With the weather turning colder and outdoor rink season nearly upon us, the Estevan Kinsmen and Kinettes have been working on an addition to their rink. This one is specifically geared toward people who want to skate but maybe don't want to do so with pucks flying around. 

The Kinsmen and Kinettes will be opening a second ice surface at Kinsmen Park this year for people who want to skate without sticks or pucks. They've also been doing some work on the dressing room in that area and redoing the floors to make them easier on skate blades.

"We are going to have a second ice surface for little ones learning to skate or anyone who doesn't want to be out there on the hockey rink with pucks and that kind of thing," said Kinette President Robyn Sullivan. "This has been something that for a few years we've talked about, and we have purchased the supplies to put it together and will be working on that in the next few weeks."

The second ice surface should be finished at around the same time as the outdoor hockey rink. Temperatures are fairly regularly below minus ten in the evening this week (normally the threshold at which it's good to start flooding) but are above zero during the day, making things a little more challenging. 

"We wanted to do some upgrades to the park," said Sullivan, "make things a little bit nicer and have people be able to come out to the park and enjoy it so we did some painting inside and outside the building. The inside has new skate-safe flooring, and we're going to put in the second ice surface."

Sullivan added they owed a big thank you to the city for helping them remake the surface that was there and get it fit for flooding. They're pleased with the improvement to the dressing room as well, though they're not sure what impact COVID restrictions will have on people's ability to use it.

"Hopefully, with COVID, we'll be able to have it open," Sullivan said. "I know the city is working hard to try to do that, depending on regulations." 

Sullivan added the park was a joint project with both the Kinettes and Kinsmen involved in the planning and execution. She also said both the Kinettes and Kinsmen will be doing a display for the Festival of Lights at Woodlawn Regional Park.