The brine lines in the Moose rink no longer provide consistent freezing. This causes a safety issue for skaters. Fixing this issue is estimated to cost $1.2 million. The rink is currently closed.
Every time a city facility requires significant repairs we should ask whether there might be better options. Given the city’s financial constraints we should also consider whether to shut it down and not replace it. Simply make do with less in our city.
The beauty of politics is the complexity of these decisions. We could compare the operating costs of the existing facility against the costs of a multi-sheet rink. But operating cost comparisons don't tell us what efforts the city has made to maximize the potential of the current facility. There are spin off benefits to the surrounding neighbourhood in assessment growth, which are hard to quantify. How do you balance a mature neighbourhood’s need for reinvestment against a new neighbourhood’s need for their own rec facilities? Alternatively, residents might want more pools instead of ice rinks. Assuming we have an accurate way to gauge public opinion.
Creating perfect arguments that will persuade everyone is impossible. The goal is not persuasion. The goal is choosing between well vetted options.
Since there is no right or wrong choice and given the complexity of the factors let’s judge options in a different way. Rather than discussing abstract concepts like multi-purpose facilities. Let’s instead begin with location. Let’s really understand potential community development sites and whether they are worth investment.
History of the Moose rink
The legacy of the Moose turns out to be quite interesting. We have been skating together here for almost a hundred years. It all began with the Gray family.
The Gray family of SE Hill. Esplanade Archives. (Thanks to Philip Pype, city archivist, for his help with this research.)
The Gray family was a normal size for its time. William and Molly had eight children—seven boys including two sets of twins and one girl. They lived at 8 Aberdeen Street SE where Aberdeen Street awkwardly meets 6th Street SE next to Safeway. The original house still stands there today.
This was a family of high achievers.
Their lone daughter, Helen, put Medicine Hat on the map when she was chosen to represent Canada by Paramount Pictures of Hollywood in the 1934 film Search for Beauty.
Molly Gray was named ‘Mother of the Year’ during World War II when six of her seven sons joined the armed forces. Walter was too young.
Ken, their third child, was killed in action fighting with the RCAF over Belgium in 1943.
Both sets of twins (Ted & William, Robert & Richard) served in the war. Ted rising to the rank of Major.
Richard became a well known hockey player. He went on to coach the Lethbridge Maple Leafs eventually taking his team to Europe where they won the World Hockey Championship for Canada in 1950.
Walter, the youngest, had a long career in journalism that began with the Medicine Hat News, followed by the Calgary Albertan, the Canadian Press News Agency, the Globe and Mail, and the Toronto Star. His obituary tells one anecdote when Walter sang with the governor general and Margaret Atwood at a party.
The Grays could field a hockey team on their own. From left to right: Ken (killed in WWII), Ted, Robert, Richard, William Jr., Don, and Walter (seated). Esplanade Archives.
Their contributions to the SE Hill came when William and Molly’s children were still young. For much of the 1930s the Grays built and maintained an outdoor, regulation-sized hockey rink beside their family home. Their rink was open to anyone. They received public recognition and appreciation for their efforts. The rink was a centre of community activity during the dark winter months. A place of great fun and memories during the difficult years of the Great Depression. Under William’s leadership Medicine Hat’s first midget hockey program was started.
The Gray rink eventually gave way to a city outdoor rink built across the street. In 1980 it was covered as we presently see it. All started by the Grays.
Centre of SE Hill
The Moose rink and Hill Pool sit in the centre of the SE Hill neighbourhood. The east side is flanked by a neighbourhood commercial area. Division Safeway is the main neighbourhood grocery store. To the west side is Medicine Hat High School, the city’s largest high school. Every noon hundreds of students wander from Hat High, past the Moose, down to Safeway or Farro’s Pizza for lunch. It’s quite the daily migration.
Box Springs Business Park is still considered by some to be a better location for another rink. The contrast between the warmth of this site and Box Springs couldn't be starker.
Culture and economics flourish when people have places to gather. Communities are organic places where people live, work and play. Yes, there are restaurants in Box Springs and Co-op Place, but visiting is transactional in a way that the Moose location isn’t. This is because people don’t live in Box Springs, nor can they. Residential development is prohibited due to the danger of the Canadian Fertilizer plant exploding.
The Moose represents a century of grassroots community activity. Co-op Place represents a top-down attempt to build community from scratch in an industrial park.
Maximizing rink use
One of the challenges to efficient use of city ice rinks is scheduling. There is lots of demand for ice time at peak times in the evenings. The rest of the day is often empty. The adjacency of the city’s largest high school holds the potential to vastly increase use. Considering that transportation time is a major constraint for educators, the fact that we have this community resource next door is awesome.
Destination ice rinks makes sense for hockey. The amount of equipment required means that players usually drive to rinks. But hockey isn’t the only activity at ice rinks. I skate at the Moose during the Kinsmen free skate. I’ve walked to the Moose to skate. Walkability is a factor to consider.
The location of the Moose next to Hat High balances the scales when comparing purely on net operating cost. Building new rinks far from existing neighbourhoods, like Mayor Clugston is proposing, exacerbates the existing challenge facing administrators in maximizing usage.
Redevelopment of the Moose site
I object to the term ‘end of life’ when speaking about the Moose. It is a loaded, meaningless term. There is no such thing for buildings. There is only the choice of whether to reinvest or redevelop. But recognizing the serious financial constraints of the city I can accept that the rink might close for good.
Mature neighbourhoods are an interesting puzzle. We’re constantly moving schools and recreational facilities to new neighbourhoods. When those neighbourhoods age, we tear down and move again. I understand the need to locate in close proximity to families, but there’s something inefficient about this cycle. What do healthy aging neighbourhoods look like?
Neighbourhoods depend on things like grocery stores and schools. The SE Hill has two great anchors in Safeway and Hat High. Sustaining this vibrant neighbourhood depends on keeping them. Regardless of what happens to the Moose—the property it sits on is vital to this neighbourhood.