City Rinks (Toronto)
The Unofficial Website of Toronto's Outdoor Rinks
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TORONTO STAR, JANUARY 3 1958: "It is true that the parks department operates 58 natural ice rinks for skating and 23 for hockey - or will do so, if and when there is enough frost. For all the freezing weather we get here most winters, the department might as well spare the trouble and expense, and get on with the job of multiplying the number of artificial ice rinks."
(And they did!)
Click on poster to enlarge it
wood stove at DufferinContact
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posted September 29, 2007
Note: These are brochures for 2009-2010.
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Grenadier PondCustodians:
You are on the [City needs to chill out] page of folder [City Rinks (Home)]
For the cover page of this folder go to the Natural Ice Rinks
This page is only a fragment. It may grow. All natural ice rinks are built and maintained by volunteers. An intriguing bit of history: According to a city-sponsored outdoor rink report, in 2000/2001, there were still 97 municipally-operated natural ice rinks in Toronto: 23 in Etobicoke, 47 in Toronto, 16 in North York, and 11 in Scarborough.
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Wychwood Barns Natural Ice Rink
Thursday January 1 2009
The natural ice rink at the Wychwood Barns is huge, but still has some little bumps of dirt showing through. Councillor Mihevc happens to be walking by, and he's willing to pose by the rink. He says he's just on his way to the house of one of the main rink builders. "It's a lot of work."
Councillor Joe Mihevc at Wychwood Rink - January 1
the view from far
Saturday January 3
By the time of the farmers' market two days later, the protrusions of dirt have disappeared, and a lot of the rink looks skateable.
this rink is big, and on January 3, skateable
happy skaters
Grenadier Pond
Peter Kuitenbrouwer, writing on the National Post web site, January 4 2009:
This morning at 10 a.m. I became the first person of the season, as far as I know, to skate on Grenadier Pond. Every year I watch the thermometer, waiting for the conditions to be right. When the temperature drops, and others curse, I cheer, because the pond is freezing up! Just before Christmas the kids and I went to check on it: we stood on the little deck that overlooks the pond, peeled small sheets of ice off the wood planks and skittered them across its frozen surface. It looked frozen. But I put the tip of my boot on the ice at the edge and I plunged through. So we waited.
But with the cold snap we've had since the new year, I had a feeling the pond would be okay. In the quiet still of the morning, having parked by the Colbourne Lodge, I slid down the hill through the woods, dampening the seat of my jeans, to reach the shore. I looked. About 5 cm of powdery snow covers the pond. In the snow I saw dog prints and, more promising, the tracks of a cross-country skier. I laced up my CCMs and took off the skate guards. And I took the plunge.
Ice report: the snow has a tiny crust, and in places the wind has traced ripples on the snow. Under the snow, the ice is a little bit bumpy in parts. The snow is thin enough that I could skate across the pond without shoveling it. However, I'd recommend you take a shovel and clear off a speed-skating oval or, more importantly, a hockey rink. It may be a bit bumpy; even so, it is, as always, Toronto's best skating option..... Grenadier is a sheet of perfect, natural glass. And no tax dollars were spent making it so. So get out there, skate, ignore the city's "Ice Unsafe" signs, and happy new year.
Grenadier Pond, Toronto Archives
Grenadier Pond, Toronto Archives
Sorauren Park
Saturday January 10 2009, e-mail from Doug Bennett
"FYI volunteer crews have created 2 natural ice rinks at Sorauren Park this year. They opened for business today. They are flooded every night by volunteers. The City installed a new 1"-wide hose bib in the Sorauren Park Fieldhouse specifically for rink flooding, and provided hoses. Since we can keep them in the Fieldhouse, building the rink is much more feasible than in previous years, when hoses froze in outdoor sheds, and water access was through fire hydrants. The wrenches to open the hydrants often froze and broke.
"The weather this year has cooperated to make the rinks possible. No boards, but the City has plowed the two rectangles. One is on a ball diamond, the other in the outfield. The two rinks are connected by "ice bridges" to make a bit of an oval."
I hope to post a pic and short video on www.SoraurenPark.com.
