Second rink planned for Moosomin

Local foundation, not local taxpayers, will pay for rink

May 18, 2026, 12:08 pm
by Ashley Bochek

Community leaders have come together to plan and break ground this summer on a second rink for Moosomin. The rink will be located at the site of the former Federated Co-op Feed Mill and will be built without burdening local taxpayers, as a community foundation is being established, with the rink as the first project for the new foundation.

Discussions on a community foundation have been going on for the past year. Dan and Olga McCarthy wanted to start the ball rolling on a second rink. The plan for the rink and the plan for the foundation came together at a meeting of a dozen people in January. Now site work is underway, and construction will begin this summer.

Dan and Olga McCarthy, who had the vision for a rink, were at the meeting, as was Kristjan Hebert, who has been working on the idea of the community foundation for Moosomin.

Mayor Murray Gray and Recreation Director Mike Schwean were there, as were several Community Builders Alliance members, including CBA president Tyler Thorn and Moosomin-Montmartre MLA Kevin Weedmark.

By the end of the meeting a rough plan had come together and Schwean commented at the time that he had thought the meeting would be the start of a years-long process, not that it would lead to immediately building a rink.

Airport project led to endowment fund idea

Kristjan Hebert of the CBA says the airport project was an inspiration for the foundation.

“The foundation discussions started about a year ago at a CBA meeting. We were trying to figure out how we could have a rural renaissance for community infrastructure, after the airport expansion was completed. The discussion led into what some American universities do, and how their endowment funds help with a lot of their success. We began to think about instead of just raising money and putting it into the next asset, how do we start this fund for boosting the area.

“Then the new rink idea came up with a group of local entrepreneurs and lit the fire under getting the endowment fund started.”

Hebert explains the foundation will be an avenue for the community to donate toward the new arena.

“We plan on launching the foundation to the community probably toward the end of June. The paperwork part is just getting done so that anybody in the community will be able to donate to it.

“Those funds will then be invested, and the earnings off that will pay for projects in the future, the first of which is the rink. The endowment fund will lease the rink to the town for $1 and the town will operate it. We’re probably going to have to take a mortgage out on the rink in order to pay for it before the foundation is fully up and running. But the goal is that if we raise this money in the foundation, we have some fairly big targets of what we want to do through private and public partnerships. That way we won’t spend the whole budget on the rink. The earnings of the investments will pay for the rink, and then the next project, and then the next project.”

“For now, the CBA will be in charge of getting the community foundation started. Then after it’s all up and going, there will be an appointed board. This board won’t be limited to CBA members.

“The current estimate for the cost of the rink is around $10 million. So the goal of the foundation will be a minimum of $10 million. The town is 100% paying all operating costs. But the foundation will save the town all of the capital investment initially.”

Vision for new rink

Hebert explains the new rink will look similar to West Edmonton Mall’s indoor ice surface.

“I think an easy way to envision what the new rink will be like would be to think of the rink inside the West Edmonton Mall. We’re leaning toward a sunken ice surface with standing room all the way around the top and bottom, and a walking track on the top. It’s going to be similar in size to the Communiskate facility in White City.”

Hebert says the foundation is to help fundraise for the new rink and the start toward future community projects.

“As a group of entrepreneurs we have a goal, and we hope everybody in the community supports that goal. If we can use the money made from the foundation to build local infrastructure, we can keep municipal and local budgets strictly for the operation of those facilities. I think we’ll be able to show that we as a community can solve our own problems with not as much government assistance.

“We’re going to work with the Saskatchewan Community Foundation. They’ll be the ones that will manage our foundation’s assets. They’re a not-for-profit organization, and they have really low fees. They already manage and invest the funds from many other foundations, and that number has got to be close to $100 million.”

Foundation to take donations soon

Hebert says donations to the foundation should be able to be made by the end of June.

“We plan on launching it end of June, that’s when people can start writing cheques and donating. The rink project has gained significantly more steam than we had originally thought. We’re going to try our best to get the foundation up and running, raise money, and build the rink all simultaneously. That might be a bit of a juggling act, but I’m confident we can do it. We could wait until the fund is fully running, but at the same time we don’t want to lose the momentum that we have on those projects. I think you’re going to see a lot of construction on the rink this year, and hopefully we can get to completion as early as mid 2027.”

He explains the new rink will allow winter sports to start earlier in the fall. “I think the new rink would be extremely beneficial to the town. In the new rink, the ice would go in earlier in the year and stay in later, because with the newer facility it’s much more efficient and better for the environment. I believe it’s estimated to hold around 650 fans. So, besides a Rangers playoff or provincial game, it could host any game that the Mike Schwean Arena hosts without seating issues.”

Hebert hopes a new rink along the old highway will spur new development.
“As a group of entrepreneurs, we would also really like to see more development along the old Number One Highway. Hopefully with a new rink right on that street, more businesses will move into the area.”
He said he hopes to be able to raise $10 million locally through the foundation to build the rink.

“I was very involved in fundraising for the airport. So I got thinking about this community, as the Spectator has written many times, Moosomin and area, can raise money and support projects as good or better than any community.

