The Crookston Park Board met this week and reviewed the guidelines for arenas that have been put in place by the State of Minnesota and Minnesota Hockey. They also received an update on the pool and other Parks and Recreation programs starting soon.
Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle said a new online sign-in is available with a QR code when entering the Crookston Sports Center (CSC). “Those are all spectators must sign in before coming into the facility,” said Riopelle. “That is for contact tracing should something happen. We have set forth a QR code. People coming in can shoot that with the camera on their phone or sign-in (on paper). All spectators are asked to come to the main (south) entrance. Players go in the east entrance, and we need to keep those separated, so we don’t have contact between the two different groups. The whole idea of the regulations is to keep these facilities open. If people adhere to it, maybe in time, the restrictions will be lifted. We can keep the kids playing and have some fun for the season.”
Riopelle asked for cooperation with the mask policy so that the CSC can stay open. “The masks are mandated by Minnesota Hockey, the Department of Health, and our District as well,” said Riopelle. “The players have to wear them. And the coaches while they’re on the ice. All of the people, fans in the facility need to have a mask on. We ask that everybody follow those rules. People are watching, and we don’t want to be turned in for an issue with that.”
Riopelle also reiterated that youth games are allowed no more than two people (adults) per player with some leeway if the parents need to bring siblings to the games. “For all youth games, according to the rules, it’s two people per player,” said Riopelle. “So, we can’t bring in four or five people. They can bring in younger siblings. If the parents come in with their younger kids and have a child playing, they can stay with them. But they have to stay with them; they can’t run (around) the arena. Again, for high school games, it’s 150 max. For youth hockey, it’s two people (adults) per player.”
Updates were also provided on wrestling and the pool. “I believe wrestling starts next week,” said Riopelle. “They’ll be out at the high school. We hope to have two different sessions. If we get too many kids, we’ll add sessions as we want to keep them separated. We’re very pleased the school has allowed us to operate those programs there. The pool is open. They have the morning aqua exercise classes and lap swim. They started having some rentals this past weekend and have private lessons. They are one-on-one because we can only put so many people in the pool because they can’t wear masks.”
Riopelle concluded that while slightly warmer weather has been a little tough on outdoor skating opportunities, they will recover with cooler weather on the horizon. “The skating trail at Castle is up and operating,” said Riopelle. “We’ve actually put a couple of lights in—some little, small lights that can go on for a short period of time. We have about 1,000 feet there. The other one is coming along pretty well at Wildwood. The outdoor rink at Alexander is fine. That’s doing good too. Today was a little tough on us with the warmer weather, but we have some cooler weather coming, so we should be okay. Hopefully, the public can get out and enjoy those. We want them to see those trails. That’s going to be fun.”
Arena COVID-19 polices and the QR Code to sign-in are below –
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