For more than a century, winter life in Grosse Isle has revolved around a sheet of outdoor ice — and on Jan. 31, the community gathered to celebrate its next chapter.
Residents, volunteers and local dignitaries turned out on a snowy evening for the grand opening of the new warm-up shack at the Grosse Isle Outdoor Rink (ODR), a project that honours both the rink’s deep history and the volunteer spirit that has sustained it since the 1920s.
Brooke Darragh, president of the Grosse Isle Hall and Recreation Club, welcomed guests and thanked the many individuals, organizations and donors who helped bring the long-awaited project to completion.
The evening also included a look back at the rink’s origins, shared by longtime resident Susan Lindsay, who wove together memories passed down from community members including George Bond, Ron Fraser, Helen Harris, Jim Lindsay and Glen Lefley.
According to Susan Lindsay, the rink was originally built beside the school, with a barn forming one side of the enclosure. The barn housed horses used to pull the school bus sleigh, as well as horses ridden by students travelling to class in winter.
Maintaining the ice in those early years was labour-intensive. Water was drawn by hand from a pump-jack well, hauled to the rink by horse-drawn sleigh and poured onto the ice. At night, lanterns hung from nearby trees provided lighting.
Despite the work involved, the rink quickly became a hub of activity. Local hockey teams were formed, and spirited rivalries developed with teams from Rosser and Winnipeg, which regularly travelled to Grosse Isle to play.
A major change came in 1953, when a fire destroyed the original barn. A new shack was built along the north side of the rink, allowing skaters to step directly onto the ice.
While a gas-powered pump later replaced the hand-operated well, flooding still involved hauling tubs of water by sleigh. Water was heated over a wood fire in a 45-gallon drum, then slid across the ice on skids.
Electricity arrived in 1956, marking another turning point. Flooding hoses could be run directly from the school, and electric lights replaced lanterns overhead.
In the late 1950s, an old caboose was repurposed as a warm-up shack. Inside, a pot-belly stove provided heat — sometimes too much heat, Lindsay recalled, notorious for shrinking leather mitts.
Snow removal was also a community effort, with families and friends shovelling and scraping the ice by hand until a tractor eventually made the job easier.
By 1969, the caboose was moved to make way for a new building equipped with electric heat and lighting. A community walk-a-thon helped raise funds for the upgrade.
For years, volunteers continued to drag hoses across the ice to flood it, until the Rosser Fire Department began assisting with a water truck in the 1980s, reducing the workload and improving ice quality.
“The shack and rink have been the hub of winter activity in the community,” Lindsay said.
From hockey games and family skating to winter carnivals and school use, the ODR has long served as a gathering place for generations of residents.
What sets the rink apart, she added, is its enduring culture of volunteerism.
“Every year people show up to help repair and maintain things — to create and flood the ice, clear snow, donate equipment and simply donate their time to something that generations have enjoyed,” Lindsay said, becoming emotional. “We are very proud of this new facility.”
The upgraded rink now includes a warm-up building with in-floor heat, improved lighting, new boards and fencing, and a garage space for the tractor and flooder.
Darragh said the project would not have been possible without the dedication of key volunteers, singling out Monica Baldwin for her leadership.
“She has spent endless hours coordinating everything and being the liaison between the committee and the contractors,” Darragh said.
MLA for Lakeside Trevor King, who has personal ties to the community, brought greetings on behalf of the Manitoba Legislature and congratulated the recreation committee. King said he spent much of his childhood on the outdoor rink and praised the group for seeing the project through.
RM of Rosser Reeve Ken Mulligan and RM of Rockwood Reeve Wes Taplin also offered congratulations, commending the community’s collaboration and generosity.
“This is what community can do when they get together and all have the same views, the same vision and the same ideas,” Taplin said.
Baldwin, speaking humbly, said the committee remains deeply grateful to the volunteers who helped build the facility and those who continue to maintain it.
“The project would not have been possible without the funding and donations received from grants, local businesses and community members,” she said.
The project received an $85,000 grant from the Arts, Culture and Sport in Community Fund, with additional major funding from the RMs of Rosser and Rockwood. A community donor drive initially set a goal of $25,000 and has since raised more than $50,000.
“While we are very grateful for the financial contributions, money alone does not complete a project like this,” Darragh said. “It is the countless hours by many hard-working volunteers that see a project like this come together.”
She also acknowledged Jim Lindsay for his instrumental role in completing the project.
“It takes a village to make a project like this complete,” she said. “We remember our past volunteers, present volunteers and future volunteers who will keep this facility going.”
During the ceremony, Fallon Campbell paid tribute to longtime community member Chuck Lefley, who died earlier in the week.
“Chuck was the kind of person that truly embodied what this rink represents — connection, tradition and the love of the game,” she said. “As a kid he skated right here, and that passion stayed with him his entire life.”
She said Lefley’s spirit would always remain part of the ice.
Donations to support the Grosse Isle ODR can be made by e-transfer to grosseislefinance@gmail.com.