“We raised $10 million for the hospital and $10 million for the airport. If we just started the foundation when we did the hospital and put the $10 million raised for the airport in it, I truly believe we’d have a hospital, we’d have an airport and we’d still have $20 million. I want to raise money that will keep supporting projects, because this area and this community has huge potential between the people, and anchor companies such as Nutrien, all the agriculture, all the oil and all our small businesses.”
Hebert said he believes Moosomin is unique.

“I’ve been to a lot of different communities, and I think we have a very unique group of entrepreneurs in this community that are willing to write pretty big cheques to a lot of projects, we have a number of community members that jump right in and put a lot of sweat equity into the same projects. I, as every other entrepreneur in the area, want our kids and our grandkids to come back here, and if we don’t have the right services when it comes to health care, education, sports and rec, they’re not going to and so how do we come up with a way that we’re not always just phoning the government for the next 100 years and walking into town council for the next 100 years saying ‘we need this,’ with our hands out and not having a plan. So we thought, if we can get this foundation—we’re looking for local, provincial and federal government support to get it off and running. But the goal is that we can have our destiny in our hands and create our own little rural renaissance that other communities can then replicate.”

He adds, “It’s exciting! If everything goes as planned, and we can start off the foundation with the rink it’ll be something that our community should be extremely proud of.”

He says the foundation and rink ideas were formed after talking with McCarthys.

“Dan and Olga have always been part of the discussions when I first came up with the foundation idea, they had already loved and supported that and obviously they are huge part of the community. So we got together and combined the two ideas.

“The one pushback on a foundation from the government is if we do this foundation, there’s no quick return. We can’t show jobs, we can’t show assets because everyone wants to put it away for two or three years first. So it was to combine the two ideas together.

We’re going to put a shovel in the ground on an asset right away to prove that our idea is going to work and that we’re behind it.

“We think our timing is pretty good to get support on the foundation. But we also feel that the rink project is a critical piece to get support for the foundation, so that we can show all levels of government and all levels of private companies—we’re not just raising this money to let it sit there. We’re raising money for action, and we believe an foundation that’s guided by entrepreneurs can create a lot of action for the community—for what the community needs.”

Mayor of Moosomin Murray Gray

Murray Gray, Mayor of Moosomin, says he is excited to see the new project funded without raising taxes for the community.

“It’s really exciting because once the foundation is set up, it will help us be able to get the things for our community that maybe we can’t afford to buy with taxpayers’ money because it’s hard enough to operate a community off of what you charge for taxes, or you’d have to raise them in order to be able to have nice things like a second arena.

“The fact that it’s a foundation—it’s not money that’s just spent and gone, it’s for the future of the community because the money will always be there to earn interest and use the interest in order to make Moosomin and area, a better place to live. It is very exciting stuff.”

Gray says projects such as a new rink would otherwise mean raising tax dollars to afford building bigger projects around the community.

“If Council determined that we needed to build a second arena, and something like the foundation wasn’t happening, we would have to increase our taxes by a great amount in order to pay for the capital cost, even if you did get a grant for it. So it gives us the ability to add the things we need in order to grow without putting it directly onto the tax bill, which makes it a less of a burden for the taxpayers of the community. The payback on that—anything you can add to the town brings more people into the community, which makes our businesses more lucrative to operate. There’s huge benefits that way. The payback would be to the business community.”
He explains the new arena will allow sports clubs to grow and host more tournaments bringing more tourism and dollars to town.

“Our figure skating club has been growing, and our minor hockey has been growing with the addition of several female teams, the Junior B team coming to town, so ice time is pretty tight, as far as even being able to run enough tournaments. I think that’s probably the biggest advantage is we can continue to add those teams with two arenas. You could host a large tournament, which would definitely benefit our hotels and our restaurants. Rec Director Mike Schwean will tell you that the payback on­ tourism for sports is huge. The amount of dollars that come in just from one tournament—an example is the dance competition a couple of weeks ago—brought a lot of people to town and they spend money when they come. It is huge going forward from a tourism standpoint. The new arena gives us more options for tournaments and for people to come to town to play hockey or to watch hockey, or to be involved in figure skating. It’s just going to bring more people to town throughout the entire winter.”

Gray says the community working together toward a common goal of growing Moosomin is something as mayor, he is proud of.

“It’s definitely the feeling of pride when you see how co-operation and working toward a common goal can work and how it can benefit everybody in the community.

“It’s humbling to think as mayor that really there isn’t anything we can’t do. It seems no matter what it is we need, when we all work together, we can accomplish so much. So it is really exciting. Before this announcement, or before we talked about this, I already believed wholeheartedly that the future was very bright for our community and this is fast tracking us that much more to do greater things.”

Gray says community leaders are motivated in moving this project quickly. “There’s definitely some movers and shakers in our community. I sit on the committee that’s planning it, and there’s people that know that it’s a need of the community and are motivated to get it done. That’s super exciting. In order to have an idea, plan it, move forward, and to actually be in bricks and mortar so quickly is awesome. It’s really, really great to see.”
Mayor Gray explains the community’s donations will go toward capital costs of the new arena.

