By TERRY PUGH
The Clavet Community Arena has been a focal point for the village and surrounding area for the last 35 years.
And organizers of the ‘Raise the Roof’ fundraising campaign are hoping they’ll be able to keep the rink operating for at least another four decades.
“Our goal is $500,000,” said campaign chair Tari-Lynne Beamish. “We’ve raised just over $80,000 so far; which means we still have a ways to go. But, we’ve got a lot of events coming up this fall and we’re confident we’ll reach that target.”
The campaign is aimed at covering the cost of major repairs to the arena roof, and also installing a concrete floor for the rink surface. Each project comes with price tag of about $250,000.
A car show on September 15 featuring a community barbecue, raffles, 50-50 draw and children’s activities is one of the big events slated for this fall. This and other fundraising activities are outlined on the community arena association’s website at https://www.clavetarena.com/raise-the-roof.
Beamish said donations over $100 are eligible for a tax-deductible receipt. The Clavet Community Arena Association is a registered charity.
The Clavet arena roof upgrade has already been done utilizing refinancing secured by the arena’s mortgage, and the concrete floor will be installed at a future date.
The rink was built in 1989-90 using a combination of contractors and volunteers.
“A group of farmers put up a bond to get it built,” said Clavet Community Arena Association President Scott Barr. “It’s been the heart of the community ever since. It’s owned by the community rink association and run by a volunteer board of directors.”
Barr said the arena is financially stable.
“We don’t have any real major loans,” he said. “We dipped into our mortgage for refinancing to pay for the roof because it had to be done as soon as possible. So now we’re fundraising to get back so we’re not in the red financially. That will help us keep our costs down and that translates into lower costs for our user groups and rentals.”
Barr said the roof was at the point where it absolutely had to be upgraded.
“It’s been kind of band-aided over the years to keep it going,” said Barr. “It was the one thing that carried a big price tag. We’ve invested in the ice plant and renovating the dressing rooms and so on inside, but the roof was always put on hold.
“We had engineers come in and evaluate the roof and they said it needed to be re-done sooner rather than later,” he continued. “We did a lot of research and decided to go with putting a urethane spray foam coating on top of the roof that seals it completely and keeps the rain and snow out. It also adds a tremendous amount of insulation and reflects the heat back instead of absorbing it.”
Barr said in past years the heat build-up inside the rink created a lot of condensation, which translated into big challenges when it came to building and maintaining the ice surface.
Since the roof coating was applied, those problems have disappeared, he said.
“Last year, we lost our ice in September because it got so hot from the heat coming in off the roof, we had to completely re-do the ice,” he said. “We were spending more money on making ice than we brought in renting it out.
He said the seal coating on the roof has made a huge difference. “The roof was done this past summer,” he said. “On those days when it was in the high 30s, the temperature inside the building was 15 degrees. It was amazing.”
Barr said the fundraising campaign also includes future plans for a concrete floor to make the arena a year-round facility that could be used for ball hockey and other sports during the summer.
“Right now it’s a sand floor,” he said. “It’s been there since Day One, which means we can only run the rink from September to March, or if we’re lucky, into April.”
He said the building is fully booked from October to March every year, with many minor hockey teams from larger communities in the region booking the facility for tournaments.
Barr said the ‘Raise the Roof’ campaign is aimed at bringing in donations from residents and businesses across the wider region.
“Our biggest challenge is that Clavet is quite small,” said Barr. “We don’t have the range of businesses that larger communities do. That’s not to say our community organizations and local user groups aren’t contributing; they are, in a big way. The Clavet senior hockey team and rec teams have put on fundraising events to help out.”
Barr said Clavet took a “pretty healthy run” at achieving the Kraft Hockeyville title recently, placing second behind Wolseley.
“We don’t begrudge Wolseley that prize,” said Barr. “They had some really major stuff they had to fix in their rink.
“We’re in good shape, and we want to stay in good shape so people can enjoy this rink for many more years to come.”