Winter may be drifting out of mind as temperatures warm in March, but unless Mother Nature plans on skipping a year, it will be back come December.

And so, too, will Portage la Prairie's public outdoor rinks.

Winter recreation in Portage la Prairie will have additional support from the city with the creation of a new half position in the 2017 budget. While just a minor line in the budget at about $20,000, the issue of winter recreation sparked debate among councillors in late 2016 when a request for additional financial support was first brought to council.

“Getting this done is huge because we actually saw the process start to fail and break down a little bit this year,” says Coun. Ryan Espey. “Now that we have some relief and we're able to move forward with this, it's a huge relief we're not just going to lose what we have. We can actually build on it.”

“...It's a huge win for the community.”

In Nov. 2016, Portage Community Revitalization Corporation (PCRC) asked the city for additional funds to help maintain outdoor rinks created by community volunteers at Prosvita Park and North East Park. PCRC also looked to build two additional outdoor rinks, citing the importance of winter recreation to the community while pointing to the lack of support provided by the city in comparison to other Manitoba communities of similar size.

PCRC asked council to support the efforts of volunteers by hiring additional labour to help build and maintain outdoor rinks. The major challenge in building the north end rinks annually is supply water. It has to be hauled in to create the ice surfaces. Coun. Espey was outspoken in his support of the rinks, and warned if no financial support came, they would likely be lost.

Council ended up approving an $8,500 grant for PCRC to use for winter recreation initiatives at its discretion, amid calls by Espey for the creation of a part-time position by the city to aide in rink-building, maintenance and other winter activities.

Mayor Irvine Ferris says the issue was discussed in budget deliberations and eventually council decided the volunteers needed additional support to keep the rinks appearing each year.

“Whether they could keep doing this (work) year-after-year, we weren't sure,” Mayor Irvine Ferris says. “To see this thing go ahead, obviously we had to put some funding towards it.”

Espey says the new half position will have access to city equipment, thus solving the issue of hauling water to build the north end rinks. City administration says all the details of the new position aren't yet finalized.

See related stories:
“City Funds Needed For Outdoor Rinks”

“Outdoor Rink Funding Sparks Debate Among Council”