Tyne Valley begins work on new arena

Ground has been broken for the new sports centre in Tyne Valley, and the community is excited to finally start the process of having a rink again.

Mayor Jeff Noye says things are progressing well already.

"Just to see that ground turning over is a great feeling for sure," he said. "All of the old fill has been taken out and new shale put in and compacted."

The old rink burned down in December of 2019, and Noye is grateful that work has been able to begin relatively soon, given the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It's been really good, our turnaround time … especially with what is going on with the world today. You know, it really hasn't slowed us down too much," he said.

Following the fire, there was a massive community push to have the rink funded through the Kraft Hockeyville contest. The community fell short of nabbing the grand prize, but did end up with the $25,000 runner-up prize.

The federal, provincial and local governments are partnering to fund the rest of the $10.3-million project. Ottawa is chipping in $3.9 million, the province is putting up $3.3 million and the municipally is contributing $3.1 million.

"Our goal overall is to have a new facility up and ready to go for Oyster Festival next year — if we can have one," Noye said.

Noye said there are still two more tenders to come on the project and he isn't sure what the final budget will be.

"We don't have an exact number of how much we have to fundraise yet, but we will have that hopefully in the next month," he said.

When the rink does finally reopen, Noye said there will be some changes.

"The ice surface will be the biggest part. We had quite a bit of a smaller ice surface in Tyne Valley, but we will be going to an official NHL size," he said, adding that a fitness centre is also part of the project.

Noye said the community had a long winter last year without the rink and people are excited to see the work beginning.

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