The Crookston Park Board met Monday evening to discuss winter programs and COVID-19. However, due to Governor Tim Walz’s order to pause those activities last week, they are unlikely to resume until after the board meets again in December, so the discussion turned to outdoor winter activities.
Parks and Recreation Director Scott Riopelle said there had been a few requests for additional outdoor rinks this winter. The weather isn’t conducive to making ice, nor does the city have additional boards for rinks. Riopelle added that well Walz’s order encouraged outdoor recreation during the restrictions, it limited even outdoor rinks to one family group at a time, limiting the effectiveness of those options. Instead, the board decided to move the skate trail from Ray Ecklund Complex to Castle Park and add a second trail in the Woods Addition, which more than one family group can utilize together because they are more spread out. “We will still have a rink at Alexander Park,” said Riopelle. “We will not be having the warming house open. We will have the lights on a timer and a bench for people to put their skates on. It could be a while before we have that because the weather isn’t conducive to making ice. The Park Board also determined we’d possibly put in one or two skating trails. One of the sites we’re looking at is Castle Park. The other would be Wildwood Park. Those can be a little bit longer and fun for people to skate.”
Riopelle said temperatures would need to drop before significant progress can be made on any outdoor skating options. “We’re going to have to have enough cold weather, and right now, the weather is not cool enough,” said Riopelle. “I think in the next week it’s not supposed to be either. What are we talking about, the 30s-40s for this weekend? We need to get some weather that’s down in the low teens; maybe single-digits would be nice to get us to start building. We are watering the current Alexander one, but it’s like we hadn’t touched it when I was there this morning. Over the weekend, anything we had started with melted away, but we’re soaking the ground. Once we can get the ground frozen, it starts to build a little quicker once we get the right weather.”
The trails will likely need some snowfall to accumulate to be used as natural banking and walls along the trail’s path. “We’d like to have a little snow so we can bank the outside, so we don’t have to put up walls,” said Riopelle. “We don’t want to have to build anything to lay it down. When we did the Central Park trails and the one we had at Ray Ecklund Complex last year, we moved the snow away. Then, once we get a little water on it, it freezes some of that snow on the side and creates a wall for us. That’s very helpful in keeping the water contained.”
Riopelle said told the committee he believes when the restrictions are lifted, they’ll be able to pick back up with programs and other activities but that he thought hockey would likely not begin games again until at least January to allow for resetting the season with conditioning and practice. “All activities at either site are now canceled at minimum until December 18,” said Riopelle. “Let’s say we can start on the 18th. Youth teams won’t be able to practice for about four weeks before that. So, it’s really very difficult for them to hold a game. Could we hold a game? Sure, we could, but it’s not optimal. We need to get the kids back on their skates. Get them conditioned a little bit before we get them back in games. I think that possibly Minnesota will phase it back in for hockey as well. They may have a phase with two weeks of practice before you can play games. The high school will probably do similar things.”
Finally, Riopelle said a couple of people had approached him about creating a memorial to John Lyczewski, who passed away on November 19. The Park Board was supportive of the effort, and Riopelle said Lyczewski was well-known at the rink, including by officials from across the state because he’d always visit them in the locker room. “Long-time hockey person in Crookston passed away this past week,” said Riopelle. “I’ve had a person or so come forward and ask if we couldn’t do some sort of memorial on the wall for him and put some sort of plaque up. We’re hoping we can get some people to come forward with some dollars to do something of that sort. John never missed a game at that place and was well known to many of the old-time hockey people in Crookston. They all knew him, and we’d like to do something for the guy and his family.”
