Penticton may still get its outdoor skating rink.
Staff at the Penticton Lakeside Resort announced Tuesday the hotel has purchased the equipment required for a fully lit rink with an artificial ice surface about nine metres wide and 15 metres long.
An NHL-sized rink is approximately 26 metres wide and 60 metres long.
Brannigan Boyd, the resort’s director of sales and marketing, said the ice plant works in temperatures of 8 C or cooler, meaning it could be up and running by November 2015. The unit is currently being tested at resort manager David Prystay’s home, she added.
The rink is expected to be placed on the resort’s private Okanagan Lake beach, which will have to be levelled.
Boyd noted the beach is licensed, so staff is considering serving food and drinks at the rink, and will likely to open it up to the public along with hotel guests, although nothing is finalized yet.
Tarik Sayeed, a newly elected city councillor, mused publicly about an outdoor rink in downtown Penticton during budget talks in December, prompting a mainly positive response. That public sentiment played into the hotel’s plans, Boyd confirmed.
“There’s been a lot of talk about it, so obviously that was one touchpoint, but it’s something that David had always kind of wanted to do,” she said.
“A lot of people were saying how much they would love it, so he just decided to go forward and give it a shot.”