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Burk’s Falls Arena Fall Fair Harvest Income
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Burk’s Falls Arena Fall Fair Harvest Income

“Paying staff to remove the ice in August to serve a group for several days at no cost and then to put the ice back in is not a financially efficient use of facilities or staff. »

The director of the Armor, Ryerson and Burk’s Falls Memorial Arena is recommending that Burk’s Falls city council no longer consider requests to have ice removed from the arena each September.

Graham Smith’s recommendation is contained in a report released at the October 15 council meeting.

The Armour, Ryerson and Burk’s Falls Agricultural Society regularly requests that the ice be removed so it can hold part of the fall fair inside the facility.

Smith constantly argued against this.

The arena was redeveloped in 2006-07 to accommodate summer ice and Smith’s report says that creates between 450 and 600 hours of use each year.

Smith’s report says it cost $16,482 to make the ice this year and $5,375 to remove it.

In his report, Smith notes that paying staff to remove the ice in August to serve a group for several days at no cost, and then to put the ice back in place, is not a financially efficient use of facilities or staff.

Additionally, when the ice is removed, the arena loses money from paying customers.

The Fall Fair is traditionally a Labor Day long weekend event.

Earlier this year, the company requested use of the arena and that the ice be removed.

However, this did not happen this year and the ice was not removed in 2023.

Smith’s report reveals the financial differences when the ice is left in place and when it is removed to accommodate the agricultural society.

In 2022, when the company’s ice removal request was granted, the arena had no ice users for the last week of August and generated no revenue.

Once the fall fair ended and staff began remaking the ice in September, the arena saw 42 hours of use with what was left in the month, generating $297.

But in 2023, when the ice remained intact, the same last week of August generated $3,759 for 50 hours and in September the arena brought in $7,932 for 140.5 hours of ice.

In 2024, leaving the ice intact again resulted in even higher gains.

During the last week of August, the ice at the arena was used for 62.5 hours and it brought in $6,972.

In September, people spent 164 hours at the arena, generating $10,909 in revenue.

Smith says historically there should have been a discussion about how the arena was used to accommodate icebreaking demands.

Smith repeatedly told the Burk’s Falls, Armor and Ryerson city councils that he was hired with the goal of making the arena more efficient.

Smith wants his report to be discussed at an upcoming tri-council meeting.

At the Oct. 15 meeting, the board said it would discuss the report with the agricultural society.

Rocco Frangione is a Local Journalism Initiative reporter at Almaguin News. The Local Journalism Initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.