Looking into Mosaic stadium’s “Iceville”
The new ice rink is getting rave reviews.
by gillian massie & ethan butterfield
Mosaic Stadium has transformed the beloved home of the Roughriders into Saskatchewan’s largest public ice-skating rink from football to figure skating. Now avid skaters can enter “Iceville,” enjoying a safe place to enjoy ice skating.
“It was good. It was enjoyable for us and the kids. It was a good atmosphere, and we had fun, which was the main thing,” says happy skater Craig Luron.
Many cooped up citizens are getting bundled up to find safe outdoor activities for themselves and their families. A maximum of 30 skaters on the ice at a time allows for plenty of room safety precautions and skating.
“They were pretty good. You know, like a lot of people, they skated more than 2 metres away, which was really nice. I think there were only 30 people allowed in the rink at a time, and the rink was so big that you had enough space,” explained Luron.
To promote safe precautions from COVID-19, they are only allowing weekly bookings of the event to keep up to date with the Saskatchewan Health Authority’s guidelines. Masks are not essential for outdoor activities but are still highly recommended when on the ice. Each skating time is limited to 45 minutes, with a maximum of 30 skaters on the ice at a time. Bookings are completely free of charge but bring extra money if you would like food or drinks at the Chalet.
The creation of Iceville has cost $200K, where $170 is sponsored by different partners across Saskatchewan. The budget has allowed for 24 workers to continue to work at the stadium. Over 1.5 million litres of water was used to create the ice surface.
While winter ice sports favour many guests, hockey, figure skating, and ringette is strictly forbidden on the ice surface. Providing a non-contact ice area for all skaters to enjoy is the top priority for officials on the ice surface. Sticks and pucks will be asked to be put away or removed if they are present in the stadium.
Registration has been made easy to find and book online.
“All in all, it was really easy to sign up. It took me like five minutes online to do it. As soon as I walked in, it was like hands-free. [I] Went in there, spent 45 minutes skating; it was like actually really great too like the music was great,” explains Favel.
To register to go skating, go to everazplace.com. Registration is completely free, and you may register up to six guests at a time. If one of your guests wants to sit on the sidelines to watch, they need to register as one of the 30 guests for the ice area. If you cannot make your skate time, be sure to cancel your event time, so a lucky guest on the waitlist can get in their skating time.
Food and drink are served in the Harvard Lounge, before or after guest’s ice-skating times. Guests must be seated while eating or drinking to follow COVID-19 precautions.
While booking is filling up with many rave reviews, make sure that you get your spot before they are gone.
“Well, in all honesty, I probably recommended it to about 20 people already,” remarked Favel, “I took a few pictures already, and everybody was commenting on my Facebook or my Facebook storyboard, wondering if they signed out skates. I told them I had to invest in a pair, but after people showing people that, everybody wanted to do it and was like, ‘Oh, I’m glad I influenced it a bit.’”