The Peter Nabholz Circle Skate Way
Coming soon to Moosomin
December 8, 2020, 12:59 pm
Victor van der Merwe, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Moosomin’s Director of Parks and Recreation, Mike Schwean is planning on bringing a new winter activity to the town once the first real snow fall happens.
The plan is to flood 500 yards of Bradley Park roadway and open it up to public skating. The track will loop from the outdoor arena change room around the park and then back to the change room.
“We are planning on flooding some of our roadways, just because it kind of works well with COVID-19. People can keep six feet apart and skate around the park. I think it will be a great thing for the holidays when the kids try to get out of the house, but we need some snow to make our borders,” said Schwean.
Because of the size of the track, there should be no problem with social distancing.
“We will try and keep that open for the winter months. We will have slower kids stay right and faster skaters will be able to pass the slower skaters and still be able to keep six feet apart. It will be really good for the kids and parents and grandparents and everybody,” said Schwean.
The idea was born when Schwean was thinking of how to keep people coming to the parks but still stay safely apart from each other.
“I did not know what kind of restrictions they were going to put on outdoor rinks. I felt bad that we didn’t have any public skating regardless of the indoor rink because we were not able to monitor numbers. So we just tried to come up with way that we could have a bunch of people skating and still keep six feet apart. Obviously, once we can keep them six feet apart it is just a matter of length,” said Schwean.
As of now, the planned route from changing room back to changing room should take the average skater about 15 to 20 minutes to do one loop.
“Even if we have 100 skaters on there, no one should be very close,” said Schwean.
This is the first year that Schwean is trying this track, and hopes it becomes a yearly tradition.
“Once we get one year under our belts I am sure the second one will be a lot easier, but I have never seen one of these to be honest. I have seen pictures of things kind of like this, but my hope is we get a bunch of snow and we can make 3 foot banks on the sides and you will be able to skate right through the park,” said Schwean.
If all goes according to plan, there might even be refreshments sold on certain days.
“We are working with one of the businesses in town that they might have a day there. It is outdoors so we have a lot of space, so if we have a nice day close to Christmas we could do a family day with hot chocolate and maybe hotdogs and things like that so, that is something we are thinking about,” said Shwean.
Schwean would like to name the skate way after Peter Nabholz once it gets going. The Peter Nabholz Circle Skate Way.
“Peter has done the flooding for our outdoor rink, he volunteers a ton of work. He has done it for over 10 years, ever year so I think that naming the skate way after him will be the prudent thing to do. It is something I think he deserves,” said Schwean.
There will be no charge to enjoy this new winter activity, but Schwean is hoping to get a few more people to come and volunteer once the track gets going.
“If anyone is willing to help out and volunteer that would be fantastic. It could be helping with flooding or shoveling snow, it will help us out quite a bit,” said Schwean.
To volunteer at the new skate way, people can call the rec department at 306-435-3622.