Discussions

are aware of the weather we've been having? Not exactly good for making outside ice. So no, none of the outside rinks have any ice. And very hard to say when they will have ice.

But I was in a smaller community the other day and they had an outdoor rink with ice all ready

community was able to get ice in

Manitou had ice

must of had conditions where making outside ice is possible. And I don't think any of the rinks here even attemped to make ice.

I don't know much about making ice but do know that we dug in some ties last week and had over 10 inches of frozen ground to get through. We have had some above normal temperatures but those above freezing temperatures only make up a short period each day. Like I said, I don't know much about making ice, but the sloughs froze up pretty nice and have a good depth of ice, point of interest could be cities usually are a bit warmer might make a bit of a difference.

Is the skating oval ready yet?

City of Brandon Community Services staff began flooding the outdoor skating oval in the area of McGregor Avenue last week and, if weather conditions are conducive, the oval should be ready for public use in early January. The public is asked to refrain from skating or walking on the ice surface as crews work to prepare the ice for safe public skating.

Is the oval officially open yet???

Is the oval officially open yet???

No it is not. The city will announce wjen it's open.

todays weather might delay it more.

Who has the key to warming shack @ skating oval or is it closed ?  
.. There's 15 families here right meow

Which is why the shack is locked. The city asked people to stay off of it until it's ready. Why don't people listen? Lol

"Community Services staff began flooding the outdoor skating oval in the area of McGregor Avenue last week, however, it is not ready for public use yet.  
 
The public is asked to refrain from skating or walking on the ice surface as crews work to prepare the ice for safe public skating."  
 
And posted in the Skating Rink thread.  
 
On thier Facebook page they said they will announce when it opens and will likely also post here.  
 
It's been stated many times that it's not open yet.

Dave B said "Who has the key to warming shack @ skating oval or is it closed ?   .. There's 15 families here right meow "

even read the response I gave an hour before your post to the question of if the oval was open?

You can't wreck frozen water by skating on it. The ice may be rough and maybe patchy but you aren't going to wreck it. Use it today, we live in a place where it could be -40 next week and you won't be using it.

The amount of people that think it's okay to do something after being asked not to on this post is downright stupid. The city asked people to stay off! STAY OFF. It isn't open. Just because "just your family" was there and it was "only 15 minutes" if everyone in Brandon had the mentality then it wouldn't be just one family, or just 15 minutes. And skating on it before it's ready does wreck it. It puts chips and what not in the base ice so for the rest of the year those will stay and make the ice weaker.

the oval and skating paths take longer to make since they are not a hockey rink sized skating surface. The community centre's have hoses and a water connection right at the community centre The weather has not cooperated and allowed the crews to get the ice in earlier. In November we had a +11 day, we only have a few colder days in November and December  
 
The crews initially use a water truck to get the ice started. And that process involves fulling the 2000G tank first, then empty it out on the ice, then repeat. Then if the temperatures aren't cold enough, the water doesn't freeze very quickly. Then when it's open to the public, they use a zamboni to maintain it.  
 
And now it's currently -2C with people ignoring the fact that the ice is not ready. That's not going to be good for the ice. People here also tend to ignore signs, let alone multiple posts on here by the City itself.

Hate to say it but a lot of people do have the mentality they can do what ever they want. Case in point, last night I drove through there to look at the lights with the kids and see if it was open yet and there had to be at least 30 vehicles parked at the oval and people were skating. The signs obviously aren't preventing people from skating on it.  
 
Edited by The_Young_Man, 2016-01-02 14:40:51

Crash said "You can't wreck frozen water by skating on it. The ice may be rough and maybe patchy but you aren't going to wreck it. Use it today, we live in a place where it could be -40 next week and you won't be using it. "

if it's not thick enough, skates could go through it. And now if someone gets injured on the rough and patchy ice because it wasn't ready to skate on.  
 

The_Young_Man said "Hate to say it but a lot of people do have the mentality they can do what ever they want. Case in point, last night I drove through there to look at the lights with the kids and see if it was open yet and there had to be at least 30 vehicles parked at the oval and people were skating. The signs obviously aren't preventing people from skating on it.     Edited by The_Young_Man, 2016-01-02 14:40:51"

there is signage stating that it's closed?  
 
