Local Rink a Community Effort
By Briana Shymanski
It’s only October in Mortlach, Saskatchewan. The combines are still out in the fields and the leaves have just begun to fall from the tress. But there’s still no ice in the Mortlach rink. It will remain dark and warm until snow flies.
It’s a typical prairie rink. It houses one ice skating sheet and three curling ice sheets. Worm, wooden benches line the lobby, trophy cases and team pictures dating back to the Sixties are covered in a fine layer of dust, and the domed roof gives it the appearance of a glorifed quoncet.
However, what makes it a true small - town Saskatchewan rink are the black garbage bags that cocupy a third of the lobby and the cases of empty beer bottles that line the opposite wall.
Mortlach is the type of village where the people rely on each other for business, for help on the farm. It’s not different when it comes to fundraisers. the garbage bags and bozes are the product of the town’s biannual bottle drive, the rink’s most popular fundraiser. According to Colleen Campbell, one of the rink’s managers, the bottle drive is just as appreciated by the townsfolk as it is by the rink. “a lot of people don’t like Sarcan. they don’t like having their feet stick to the floor,” she says.
This give and take relationship is what keeps the rink running. While other rinks in larger centres rely on taxpayers’ money for repairs, staff, and maintenance, villages like Mortlach rely on volumteers and fundraisers. It’s a point that Campbell stresses. “(Volunteers are) all we have. We put the ice in, we’re the ones who clean it, flip burgers, clean toilers. Everything."
Volunteering seems to be a running theme in the rink’s history. Built by village volunteers starting in 1964, it was officially opened in April 1965.
And volunteering isn’t exclusive to the younger families who use the rink on a consistent basis. Instead, some of the most dedicated volunteers are retired. “We have a lot of retired people in the community that took it upon themselves to go and gather up (scrap metal),” Campbell says. “They’ve probably spent over $200 on gas driving to Moose Jaw for scrap metal and no one asked them to. It was just how they could help.”
The scrap metal Campbell refers to is a new fundraiser that is geared toward replacing the runk’s roof. Silver Star Salvage in Moose Jaw is currently donating $100 a tonne to the rink’s roof fund for any scrap metal that is recycled with the company, for which the town is grateful. Campbell notes that the amount of money that will be raised for the rink wouldn’t have been possible otherwise. At least, not in the same amount of time.
It’s ironic how the Mortlach rink suffers due to the pull and resources of the larger cities, and yet a city - based salvaging company is providing the rink with a substantial donation. The answer to the irony, Campbell says, is a personal connection. The man that is organizing the recycling project was born and raised just outside of Mortlach.
There is a greater sense of community within towns like Mortlach thanks to volunteers, but evenutally large undertakings, like running a rink, take their toll.
It’s no secret that small towns struggle to keep young people in the community. with a population of just over 300, less than a third of Mortlach residents were under the age of 18, according to a 2006 census. It makes organizing a competitive hockey team difficult, and Campbell, a hockey mom herself, understands that it’s not exactly an issue that can be controlled.
“Unfortunately, communities are shrinking. Now, we just don’t have enough kids to make a hockey team, so most of our kids play all of their hockey in Moose Jaw,” she says. While it might sound disheartening to an ourside, it has almost become the norm in Mortlach. “We’re getting so used to driving, whether it’s to Moose Jaw or Caronport, you kind of go, ‘Oh well.’”
Another challenge is the mounting utility bills. Fundraisers and the comparably small fee that the townspeople pay to use the facilities work to keep it running, but only go so far. and it’s not the only group in town that relies on donations and colunteers, which makes giving equally difficult without competing.
Still, the rink remains a source of pride within the community, and it’s a pride that has been handed down from generation to generation since the rink opened. The Boss family has seen five gerenations pass through the rink’s managing committee,starting with Bill Boss sr. in 1965 and continuing on to his great - grandson, who sits on the current committee.
It’s the legacy of a town landmark woven together with family legacies. In other words, it’s typical small town Saskatchewan.
