THUNDER BAY – The Thunder Bay North Stars will be back on familiar ice on Friday night.
The City of Thunder Bay has confirmed it will partially open Fort William Gardens, at the behest of city council, and expects to have it fully open for use in January.
“The Gardens did open on Dec. 1 on a limited basis. The main reason for that is because of our staffing challenges,” said Kelly Robertson, the city’s general manager of community services.
“To operate in a COVID-19 context and to reopen safely, there’s a need for additional staff that we never needed before, primarily staff to support the active screening and help us with disinfection at a higher standard than what was needed previously.”
Robertson said they have made some progress on the hiring front, but still have a ways to go before being ready to be fully operational.
“We’ve hired about 20 screen and cleaner positions. We also had some full-time vacancies that we needed to complete and I think that’s well under way,” Robertson said.
“In order to get back to a full reopening of the Fort William Gardens, in addition to the five other arenas, we need to hire approximately another 20 staff to meet the requirements for a more extended operating schedule.”
At present, the Gardens is open Monday to Thursday evenings, accommodating three key groups that previously called the arena home.
“We’ve been adhering to the city’s ice allocation policy to provide priority access to the Fort William Gardens,” Robertson said. “We’ve also been able to secure staff to support North Stars games that are happening later this week.”
The Stars (0-2-0) are slated to host the Kam River Fighting Walleye (2-0-0) to kick off their regular season home schedule on Friday and Saturday night.
“There’s (also) some hours on Sunday afternoon that we’re able to operate,” Robertson said, adding it’s in addition to trying to maintain operating hours at the city’s other five arenas.
Last month city council ignored the advice of administration, which recommended against opening the Gardens, which closed in March with the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic. At the time, Robertson said Current River, Delaney, Port Arthur, Grandview and Neebing arenas were more than sufficient to meet the demand for ice in Thunder Bay, which was down about 2,000 hours over last year.
However, in the interim, Fort William First Nation closed its twin pads after COVID-19 made it’s way to the community.
Robertson said it’s too soon to tell the impact the closure might have on demand at Thunder Bay rinks. The Thunder Bay Kings call the Fort William First Nation Arena home.
“That wasn’t anticipated. That wasn’t planned for. That could mean any group that would have had access to that ice are trying to access additional ice and that may be causing some pent-up demand for ice right now,” Robertson said.
She cautioned it’s costing the city more to operate, so any additional rentals may not bring in enough revenue to offset the additional expense of opening the Gardens, especially not knowing how long the Fort William First Nation Arena will be closed.
Robertson added several requests are from people with ice at satellite arenas looking to move their time to the Gardens, which cuts revenue at the other rinks.
“At the end of the day, that doesn’t result in any new revenue for the system, it’s just moving ice rentals from one facility to another.”
While the rink may be open, the concession booths will remain closed.
