the interior hazardous waste removed from Jubilee Arena, crews are expected to begin the final push to raze the 59-year-old facility this week.

Town of Westlock officials have confirmed that starting Monday, Sept. 12, workers will start the next phase of the $280,000 demolition which will include the roof and walls coming down on Westlock’s first indoor arena, which has been shuttered since the opening of the Rotary Spirit Centre (RSC) in 2012 — although work will start Sept. 12, a specific day when the walls and roofs will come down was not available.

The demo was initially budgeted to cost $1 million and funded via unrestricted reserves in the town’s 2022 capital budget, although town CAO Simone Wiley said previously there will be additional costs above the $280K to level and then landscape the site in 2023.

Westlock Minor Hockey Association president Nelson Jespersen has mixed emotions knowing the old barn will soon be coming down. Although he has great memories playing and watching hockey at Jubilee growing up, the RSC has become home to the next generation of Westlock skaters as many of the kids who’ve graduated from minor hockey over the past few years have only ever played in the RSC.

“For me playing all my minor hockey there and spending so many hours there, there’s a lot of nostalgia for sure. Jubilee is special to a lot of us and we had a lot of great memories on and off the ice,” said Jespersen. “But we’re very fortunate to have the Rotary Spirit Centre in the community and to be honest, it’s such a great facility and we love playing there.”

Jespersen said the extra parking will be appreciated as will the fact that front of the RSC will be more visible from the highway, long a complaint of locals and out-of-towners.

“We’re definitely in need of more parking, especially when there are big events or just multiple things going on. Sure, I’m sad to see it go, but at the same time it’s progress,” he added.

Jubilee Arena was supposed to come down following the opening of the RSC, but those plans were shelved following the discovery of asbestos — a 2012 report stated that 16 of 26 building-material samples tested positive for the substance.

In late 2018, the council of the day talked about demolishing the building and briefly considered renovating it for use as a warm-storage facility. But when faced with a $1 million price tag for that work, or $900,000 to simply bulldoze it, council put the issue on the backburner.

The Westlock and District Jubilee Family Recreation Centre opened July 13, 1963, and cost $75,744 to build. The first hockey game at the rink was played on natural ice and was held Dec. 29, 1963, when the Westlock Generals, the community’s first senior hockey team in a decade, lost 17-6 to the St. Albert Comets in a Sturgeon Hockey League tilt. In the years following that game an artificial ice plant was added, as well as additional dressing rooms on the east side of the building.

George Blais, TownandCountryToday.com

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