“Donations will pay for the capital cost of the arena, and they would lease the arena back to the town for $1. We would then operate it as we do with Mike Schwean Arena.

He adds, “As a resident of Moosomin, to think that these exciting things can happen—20 years down the road, when we look back at it, I think this will be seen as a turning point on how we took the next step forward in growing our community.”

CBA Member Tyler Thorn speaks on role with helping establish foundation
Tyler Thorn of Celebration Ford and member of the Community Builders Alliance (CBA) says they are helping establish the foundation to help build the rink.

“The biggest role that we’re going to play is helping establish the foundation. That takes a bit of time, energy, and is going to take some money, but we’ve started the ball rolling.

“We are working with the Saskatchewan Community Foundation at the moment and navigating our way through that. We’ll help get it started, but it’ll be a community foundation. That to me is the most important piece of this. The rink will be secondary to the foundation for the future of the region. Establishing the foundation is going to be key to continue growth and the rink will be the first test of how the foundation can function and help build public infrastructure without draining public budgets.

Thorn says another CBA member brought the idea forward earlier this year.
“Kristjan Hebert brought it forward first and the model that he refers to is like Harvard or some of these universities have these foundations that are hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s how they build infrastructure at these universities and we thought ‘why can’t we do it here?’ If you go back 50 years, and you look at all the projects that have been built and all the money that’s been raised, both public and private money—if that money would have gone into a foundation we’d have about $20 million in a foundation. A good example would be the day care when they brought forward building a new day care two years ago and need $3 million, a $20 million foundation doesn’t have $3 million but it’s got a million bucks a year. So now you can go to the day care with foundation money and say, we can’t write a cheque for $3 million, but we can commit $250,000 for the next 10 years to help service the debt and help you make your mortgage payments.”

Community-minded entrepreneurs

Thorn says Moosomin has community-minded individuals who want to see the second rink built.

“We’ve got some incredibly smart young people in this community that are leading the charge on both of these projects. Entrepreneurs like Kristjan Hebert of Hebert Grain Ventures and Dan and Olga McCarthy of IJack, they are such an asset to the community and they don’t do it because it’s good for their business—people like McCarthys and Heberts, they have exactly zero customers in Moosomin. They’re not doing it for the sake of their business. They’re doing it for the good of the community. They’re smart, community-minded individuals and so full of energy. The future of the community is very bright when you’ve got people like that willing to invest, not just their money, but their time and their energy to moving things like this forward and growing our community.”

Thorn explains the foundation has been an idea for a few years and feels the second rink is the best project to kick it off.

“The foundation has been on the radar since we started the CBA three or four years ago. The rink has pushed us to get it done. We’ve talked about a second rink. It’s a catalyst and it is a great project to motivate people to donate when they know where it’s going, as opposed to future projects. It’s hard to motivate people to donate to the foundation without a specific project. So this way with the second rink, when you’ve got a project that’s tied to the foundation it becomes easier to raise the money. It also shows the province and the federal government we are serious because they’re not going to put their money in it if there is no plan.”

Thorn adds, “There are some people that are pretty determined to get this rink built and we needed a project as a catalyst to get this thing going and so the second rink felt like good timing.”

Funding for future projects

Thorn explains the plan is the foundation will also help support future projects in the community.

“There are other things in the future that it works for as well. It doesn’t have to be rec facilities either, it could be infrastructure. There’s lots of different opportunities you could use it for, to help grow Moosomin.”

Community support for foundation

Thorn says the foundation will help build future projects for the town and hopes the community supports the opportunities the foundation will provide.
“Some people might be a little hesitant to support it, until they see it works, but long term, 10 years from now, people will see all the good it does—I really think people possibly start leaving some of their estate to the foundation. I really think it comes to that, and that money goes in there, and it stays there, and the region will benefit from that forever. I really think it’s a good project for the future of not just Moosomin, but the whole region.”

The CBA hopes the foundation will spur development as a successful pilot project in the province for other communities to follow.

“I think there will be lots of communities—we get that now, I just met with some folks from Yorkton asking about the CBA and what we’re doing here in Moosomin —and this will be an extension of that,” said Thorn. “I think once we have the rink being built and the foundation, there will be lots of people reaching out, wondering how we did it. I think it’s great if we can pilot it, especially if we can work with the province and the federal government as a pilot project and prove it works, particularly for rural development on the Prairies.”

Catalyst for new development

Thorn says Park Avenue along the old Number One Highway is in need of new development and hopes the new rink will initiate additional new infrastructure.

“I think the rink will become an anchor tenant for a section of Park Avenue that’s in dire need of some investment and new development. A decent looking rink in there and who knows what else comes, maybe a strip mall or a restaurant or another motel. I think it’d be great for that whole west end of Park Avenue to maybe spur on some development and I believe the new rink will help with that. There are so many opportunities for growth and the rink and foundation are both working toward that.”