NEEBING — Outdoor rinks in Neebing will receive significant upgrades with assistance from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund Corporation.
Thunder Bay-Atikokan MPP Kevin Holland, the parliamentary assistant to Northern Development Minister Greg Rickford, announced $650,000 on Wednesday for improvements to the Blake Hall Community Centre arena near Highway 61 and the Alf Olsen Memorial Park outdoor arena on Highway 597.
The Blake Hall rink will get a metal roof, new boards, a concrete surface, an accessible entrance and lighting.
These improvements will extend the outdoor skating season by six weeks and facilitate the holding of community events during the summer such as vendor fairs, dances and sporting events.
At the Alf Olsen arena, a concrete surface and lighting will be added, thereby extending the skating season by three weeks and creating new recreational opportunities during the summer.
"$650 thousand for a community of 2,300 people is just super. We can do wonders with that, and we intend to," said Neebing councillor and deputy mayor Brian Wright. "We're going to engage the public and get people more interested in the community, hopefully, and go from there."
Wright said he expects the two projects will help bring community members together.
Holland described the improvements coming to the Blake Hall rink "a game-changer."
Neebing will celebrate the hall's 100th anniversary next year, and Holland said he has already been talking to municipal officials about potential funding opportunities for additional improvements at the site.
