Rink Updates

🏒⛸️ Our All-season skating rink is officially closed for the 2022 - 2023 season. 

Thank you to our rink helpers for creating a space for our entire community to enjoy - Our volunteers are the best!

We can't wait until the first skate next year.

Until then, we will enjoy the basketball hoops, pickleball courts, and bike rack!

The Riverbend Community Association would like to invite you to the Grand Re-Opening of our All-season Rink! ❄️⛸️

With special guest Harvey the Hound!!

Saturday, February 11, at 1 PM.

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IT'S OPEN! LET'S GO! ⛸️🏒

Grab your skates and tell your friends! The all-season rink at the Riverbend Community Centre is officially open!

Don't forget to Connect with us.

Check in, like, tag, share!

Thank you to all of our helpers preparing the new rink!  Sign up to become a volunteer!

🏒⛸️ Our volunteers have been working hard!

Although the rink is still closed to the public, it is well underway being flooded! Once the ice is ready, we will post the rink schedule.

Thank you to all of our helpers preparing the new rink!  Sign up to become a volunteer!

It's Happening!! ⛸️🏒❄️

The work has begun to put the rink boards in place for the new all-season rink!

Feel free to take a drive-by to see the progress underway!!

Want to help get this party started? We are looking for help with flooding the ice! Sign up to become a volunteer!

Global Sports, the supplier of our new rink boards and other rink equipment has totally surprised us as they completed the installation earlier than anticipated on Dec 11! The rink volunteer team has been working hard to provide ice for all community members to enjoy! 

It has been a long journey with many roadblocks, but we are so excited that Riverbend is finally able to enjoy this new all-season facility!

We are excited that a lot of the construction work for Riverbend’s new all-season rink has been completed; however, for the next phase of the project we’ve encountered some issues that have now become commonplace for many projects across Canada. 

We had planned to have the boards up and ready for skating at the beginning of this winter, but due to issues involving supply chain and labour shortages, it looks like the rink will likely be ready in the new year. 

We are hopeful we’ll be able to enjoy the rink this winter season, but we recognize we are at the mercy of today’s new economic realities and the weather. We will provide another update early in the new year once timelines have been confirmed. 

We are also disappointed we won’t be able to get on the ice sooner, but the good news is, given it’s an all-season rink, even if it’s a short skating season we’ll be able to use the rink’s new basketball hoops, pickleball courts, and bike rack during the warmer months. We’ll keep you posted.

August and September were very busy months for the project. 

The first phase of the project- pouring of the new concrete surface, asphalt path and landscaping has been completed. The custom RIVERBEND bike rack- art piece has also been installed and it looks AMAZING! We are hoping this unique artsy amenity will be enjoyed by Riverbend for generations to come!

The second phase of the project- installation of the new boards and other equipment is fully funded and is underway. At the time of publication, we are on target to enjoy the brand new rink during the 2022-23 winter season.

We are grateful to all our funders that made this enormous project possible: Government of Alberta- Community Facility Enhancement Program, City of Calgary -Capital Conservation Grant, Parks Foundation -Calgary Flames Rink Award, City of Calgary -Inspiring Neighborhoods Grant, ENMAX Energizing Spaces Fund and Calgary Parking Authority Sponsorship Program as well as all of you who supported our fundraising efforts. 

August 16

The project reached a very significant and exciting milestone - the new concrete slab for the rink has been poured. It was a very hot day and work continued into the late hours but the new surface looks amazing!

We can’t wait for everyone to enjoy this new all season facility!

The project is full steam ahead! Demolition of the old structures and warped asphalt surface was completed in early July. Construction of the new concrete slab is in progress. 

Due to supply chain challenges, the installation of the new boards will be taking place in early fall. The new all-season rink facility will have additional all season features such as new basketball hoops, four pickleball courts, and an amazing custom bike rack. The bike rack will be made of steel letters spelling Riverbend and it will also be an art piece incorporating our community branding colours and themes of river and green spaces.

 We can’t wait for everyone to enjoy this new all season facility!

We have some great news to share this month! We received a funding exception from the Parks Foundation and we will be able to access the $60,000 award. Unfortunately, we will no longer be able to receive donations for the project via Parks Foundation for which private donors were previously able to obtain tax deductible receipts. Thank you to Ward 11 office for all their support with this item!

We also heard back from the Community Facility Enhancement Grant and we were successful in our application for $125,000. Special thanks to MLA Tanya Fir for advocating for our project!

Given these positive updates, we are very excited to announce that the Riverbend All-Season Rink Makeover Project is officially a go! Project planning has already begun and we will be bringing detailed updates as the project unfolds.