A design for the Cape Community Arena Group’s open-air ice arena at Gull Crest Fields in Cape Elizabeth. Contributed / Mike Backman, Waterhouse Builders
The nonprofit Cape Community Arena Group is hoping to increase its fundraising efforts this summer and fall toward the return of next winter’s outdoor rink and its ultimate plan for an open-air arena at Gull Crest Fields in Cape Elizabeth.
A chiller for the temporary rink at Gull Crest is the most significant cost for the rink, board members told the Sentry this week.
“The least operationally efficient way of us doing that is leasing it the way we’re doing now,” said board member Julie Furt. “We have to have it craned in at the beginning of the season, craned out at the end, and then pay a relatively high monthly fee.”
Mike Backman, another board member, said as a contractor, he’s used to ordering materials and utilities, but buying a chiller is a unique challenge.
“It’s been a learning process,” Backman said. “It’s not as simple as you’re just buying a chiller that’s adequate. There are a bunch of different items to consider like the price, efficiencies, the various types of refrigerants used.”
The group is also aiming to build a roof to go over the temporary outdoor rink for the winter of 2025-26. It would then be used for the permanent open-air arena that they are hoping to build there.
Board member Crosley Jackson said that a concrete slab under the ice would ensure they can keep the rink open even if there is unfavorable weather. Currently, without a slab, cooling lines under the ice can pose a safety hazard.
“Whether the sun is too strong, temperatures rise or we get rain … those lines are exposed,” Jackson said. “If a skate were to go through with enough force and damage a line, that would be the end of the season. We’d love to get that slab down and bury those lines so it’s just ice on top of a piece of concrete.”
Board members considered the outdoor rink last winter a success and said it’s been widely used by Cape Elizabeth residents and people from surrounding communities seeking ice time. The group hosted youth hockey tournaments, pond hockey, lessons, gave out free skates, and other programs last winter.
“We’ve been working really hard to design the programming so that it’s fully accessible and people feel included; that they don’t have to have a particular skill level,” Furt said. “We’re touching all aspects of the community in terms of age groups, genders, and people who have disabilities or special needs.”
For updates, go to capearena.org.
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