Village Squire, 1976-11, Page 37SPORTS
sowyip 7
Workmen work inside the new Teeswater arena. The go.ernment's crackdown brought towns together
Arena crisis puts fight back
in small communities
In most western Ontario communities.
sport in the winter means one thing:
hockey.
The past decade or more has seen arenas
in little communities all over the area
crammed with youngsters playing hockey
from late October to April. The corning of
articifical ice to even the smallest
communities made hockey a six-month-a-
yLar proposition. For many communities,
especially the smaller ones. the centre of
nearly all community activity in the winter
was the hockey arena.
So when the Ontario Ministry of Labour
this spring announced a crackdown on
arenas across the province for safety
reasons. there v. as a good deal or
consternation in many towns and villages.
At one time the projection was that several
hundreds of arenas across Ontario would
be closed. leaving millions of youngsters
with no place to play hockey, no place to
figure skate. Hockey bodies protested it
would deal them a virtual deathblow.
Amid the hue and cry that arose, the
Ministry backpeddled a bit saying that
some communities would be allowed to
keep their arenas open if repairs were
planned and approved by the ministry.
For some communities, however. the
concessions came too late. Two local
communities in particular had already
sprung into action.
In Tceswater the death blow to the old
arena had fallen far earlier than elsewhere,
closing the building in the middle of hockey
season in February. The community
organized at once and decided the anse.er
was a new arena. Committees were formed
and fund raising began. Architects were
hired and plans drawn up. By spring. more
than $100,000 had been raised in the
community and soon after the contract was
let. The result is that by this winter. the
youngsters of Teeswater will not only be
playing hockey again. but have a new.
improved arena to play in.
In another village of somewhat similar
size. the action was even swifter. In Blyth,
it wasn't until late June that the engineer's
report was made saying the old arena was
unsafe. The report was accepted by the
Village council and within two weeks a
public meeting was held to discuss what to
do. The motion was unanimous for a new
arena and community centre. Within two
t , (k molition of the old arena had •
Village Squire/November 1976, 35