Location

South of York Quay Centre
235 Queens Quay West, Toronto. See Satellite Map
416-973-4866

Links

Harbourfront Centre's Natrel Rink

Skate rental

See Schedule tab

City Councillor

The City Councillor for this rink is Councillor McConnell

This rink is not operated by the City of Toronto

Harbourfront Natrel Rink Profile

200 hp compressor power plus 50 hp brine pump

Rink change area: Locker rooms with plenty of seating and skate rental area. Clean, simple. There are rubber mats leading to a restaurant above the change rooms, with a big selection of foods. Many people change outside on benches or sitting on the long ledge that surrounds the rink. Phone: 416-973-4866

Staff: Polite and attentive.

Maintenance: Excellent. Olympia ice resurfacer goes on the ice frequently. Webcam

Public Skating and shinny hockey:

Pleasure-skating: All the time during open hours.

Note: DJ Skate Saturday Nights starting on December 4 (8 to 11 pm). Here's the lineup.

Shinny hockey:

Only after the rink change area closes late at night (there's no fence around this rink).

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Comments about this rink: e-mail us at rinkissues@cityrinks.ca.

Opening and closing dates:

Opened: Nov.17 2012
Closes: TBA

Harbourfront Rink Diary 2012 - 2013

January 12, 2013

January thaw time, lots of happy skaters

January thaw time -- lovely and warm (12 degrees) at 2 pm, no water on the ice, lots of skaters.

Later, at 10 pm, the rink was unbelievably packed with skaters (DJ night). At the same time, twelve City of Toronto rinks were closed due to the weather. Strange.

January 13, 2013

At 8.30 am it's raining and the zamboni is clearing the water off the ice. There has been no rain for a few hours, and the sun even came out for a brief while - the rink is still wet on the webcam but the zamboni is on the ice, taking water off.

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Views of the rink

Schedule 2011-2012

Here is the link to Harbourfront's hours of operation Harbourfront website/ hours of operations, but be sure to select Natrel Rink on the left (the page automatically takes you to York Quay Centre's hours).

Hours of operation:

posted on December 09, 2009

Synthetic ice means year round skating at Harbourfront Centre

New Toronto rink has eco-friendly and cost-effective benefits

By: Nicole Mcisaac
Published: 04 December 2009
Source: The Daily Planet

Harbourfront centre in downtown Toronto is installing a synthetic ice rink that will not only last 20 years, but will allow for summer skating. Robert Hodichak, Artifical Grass and Landscaping (AGL) sales rep said there is a 98 per cent resemblance to real ice.

AGL is the company that is installing the polyolefin rink today. The compressed plastic comes in one by two metre panels that have a tongue-and-groove construction and a notched hole that will keep the panels in place and prevent expansion or shifting.

Read more >>

Harbourfront Rink Diary 2012 - 2013

January 12, 2013

January thaw time, lots of happy skaters

January thaw time -- lovely and warm (12 degrees) at 2 pm, no water on the ice, lots of skaters.

Later, at 10 pm, the rink was unbelievably packed with skaters (DJ night). At the same time, twelve City of Toronto rinks were closed due to the weather. Strange.

January 13, 2013

At 8.30 am it's raining and the zamboni is clearing the water off the ice. There has been no rain for a few hours, and the sun even came out for a brief while - the rink is still wet on the webcam but the zamboni is on the ice, taking water off.

Read More >>

Harbourfront Rink Diary 2011 - 2012

Saturday Dec.3 2011

At 40 minutes after midnight there are 8-10 people skating around, looking really fast and lively.

Sunday Dec.11 2011

big city skating

Harbourfront was so busy it looked like it would be hard to shoehorn in one more person at the skate rental room. Out on the ice people looked like they were having a really good time. There were two mobile News vehicles parked at either side -- so pretty soon there would be even more people getting the bright idea to come skating.

Overhead there were planes landing and taking off at Porter Airlines. At the other extreme -- there was a big old wooden sailing ship tied up just east of the rink.

The ice was too crowded to do a lot of fancy moves, but it seemed like the point of the outing for many skaters was more social anyway. Everywhere there were little circles of people standing around chatting.

Overheard afterwards, at Canadian Tire, while in the skate sharpening lineup for new skates: "Where do you skate?" "At the Harbourfront." "Are you a good skater?" "No, only three time" -- and here the newcomer's supply of English words was exhausted. But his smiling gestures made it evident that he was now determined to go back to the rink with his brand new skates until he mastered the art.

beautiful late-afternoon light

skate rentals

Dec.30 2011

looking west

looking east

rink guard in orange

From rink user Rafael Lewis, taken during his lunch break: It was a foggy day, but it gave the rink a nice ambience. There were a lot of skaters (mostly teens and older) and there was one rink guard (visible in one of my pics - she was in orange). There was one bench that the rubber mats did not extend to (which ironically was the only bench available for me to change into my skates on due to the crowds). However aside from that minor inconvenience, it was a fun time!

Saturday January 14 2012

At five minutes to midnight, and minus 14 celsius, the webcam shows four skaters skating really fast around the ice. Beautiful.

January 21, 2012

From rink user Rafael Lewis,

Lunar Dj Skate Night at the Harbourfront Centre last night. The place was packed with mostly teenagers. There was a volunteer handing out flashing blue LED lights that skaters were attaching around their necks. There was also a sign saying that a photographer would be taking pics of the event. At times it felt like traffic was crawling, but overall it was a good time with good music and a great atmosphere.

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Diary 2010 - 2011
Diary 2008-2009
Diary 2007 - 2008
Diary 2006 - 2007
Diary 2005 - 2006