Despite the temperatures outside, it has been chilly in the arena as our time off without ice has now passed for this year. The compressors were fired up a couple weeks ago to gradually chill the concrete slab to the freezing point and then the time immemorial process begins of sealing the floor with a fine spray to get the bond to the concrete. Following that, a sprayed coating of white paint is laid in both directions, then another few seal coats of water, which creates the palette for all the lines and logos. That painting, which is a hands and knees job, takes a couple days depending on complexity of logos or centre line art, but once done, really snaps against the white background as it is the best it will look before all the skating starts. Wrapping up the process are many layers of water in small floods to build up to the approximate thickness of three-quarters of an inch.
If you are on our email list, you will have received our message about the leisure guide coming out soon with all the fall programming. There are some pretty interesting programs and events scheduled for autumn, so make sure you check it out when it hits your mailbox this week or go online to view at www.rdck.ca right now (remember to scroll down).
If you are the frugal sort (they use a different term for me at work), you need to check out the Shutdown Showcase in the leisure guide, which gives you several options for things to do during our annual pool shutdown Aug. 29-Sept. 11 and some are free! Mind you, don’t think you are off the hook during the pool shutdown and you can kick back and take a free course on craft beermaking or wine tasting for the common man; we still want you to maintain that rippling physique you earned through aquafit and swimming, so our courses focus on fitness. Of course if you haven’t attended a class before, here is the perfect opportunity to grab a friend (safety in numbers) and check it out for the small price of simply showing up to the community complex.
We are not expecting anything unusual during our annual shutdown, in which we drain all the pools, scrub and inspect the whole aquatic area, especially the ones usually underwater. We do keep a pretty close tab on regular maintenance and cleaning but there is some work to be done that can only be achieved with a closure. This includes some pretty intensive cleaning and maintenance in the back mechanical room, including our filtration and disinfection systems that provide us with the clean sparkling water we are used to. I just flashed back to our old outdoor pool, the James Ross Memorial Pool, which served the community well for years but presented some different challenges with maintaining water quality when faced with dust storms in the parking lot, leaves, rocks, downpours, critters and blazing sun all conspiring against our maintenance staff attempts at preserving balance. Fun times, but in the end it was all good!
Neil Ostafichuk is the recreation supervisor at the Creston and District Community Complex.