Edited by Trevor B, 2016-01-02 14:47:53

Trevor B said "    The_Young_Man said "Hate to say it but a lot of people do have the mentality they can do what ever they want. Case in point, last night I drove through there to look at the lights with the kids and see if it was open yet and there had to be at least 30 vehicles parked at the oval and people were skating. The signs obviously aren't preventing people from skating on it.     Edited by The_Young_Man, 2016-01-02 14:40:51" there is signage stating that it's closed?     Edited by Trevor B, 2016-01-02 14:47:53"

Since you are on here telling me the ice is so thin that a skate is going to go right through it (lol) go look for yourself. The biggest hold up has not been weather the last couple of weeks, it has been too many city folks on holiday. It is holiday season and I get it but it doesn't change the science of how water freezes. Community centre or oval ice freezes at the same temperature.

Yes there was at least one sign that I saw from the road, but I would imagine that there is probably more signs.

Crash said "    Trevor B said "    The_Young_Man said "Hate to say it but a lot of people do have the mentality they can do what ever they want. Case in point, last night I drove through there to look at the lights with the kids and see if it was open yet and there had to be at least 30 vehicles parked at the oval and people were skating. The signs obviously aren't preventing people from skating on it.     Edited by The_Young_Man, 2016-01-02 14:40:51" there is signage stating that it's closed?     Edited by Trevor B, 2016-01-02 14:47:53" Since you are on here telling me the ice is so thin that a skate is going to go right through it (lol) go look for yourself. The biggest hold up has not been weather the last couple of weeks, it has been too many city folks on holiday. It is holiday season and I get it but it doesn't change the science of how water freezes. Community centre or oval ice freezes at the same temperature. "

also does not change the fact the the city has said to STAY OFF THE ICE TILL IT'S DONE!!!!!!!!  
 
And it has been the weather that's the hold up!!! If the weather stayed cold in Nov and all of December the oval would be done and open to the public.  
 
Well you also said that it was patchy in spots, that would mean thin areas!!! I haven't been down there because it's NOT OPEN!!!  
 
Just because it's the holiday's doesn't give people a free pass to ignore signage and multiple posts that state that it's NOT OPEN.  
 
If your so sure that you can skate on ice that's not ready, go open your own rink and have people skate on it while your working to get it ready!!!  
 
The difference between the oval and community centre's is the size and area of ice that needs to be made.  
 
Edited by Trevor B, 2016-01-02 15:20:44

get ready for the posts on here about the quality of the ice. Because there will be posts on here that the ice is bad, my kid scraped their face on rough ice when they hit a patchy spot and want the city to be liable.

I'm not familiar with this site or how it has been prepared for making ice, but when Trevor mentioned flooding with a truck, some problems came to mind. Given the size of something like this trying to flood with a truck would likely be very time consuming, and one would be surprised the amount of water needed just to seal ground up. If this site is close to the river a better option might be flooding with river water to get a base, but that would only work if the site is close to level and has burms on either side to contain the water. Flooding with a high volume pump can cause a few problems with erosion even on frozen ground, but there are ways to get around this.  
 
I guess the reason people are upset is that the kids only get a limited time of for holidays and this Christmas break the weather hasn't been that bad. Nobody ever gets things completely right when dealing with Mother Nature but maybe there are lessons to be learned from this year.  
 
Hope I don't seem to be coming across as a smart **s, but at times things do have to be attacked in a different way, the flooding using the truck seems to have it's problem when a person puts a time factor in.  
 
Edited by don brown, 2016-01-02 16:01:54

Says let's take the kids skating this morning .. Damn yeah ! Grab the skates and out the door . There's bout 40 peeps there and no sign . So who's the wiser ?? I just took a rip all way back across town to see even more of a crowd and double check .. there is a closed due to maintenance sign on north entrance tho no one parks over there nothing on South . Sorry City I will keep my family off till you finish it up now but kids had a blast regardless .. Sweet day for it !! I do know how to make ice cubes as well as T man here can copy/paste and I'd say the ice is close .

 
So the city whose property it is says to stay off until they open it  
 
What's the definition of trespassing again?