Doug Shepherd coordinates the flood crew
West skating pad
East skating pad
field house in background
shinny hockey January 11 (Doug Bennett)
From Doug Bennett: "Natural ice rinks come together at Sorauren when the stars align (weather, volunteer forces, City help). Shovelling today!"
group photo from last year (Doug Bennett)
flooding (Doug Bennett)
Monday January 12 from Doug Bennett:
As the rink becomes more popular (lots of use today, and some kids show up at 6 am before school!) there is talk of setting up hot chocolate stands etc. on the weekends if we can muster the volunteer forces. If it stays cold enough long enough (looking good at this point) I think we can pull it together.
FRIENDLY PRESS RELEASE (from Doug Bennett)
3 March 2009
Sorauren Park natural-ice rink outlasts most City artificial rinks
Roncesvalles Village/Parkdale: Thanks to Mother Nature, helpful crews at the City of Toronto Parks Forestry and Recreation, and particularly the unceasing efforts of a volunteer rink flooding crew, the natural ice rink at Sorauren Park is Ward 14 is outlasting most City of Toronto artificial outdoor rinks this year.
After many years without a rink at the park, the stars aligned this year to have two rinks at the park, connected by two "ice bridges". The recent February thaw spelled the demise of the little rink, but the bigger rink was saved and has been in use this week.
The rink has been flooded every single night, and some mornings, since early January by volunteer crews dubbed "the rink elves" by some rink users who wonder who comes out at night to mysteriously scrape and flood the rink. The rinks have brought joy to hundreds of people of all ages in the neighbourhood.
A rink video shot in January can be seen here: www.soraurenpark.com/rink.html
All artificial outdoor city rinks were slated to close on March 1, with the exception of 14 high-traffic rinks including Nathan Phillips Square, Dufferin Grove and Rennie Rink.
For more information, please contact rink crew chief Douglas Shepherd at Douglas@saskiadesigns.com or call 416-530-1962.
Wabash Building Society www.soraurenpark.com
Link to Sorauren Park natural ice rink for 2010 season, January and February
www.soraurenpark.com/rink.html
In the Media:
posted on January 14, 2010
A glimmer of reason on skating ban
By: Peter Kuitenbrouwer
Published: January 14, 2010
Source: National PostIn deciding the other day not to seek re-election, veteran city councillor Kyle Rae (Toronto Centre-Rosedale) blasted the can't-do attitude at City Hall -- particularly bureaucrats who are "more interested in risk management than delivery of programs."
Case in point: the city's Activities on Frozen Open Bodies of Water Policy, a dumb document produced by a risk-management culture. The policy -- which council never saw -- bans all skating on city ponds, forevermore.
posted on January 14, 2010
City parks chief wants skating on ponds, no matter what bureaucrats say
By: Kuitenbrouwer
Published: January 13, 2010
Source: National PostToronto parks department bureaucrats permanently banned all skating on city ponds without consulting any elected city officials, Councillor Paula Fletcher, the parks chief, said yesterday.
Ms. Fletcher (Toronto-Danforth) and the committee’s vice-chair, Karen Stintz (Eglinton-Lawrence), believe the ban on pond skating is wrong, and plan to bring the topic to the Parks and Environment meeting at City Hall this morning. Ms. Fletcher suggested yesterday people should continue ignoring the signs, as long as they believe the ice is safe.
posted on January 12, 2010
City needs to chill out
By: Peter Kuitenbrouwer
Published: Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Source: National PostToronto's biggest skating rink is now (unofficially) open for your winter pleasure.
Please ignore the City of Toronto's yellow plastic signs, fastened to trees and posts around Grenadier Pond in High Park, which read, "Danger. Ice unsafe. Keep off. Municipal Code #608."
The affirmation on these signs is false, as hundreds proved this past weekend when we piled onto the city's largest pond. Some cross-country skied. Some walked dogs. A photographer from a community newspaper got on to take pictures. One young man who had a thick Russian accent brought an ice drill and bored eight holes (the ice is about 25 cm thick) and sat down on his cooler to fish.
Content last modified on April 18, 2010, at 02:34 PM EST