A group of hearty Peace River residents braved the cold to celebrate the opening of Subzero Skateway on Dec. 14.
Peace River Rotaract hosted a Winter Welcome to reintroduce the popular Skateway back to the community for the second year.
“We invited the community, sponsors and local councillors from town and municipalities,” says Rotaract president Louise Small.
“The evening included a visit from Santa, hot chocolate and cookies, old-fashioned Christmas carolers and special messages of appreciation from me, the town Mayor Shelly Shannon and the park’s namesake Normand Boucher.”
Small says the Skateway was introduced to the community last year to provide an extracurricular activity to the residents and visitors.
“The Skateway was an idea to bring new life to an under-utilized area within our community,” says Small.
“We wanted to design a space for more winter activities and right near schools and residential for easy access,” she adds. “The Subzero Skateway has been developed for the community – by the community, with several volunteers and businesses eager to be involved.
“We are very grateful to all the support we have garnered which drives our efforts to improve and expand the magic year to year.”
Small says the Subzero Skateway features beautiful Christmas lights, a Winter Wonderland and a whole lot of magic.
“It’s an immersive experience where visitors can wander through the park and admire all the new additions for photo ops and adventure,” she explains.
“The installation of the skating trail has been far more challenging than last year. Heavy snowfall and extreme weather conditions have put us far behind. Although our plan is to have a skating trail, there may be less likelihood considering what we have to contend with, but we haven’t given up on the concept.”
The Subzero Skateway is located in the Normand Boucher Community Arboretum in the north end of Peace River across from Baytex Energy Centre and Good Shepherd School.
“The park is amazing, it’s actually like being right inside a snow globe,” explains Small.
“It’s a tourist attraction for locals and visitors to Peace River. There are many new things to see like a gingerbread house, Polar Pitch snowball toss game and an igloo. There’s a fire pit for friends and families to build cozy fires to roast marshmallows while spending long hours enjoying the labour of our love.”
The Subzero Skateway will be fully lit until after Family Day for locals, visitors, and tourists to enjoy.
Small says the group would love to have some help maintaining the park. She says shoveling has been a huge task for a small group of volunteers. If you would like to help Rotaract with their shoveling endeavours, Small says to email peace.rotaract@gmail.com or reach out to them via their Facebook group
Emily Plihal
Local Journalism
Initiative Reporter
