Yesterday And Today, A Salute to Blyth's 125th Anniversary, 2002-07-31, Page 2Before
Officially declared open in February, 1977 the new Blyth and District Community Centre
served area residents for 25 years.
PAGE 2. THE CITIZEN, YESTERDAY and TODAY, WEDNESDAY, JULY 31, 24102.
Community puts Heart and Soul into arena project
officially declared open on February
26, 1977. Such was the enthusiastic
support of the community that the
cost had all been raised except for -
awaiting the provincial government
to send along its contribution
through the new Wintano lottery
fund.
The opening featured a
smorgasbord dinner for 350 guests
including. the MP and MPP, Doug
McNeil, warden of Huron County,
eve Don Noble of Blyth and the
reeves of Morris, Hullet and East
Wawanosh Twps.
The master of ceremonies for that
occasion, Jim Lawrie, is reported to
have had his hands full with the large
crowd. The official party nearly
forgot to ceremonially cut the ribbon
and even when that was
accomplished they nearly forgOt to
officially declare the building open.
The new building proved to he
More functional than it.
_predecessor and rapidly became
centre for - village activities.
Broomball, hockey, public skating..
Figure skating and at one time roller
skating all flourished in the new
structure. It was used for banquets,
dog shows. trade shows and dances.
It has been one of the -main venues
for the.Threshers Reunion from that
organization's early years.
Now 25 years later the old
building is once again undergoing
major changes. As they did before,
the community has rallied to support
what is surely one of the most
important institutions in Blyth. •
Although the old ice pad will not
survive a third time some of the old
Continued on page 3
g;tytfi
Work in progress
This year a major renovation was undertaken at the arena which includes an increase in the
ice surface size, new dressing rooms and changes to the community hall.
Congratulations to
Blyth on your
125th Anniversary The Heart and Soul campaign is in
the midst of raising $2.5 million to
completely renovate the Blyth and
District Community Centre and
Arena. This is a far cry from the first
ice rinks in the town which cost next
to nothing.
The first ice surfaces were outside
and privately constructed. At one
point there was one across from the
Blyth Public School and a chap
named Charlie Burling operated one
that was good enough that he could
charge to use it on Saturday nights.
Blyth's first official arena was
built at a cost of $27,000 which
amazingly was $2,000 under the
original estimate. Although
officially opened Jan. 16, 1951 the
building had been used the previous
December.
The opening ceremonies attracted
800 people and guests included MPs
L.E. Cardiff, North Huron and and
is.4.Y. McLean. Huron-Perth. Thos.
Pryde, MPP South Huron was in
attendance and the building was
officially opened by guest speaker, J.
A. Carroll the director of the
agricultural and horticultural
societies of Toronto.
The arena had a natural ice surface
that was 70 feet by 170 feet with two
dressing rooms and a lobby area at
the east end of the building, but no
auditorium and limited facilities for,
fans to watch the games.
Apparently the natural ice surface
was a problem from the start.
Dependent on the weather the ice
tended to be of uncertain quality
much of the time. Those who used
• the arena in the 1950s and I960s
recall some very wet hockey games.
In an effort to make the building
more useable the local Lions Club
decided to spearhead a local
fundraising campaign to install
artificial ice making equipment in
1967.
Artificial ice making requires
more than an ice plant and money
was raised for the cement pad,
piping, excavation and drains that
were needed to complete the
project. In all approximately
$35,000 was raised through grants
and the generosity of individuals in
Blyth and the surrounding
townships.
By November the artificial ice
sheet was in place and, in what
appeared to be a Blyth tradition, the
official opening ceremonies
occurred about a month later in
December. Dr. R. W. Street, the
chairman of the recreation
committee, was presented with a key
to the ice plant by the Lion's club.
The ice plant was officially
declared open by Reeve Bordon
Cook. Cook's opening remarks gave
credit for the achievement to the
Blyth Lions Club. the Legion,, the
Agricultural Society and Morris,
Hullett and East Wawanosh Twps.
which supplied centennial grants.
In the mid-1970s worries about the
structural integrity of old wooden-
truss arenas caused the Ontario
government to order many of the
buildings to be closed across the
province. Blyth suffered this fate and
once again plans were afoot to raise
funds for a new building.
The community quickly rallied to
the threat of there not being a
community arena. An order to halt
operations of the old arena went into
effect, and a meeting was held June
23 at which William Riehl was
named the fundraising chairman for
this effort and George Hubbard was
the chairman of the building
committee.
By July 10 volunteers had
dismantled the old arena and an
auction of salvaged materials on July
24 raised nearly $10,000 toward the
new building.
In order to save money it was
decided to retain the old ice pad and
construct the new arena around it. To
ensure maximum use the &signers
included an auditorium, four
dressing rooms and some storage
space and a lobby area.
The $471,000 building wa
Canpatutatiana 24111
an vouN, 125th atutiuettaaw
Visit our new air-conditioned home
located on the edge of
Blyth Greenway Trail
Weiconte to a tibitovs,
,9 „
APOTtHEEARY
523-4210
- F-g
ti sm (--1
The Township
of North Huron
teameatA
Blyth
on your
125 th Anniversary
from