HOULTON, Maine — It is hard to believe, but ice skating season has once again arrived at the John Millar Civic Center.
The arena opens for public skating this Saturday, from 2-4 p.m. Admission this year is $4 for adults and $3.50 for youths. Skate rentals will be available for $2 and skate sharpening is also available for $3.
According to Civic Center Director Haley Nickerson, installing ice in the Civic Center is a time-consuming process that begins in the middle of October. Unlike some ice rinks that leave their hockey boards up year round, the Houlton arena is a multi-purpose facility used for various events throughout the summer. That requires dismantling the boards at the end of each season.
Once the boards are all set up again to start the next season, “we start up the compressor,” Nickerson said. “It takes about a day to make the floor cold enough to freeze water.”
An intricate system of tubing exists in the concrete floor of the arena, freezing the ice from the ground level up. Nickerson said there is about nine miles of tubing located inside the floor, which many people are not aware of.
During the ice building process, the floor temperature is set to 17 degrees, which allows for water to freeze quickly. Once the floor has achieved ideal temperature, the crevices along the boards are sealed so that water does not flow out once it is added.
A base layer of 3/16ths of an inch is created and then given a white base coat of paint to give the ice a brighter looking appearance. Painting the ice for special occasions is something Houlton has not done in the past, due to the high cost, but it could be an option down the road, Nickerson said.
It takes roughly one week from the time workers start to completely finish making the ice. A crew of about six people spend about a week and a half getting the rink ready for skaters. This year, the cooler temperatures in the evenings have helped facilitate the process. The season runs from late October to mid-March.
She added that another interesting tidbit many people do not know is the blue and red lines used for ice hockey are actually pieces of colored crepe paper and not painted lines as many believe.
“Using crepe paper gives us a little bit of leeway,” Nickerson explained. “If you mess up, you simply take a razor and scrape it up.”
For more information on the Millar Civic Center, call 532-1313 or visit the center’s Facebook page.
