A Fresh Start for Fenton Chester

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Created on Monday, 18 October 2021 12:23
Written by Alek Wolfe

LYNDON - With the ice being put down and updates to staffing and the zamboni happening, Fenton Chester Arena will open its doors to the public this Saturday Oct. 23rd.

 

According to the arena's new manager Tom Eyman, the arena has never looked or felt better than it currently does in all of its 40 years of operation.

"It's amazing how things have been falling into place. All the repairs and work that's been done mechanically to get this place ready to go." said Eyman.

The chillers (pipes in the arena floor) were fired up this past Wednesday followed by the ice being put down yesterday. A new water system has also been installed to the zamboni which is called Level-Ice. This allows the operator to just drive and not worry about where to smooth out the playing surface in between games or periods.

"It's like a laser guided system for the zamboni. Zamboni driving can be complicated because you have to scrape a certain amount of ice  when you're going to lay down a certain amount of water. What this new system does is it really takes a lot of the guess work and the human element out of that and the system really determine how to do the ice," said Eli Emerson, Rink Inc. Director.

New lights have also been installed that are energy efficient in order to cut down on electricity costs as well as for more entertainment for games and public skating.

"We wanted to be able to show not just to have the rink be open as it had been in the past but to provide something new and exciting since so many people have really put in a great effort to get the rink open this year," Emerson said.

With lower costs in electricity, Eyman says the rink is financially stable to stay open for the whole season. With the hope that the money they get from public skating and other events, they can save up and not have to pay it back like previous times.

"It just indicates how people in this area realize that we were gonna shut down last Winter just what they were faced with loosing. So people have really stepped up in terms of their very generous donations and their time," Eyman said.