The La Glace and District Agriculture Society is pushing to have the new arena in the hamlet completed by the end of 2025. Members of the society have been working to get funding and build the Tamarack Valley Regional Recreation Facility for more than a decade.
Ag society member Laurie Sandboe says the building and structure are up but, there are still a few significant projects that need to be completed inside before the facility completely replaces the old recreation centre. Two key projects that need to be completed are installing the ice plant and the kitchen that will turn into the hamlet’s restaurant. Sandboe adds that completing these projects takes funding they are still trying to secure.
“If the arena doesn’t get finished and starts depreciating because we can’t get funding, this is our biggest fear. We need close to $6 million to complete the project, but that could be negotiable as we have changed the plan from our original trying to save money and get the basics up.”
Sandboe says in the past 38 years, La Glace has only had one U-15 team. This team had to find ice in other communities because the size of the ice surface in the old arena, which was built in 1972, does not have a regulation-size arena. In the other years, kids over 13 have gone to play in surrounding communities or quit.
She adds, in theory, there is the option for communities to book ice at the Crosslink County Sportsplex in Clairmont, but the ice is regularly booked by not just County of Grande Prairie teams but groups from the City of Grande Prairie as well.
“Our old facility will not hold up, and when that goes we lose as a community the hub of our centre and other communities that come here.”
Though the new facility is not entirely done, Sandboe says the space has been rented out in any way you can think of to rent out a building and utilize a cement pad. To date, the society has brought in $4.7 million, including grant funding from the county and the Government of Alberta, of the $11 million needed for the project.
