Some of my favorite winter memories as a child are of skating at the local rink. Now that my son is three, I’m really looking forward to taking him out and teaching him how to skate.
Growing up in a small town, we only had a few options for leisure skating. Calgary, on the other hand, has a wealth of options to choose from both indoors and outdoors. CSA-approved helmets are recommended for all public skaters, and are required for kids at some rinks. Although there are some exceptions, most rinks do not allow baby strollers, shoes, skating-aids or hockey sticks during public skating.
Indoor skating
There are many skating rinks available for public skating throughout the city at both City and community-run arenas and leisure centres. Many rinks only take cash and not all have skate rentals available.
The City of Calgary has public skating in multiple arenas, as well as the Village Square and Southland Leisure Centres. The Leisure Centres begin public skating first in the fall and both offer daily public skating times. The Southland Leisure Centre also has skate rentals and a family skate time where strollers are allowed on the ice. The other City arenas begin public skating October 1st. All public skating participants are required to wear skates. For more information, visit calgary.ca/CSPS/Recreation/Pages/Arenas/Public-skating-shinny-hockey-schedule.aspx#publicskate.
There are also a number of community-owned rinks and other recreation centres in Calgary, most of which offer public skating as well. Your local arena will have public skating times listed on their website, community bulletin or at the arena.
Westside Recreation (2000 - 69 Street SW) offers one of the only indoor ice skating facilities in Calgary that does not double as a hockey rink. Public skating is offered throughout the day and features fire pits in the winter. For more information, visit www.westsiderec.com.
The Olympic Oval (located at the University of Calgary) offers a truly unique public skating experience. The Oval was built for the 1988 Winter Olympics and is still in use today for Olympic training. One lap is over 400 metres! A few times a day, the Oval is open for public skating. This track was used in the Olympics for long track speed skating and two full-size hockey rinks fit inside. Hockey and speed skating rentals are available. For more information, visit www.oval.ucalgary.ca.
Outdoor skating
Outdoor rinks run by volunteers are surprisingly common in Calgary as well. There are more than 30 outdoor hockey arenas and many communities also maintain an outdoor rink each winter. Many communities have boards for hockey rinks and will often have a second ice surface, with no boards, for pleasure skating. These are weather-dependent, but typically open in mid-December. The City of Calgary also runs five outdoor rinks at Prairie Winds Park, Big Marlborough Park, the Bowness Lagoon, Prince’s Island Park Lagoon and Olympic Plaza.
Olympic Plaza (downtown - 228, 8 Avenue SE) offers the only refrigerated ice surface in the city and so opens earlier and closes later than the other outdoor rinks (typically late November to mid-March). There are also washrooms on-site. For more information, visit www.calgary.ca/CSPS/Parks/Pages/Locations/Downtown-parks/Olympic-Plaza.aspx.
The City started offering public skating on Prince’s Island Park Lagoon (4 Street and 1 Avenue SW - just north of Eau Claire Market along the river) in 2010. Skating with lights and music are offered throughout the day.
Heritage Park (1900 Heritage Drive SW) also offers skating outdoors on an artificial, melt-proof ice surface. The rink is located just before the gates at the Towne Square and is free of charge. For more information, www.visit heritagepark.ca.
Enjoy the ice and encourage healthy living in Calgary!
Dana spends her free time seeking out the best indoor and outdoor places to play in Calgary with her son and blogging about them. For more information, visit www.calgaryplaygroundreview.com.
Calgary’s Child Magazine © 2024 Calgary’s Child
