Lucas Punkari
When the Fort Frances Curling Club begins its ice-making process for the 2011/12 season, it all will be started by a simple flick of the switch.
After receiving a $250,000 grant from the Northern Ontario Heritage Fund, and being given the go-ahead by club members at a meeting Monday night, the club will be purchasing and installing a geo-thermal energy system to upgrade its heating and cooling system.
“We are absolutely pumped about this,” enthused FFCC president Ron MacKinnon.
“This is going to be used for our ice, our heating and cooling, our air conditioning, our hot water, and to help in cooling our two walk-in coolers,” he noted.
“Plus as part of this project, we’re also going to be changing our lighting on the ice, as well.”
The project will be the first of its kind in this area, although MacKinnon said it has been used in a number of rural areas in Manitoba.
“The arenas that I have talked to have had nothing but praise,” he stressed.
“One arena that I talked to has made $14,000 in savings this year alone, and they are really starting to reap the benefits.”
The project, led by head engineer Andrew Brooks of Kenora and head designer Brent Laufer from Manitoba, is slated to get started Aug. 15 after the curling club worked around the dates of a couple of summer weddings.
“We certainly don’t want to get in the way of that,” MacKinnon stressed.
While the project is slated to take six weeks to complete, it could be done in five weeks if the club can find a buyer for its current ice plant.
“If we can find a buyer for that before the project starts, that will save us a week,” MacKinnon noted.
“So far we’ve yet to find a buyer for our current ice plant, and we’re looking to find someone who may be interested.
“Maybe the town would be interested to have this for a back-up at the arena, who knows?”
There will be no major changes to the actual curling rink itself, although there will be a few noticeable differences when the curlers hit the ice next season.
“With the new lighting, it’ll be a lot brighter out there,” said MacKinnon.
“There will also be a more even and constant air flow on our six sheets, as well with six different air units, instead of having just one blowing hot air, which led to an eight-degree difference between both ends of the ice,” he added.
The remaining $310,000 for the project will come from the club itself, which will be raised either through banking or through other ventures.
